Leaf Vacuum for Zero Turn Mower

[KYDan]

I have a John Deere 757 zero turn mower that I use for mowing about 10-11 acres. There are some large trees in part of the area and there is also a lot of leaves blown in from surrounding woods. In the past I have dealt with this issue by mowing with chute inward facing to pile the leaves into the center of the area. Then I rake the leaves and put them into my dump trailer. This is a large EZ-Dumper with high sidewalls (4 ton load capacity). Then dump them in my compost heap. I have looked at a leaf vacuum system from Peco, a North Carolina company, and they seem to be decent. It is a 3 bag system that requires some modifications to the mower. Has anyone used or know anything about this system? Does it work and even with the 3 bags do you spend more time dumping than mowing? I can pull the trailer to the area and it will be close by for emptying the bags.

 

[2458n]

I have a toro/wheel horse and it has the blower that takes the leaves and grass into two bags. It is a zero turn also. All you end up doing is dumping bags. Currently looking at hooking up the two wheeled vac trailer that was pulled by a riding tractor.

 

[groundcover]

You will spend a lot more time out of the seat then in it ! Even the trailer vacs fill up lickety-split ! Sold a nice vac unit for a Skag as it more dumping than vac'in, even with two people. Give me a back pack blower and tarp !:thumbsup:

 

[zzvyb6]

I made up a leaf-vac from an old Woods trailer and an impeller suction system. The key to it operating well is sharp blades on the impeller. This chops the leaves as they go through giving you much, much better compaction and volumetric efficiency. Otherwise, unchopped leaves take up a lot of space.

This trailer dumps out 'loaves' of leaves when its full. When you start the loaf on fire, it smolders for a day or so. Mostly oak and hickory on my place. In summer, grass clippings get picked up, too.

 

[bobmisi]

I have a Pecovac with the dumping hopper and have had it for 6 years. It is great and you dump from the seat. You don't have to get off the machine. It is well made and the 6 hp kohler that came with mine is the best engine I have ever owned. Starts first pull every time, even after sitting all winter. All you do is put the choke on, no primer bulb or anything. Great unit.

 

[fortuneneo]

What is zero turn?

 

[mark1]

I have a Trac-vac 1080 it has a 11 Hp B&S vacuum unit that sucks the debris from the mower deck.chops it up nicely and blows it into it's own trailer. A GREAT machine.I think if I was to run it on full throttle it would suck the worms out of the ground.I have a huge amount of trees and leaves and only dump it once or twice! A great machine.They also have smaller units for zero turn machines. It makes doing leaves FUN!!!! even my wife loves using it!!! The trailer holds 44 bushel of finely ground debris.

 

[LarryD]

What is zero turn?

Usually refers to mowers that turn in their own width (dual wheel drives). A skid steer meets this definition but not what most people think when talking about ZTR's (Zero Turn Radius).

Of course if the OP is pulling a leaf vacum then "zero turns" are out the window.:shocked: