Looking for a lawn sweeper

[MossRoad]

I have a rear discharge finish mower out front and tow a sweeper behind me. Works really well, as long as the leaves are dry. The chopped leaves go under the machine and the sweeper picks them right up.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I really like my place after 25 years of improvements but I would be gone tomorrow if I came outside to that nightmare.

Better than in the basement! I got 7 of these out ...

The 1st couple I saw in the attached crawl space, I didn't mind they were little ... But after this one I realized I really didn't want them anywhere inside my house, and no matter what people say about how good they are for catching mice, I was catching 4-10 mice a month ... They were not keeping up!

The cats have kept the mice and snakes out, no more barn swallows nesting in my porch or deck, on top of my security cameras either ... They are still around but stay away from the house and barn ... Here they are dive bombing me brush hogging. ..

Barn swallows while brush hogging

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Got home yesterday and kitties left me a chipmunk!

And FedEx left my new sweeper for me, not quite sure when I'll have time to assemble, but will soon, leaves haven't fallen here yet in any great numbers ... I got a bunch of stuff to do on my pickup this time home ...

I mowed yesterday and remembered that I have another oak tree on the other side of my barn, where I like to mow ... In addition to the two maples on the lawn, one actually is in the middle of the circle of the driveway ...

Not sure if this flowering thing is a tree or a bush ... But it drops leaves too! And the big tree in the background behind and just to the right is at the fence line, depending on how the wind blows, drops leaves on the lawn too ...

 

[TIMMYDUCK]

Second year owning the Cyclone Rake XL .

Made in beautiful West Haven , CT .

Paid 3000 with all the extras picked up directly from the factory.

Love Love Love it .

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I have the same Cyclone except mine doesn't have the Grateful Dead bears!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I got up what most people would consider "early" today ... Just before my normal time of around 03:00ish am . . .but today it was really 02:00 am!

I got the sweeper put together, a few steps would have been easier, and faster If I had a helper, but none of my three cats couldn't be bothered!

Yup, there really are three there, they sleep in a pile together!

But I prevailed and got it put together!

Even though we've had a few cool nights, and this morning it dropped to 27°, the leaves haven't started to drop here, so maybe next time I'm home I can actually use it!

 

[gstrom99]

Not to hijack this thread but, do any of these pick up black walnuts? I have 12 trees, that are real fertile.

 

[square1]

Not to hijack this thread but, do any of these pick up black walnuts? I have 12 trees, that are real fertile.

IDK about black walnuts, but they can make an acorn into an almost lethal projectile from time to time

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Not to hijack this thread but, do any of these pick up black walnuts? I have 12 trees, that are real fertile.

I don't think so

 

[Shawn T. W.]

The manual says to adjust the brush to the height of the top of the grass, that too low will cause more pressure and wear on the bearings and brush ...

So it's not like one of those parking lot sweepers ...

 

[oldnslo]

Not to hijack this thread but, do any of these pick up black walnuts? I have 12 trees, that are real fertile.

Mine will not pick up Walnuts.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Didn't have a lot of leaves fallen, but I wanted to try it, I mowed the lawn on Tuesday ... But 1st I remembered the manual said to grease the bearings every year, they did not say it had to be done prior to use ... But, I decided to open it up and have a look ... No bearings, just the white "bushing" they recommended white lithium grease, but didn't put any on! They did kinda slop some of the blue grease on the gears ... I spread the blue grease out better, and applied the white lithium grease to the axles and bushings ... There are drive gears on both sides.

Then took it out on the lawn, I took a few slow adjustments to get it low enough to do a pretty good job, and had to remember that the instructions said not to make "sharp turns"!

Most of my trees still have quite a lot of leaves, calling for 20° Monday morning, so that should get them off!

It dumped just fine, I should have thought to raise the roller before "transporting" it over to the garden area ...

It wasn't "full" but left a nice pile, I'll rototiller them in when I have more ...

Overall I'm happy with it.

-----------------------------------

On a different note ... I went back today and checked to see if Brinly ever answered my questions ... They did, a week later ...

Here they are.

Why would you mix plastic and metal gears?

Kind of a wishy washy answer in my opinion, why not just list the actual country?

Glad I went with the Ohio Steel, even though it's not made in the USA ... But they clearly say it's made in Vietnam.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

The maple still has a lot of leaves on it, even though Monday it was only 18°!

But the oak on the other side of the barn had dropped a lot, and the neighbors oaks had also, I had forgotten to mow this area when I did the lawn.

So I mowed this first, thinking it would chop up the leaves some and they would mulch in the garden faster ... But, it seems to make them harder to pick up!

I still got a lot picked up, but went over it several times, in different directions ...

This is VERY FULL, and hard to empty ... And even harder to try to spread with a Z-turn ...

I ended dumping 4 loads in the future garden area ...

Then took my tractors bucket and spread them around some .

Then mixed them in with the rototiller!

Still satisfied with this sweeper, learning how to use it best ... Don't fill it all the way, and if going to dump area is rough, I raise the roller/brush so there is less chance of it getting roughed up or broken ...

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Well, spring has sprung here in the Ozarks!

Yesterday afternoon I got out the Z-turn, de-thatcher, and sweeper ... Hooked them all together and started on spring lawn maintenance, after I picked up a bunch of sticks!

I had to be careful to remember not to run my Z-turn like I normally do, which is fast and tight turns!

Second turn in, I got too close to a T-post and knocked the wheel of the de-thatcher on it, then things got cockeyed and the solid tire came off!

It was very difficult to get back on, but I did, and continued on ... My little lawn train did a good job!

I ended up getting 11 full loads dumped on the garden area!

This morning I'm thinking I'm gonna just push them to the side and make a compost pile, instead of my original idea of mixing them in with the rototiller ... As I really need to get that soil finished screening out the rocks, and the grass will clog up the screen ...

 

[MossRoad]

Well, spring has sprung here in the Ozarks!

Yesterday afternoon I got out the Z-turn, de-thatcher, and sweeper ... Hooked them all together and started on spring lawn maintenance, after I picked up a bunch of sticks!

I had to be careful to remember not to run my Z-turn like I normally do, which is fast and tight turns!

Second turn in, I got too close to a T-post and knocked the wheel of the de-thatcher on it, then things got cockeyed and the solid tire came off!

View attachment 5357425

It was very difficult to get back on, but I did, and continued on ... My little lawn train did a good job!

View attachment 5357426

I ended up getting 11 full loads dumped on the garden area!

View attachment 5357427

This morning I'm thinking I'm gonna just push them to the side and make a compost pile, instead of my original idea of mixing them in with the rototiller ... As I really need to get that soil finished screening out the rocks, and the grass will clog up the screen ...

I just picked up the 42" Ohio Steel sweeper yesterday and put it together. I can say it's a lot heavier built than my 20 year old Agri Fab. Sometime this week I'll be doing my dethatcher, sweeper train like yours, and put down some grass seed and fertilizer to thicken up the lawn. Supposed to be a wet spring so that'll be good to get the grass going.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

My 50" is heavy enough that when I lifted it up to hang it on a nail on the wall, it was all I wanted, but the nail bent under tension, and I couldn't get it back off by myself, had to lift it with my forks, then wiggle the head of the nail out!

I found that it really doesn't need to have the brush down very far to do a good job ...

We really could use some rain ... They are forecasting up to 2"-3" this week, but I watered my trees Saturday anyways, as last week they were calling for 1"+ and we only got 0.05"!

 

[MossRoad]

My 50" is heavy enough that when I lifted it up to hang it on a nail on the wall, it was all I wanted, but the nail bent under tension, and I couldn't get it back off by myself, had to lift it with my forks, then wiggle the head of the nail out!

View attachment 5361613

I found that it really doesn't need to have the brush down very far to do a good job ...

We really could use some rain ... They are forecasting up to 2"-3" this week, but I watered my trees Saturday anyways, as last week they were calling for 1"+ and we only got 0.05"!

They were only available for order at our local Lowe's stores. Just happened to see one way up on a shelf with two AgriFab spike aerators on top of it. Asked the old guy of he could get it down for me. If you could have seen the look of depression when I asked that... . I felt sorry for him. He said it was an internet return and usually not in stock. The spike aerators weigh 95# each and the 42" sweeper weighed 89#. He got the lift and was pretty smart about pulling one aerator onto the lift, dropping down to get the other aerator on top of that, then the sweeper on top of that. Dropped down to ground level and we tipped it on end onto a cart. Made it easier to tip into the car as well.

The reason I went with the 42" is that my dethatcher is that width as well, as are my tractor tire width.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I originally got it for leaves ... And my Z-turn has a 60" deck ... Decided to try to rake/sweep up the de-thatcher residue this year to have more to add to the garden, last year I just buzzed it again with the mower!

I ordered mine online, FedEx brought it if I recall, was VERY heavy!

 

[MossRoad]

I originally got it for leaves ... And my Z-turn has a 60" deck ... Decided to try to rake/sweep up the de-thatcher residue this year to have more to add to the garden, last year I just buzzed it again with the mower!

I ordered mine online, FedEx brought it if I recall, was VERY heavy!

I used my AfgriFab behind my dethatcher for about 20 years. Worked great! Finally broke the gears in the wheel that drive the brush, as well as wore a hole in the basket. It had two spring steel wires to hold the basket open. Those would get bent from time to time and would have to get replaced.

This Ohio Steel one has one solid steel strut to hold it open. We'll see how it goes.