Worthwhile grass collection system?

[camillit]

My 2305 with a 54" deck has the John Deere 3 bag collection system. This is junk, JD should be ashamed to put their name on it. Yes, it is working properly, nothing clogged, pto rpms are correct, I was going slow. My old 425 pulling a Curtis cart was much better. I had it today when picking up some leaves while cutting the lawn. Leaves are blowing out from under the deck, what a mess.
All this being said, without going to an obnoxious sized commercial cart being pulled behind me with a large hp gas engine waking up the neighbors, any suggestions?

 

[AKfish]

Hmm.. lower the deck another 1/2"?

So, you were mowing grass and then decided to pick up some leaves, too?

Possible the deck just needed to be cleaned?

Sometimes when I get clumps of wet grass stuck to the inside of the deck the suction/discharge characteristics change and the deck just doesn't pick up the clippings nearly as cleanly.

It leaves those "gummy, little green clumps" here and there and especially when I turn --

My $0.02

AKfish

 

[camillit]

Good suggestions...but: deck was cleaned a few weeks ago, and I did lower the deck..actually an inch. You are right..as the leaves blow out from under the deck, when I then they specially blow out the front of the deck and then get sucked up tight to the radiator grill.

 

[cast_and_blast]

I believe they make a "baffle" plate that goes on the bottom of the deck to minimize the deck blow out when bagging. I have a 2305 with a 62C deck and they make one for mine - it's a bolt-on unit the goes on the front of the deck. Essentially it's just a "lip" to keep the contents that are blowing around under the deck contained.

I believe it's around $100 for my 62C, but I'm going off of memory.

I made my own bagging system from a MC519 cart and the powerflow unit - works great! Yes, I do get some blow-out but it hasn't been a problem thus far.

Good luck!

Scott

 

[orlo]

Camillit:

I pretty much agree. 'push' systems suck a lot more than the suck/pull systems. I had a cyclone rake but for some reason got the JD system also. Between having to 'bolt' it on and off, and the fact that it clogs easily and you end up pulling off the blower mount to unclog it is a pain. It also fills up way, way too quick. I was filling it up in 1/2 a lap around my lawn (the big log) when I used it.

I went back to and would recommend a cyclone rake. If I were to buy one again I'd buy a DR unit (instead of the 'cyclone rake' per say) since they blow less dust and empty much easier. Either way you'll be happy with a rear unit.

A lot of folks use the 'trac vac's where are pretty much the same concept but are driven from the rear PTO instead of a separate motor.

On another note what I've been looking for lately is a collection system that doesn't require the MMM. I did find (Turfmaster) some hydraulic dumping powered sweepers but I'd really like something that mulches.

 

[WH401]

It sounds like the bagger isn't able to keep up with what's being cut by the tractor. As long as the tube is clear and the bag isn't full, then it should pick everything right up and you shouldn't have a problem. Though from I have experienced, the tow behind cart's that have a seperate engine mounted on them with a blower fan seem to do much better than the rear mount systems. Does it blow the leaves out one specific side or just in all directions?

 

[jdbower]

Not sure where you're located, but this is my first New England fall and the leaves here are as abrasive as Red Sox fans The MCS is really designed to collect grass clippings and light leaf cover, I had an overabundance of leaves on my lawn and I just got through using the MCS to clean them up. Even though there was several weeks of accumulation on the yard I've found that the real limiting factor was the bag size - I could make one pass and then I needed to empty. After a while I discovered that if I keep going after the tube fills up I end up chopping the leaves up but there's no place for them to go. This is great (as long as the MCS impeller drive belt doesn't start to slip) because the next pass I can fill up the bags with fresh leaves and then redo the chopped leaves which, being much denser, compact the whole leaves I had just done. Even still I ended up needing to make two passes to clear the windrows (which usually happen on the MCS side of the mower), but this cleanup pass was just fine.

Like many things it's all about compromise. The MCS does a decent job at most of the stuff I throw at it, it's a cinch to remove when I pull into the shed, there's no separate motor to maintain, and I don't need to tow a cart. However the lack of a separate motor means there's less power for large amounts of materials (like in the fall) and it clogs more easily; and the lack of a tow cart means that I need to empty the bags frequently. There's a good reason why the higher end systems are more expensive and larger. I simply needed to figure out a good technique to deal with the limitations of the tools I have available and I think it's an acceptable compromise over upgrading to a big Cyclone system.

 

[RalphVa]

Just grind up the leaves by going around, discharging inward so that you keep regrinding the same leaves. When the machine has trouble maintaining speed, reverse direction for a couple rounds. Then turn around and discharge inward again. Used to do this on our 4 to 5 acre lawn at our church property in NJ with several big oak trees on it. The leaves were small enough to not smother the grass.

Before this, they had an impossible-to-maintain Sears tractor with mowing deck underneath, a big engine sitting behind the driver's seat and sucking from a duct off the mowing deck discharging to a trailer behind with a canvas house over it. Unbelievably noisey affair.

Even better is to simply use a mulching mower. That's all I've ever used on my own property.

Ralph

 

[WH401]

Have you ever tried Gator blades?, I have heard they chop the material up in to much smaller pieces than what a regular blade could. That sounds like it would help your blockage problem.

 

[CHDinCT]

Camillit:
I went back to and would recommend a cyclone rake. If I were to buy one again I'd buy a DR unit (instead of the 'cyclone rake' per say) since they blow less dust and empty much easier. Either way you'll be happy with a rear unit.

Camillit,

Not sure how old your Cyclone rake is or which model you have. I bought mine in 2004 and called them on an issue with the black plastic baffle that hangs down from the screen. That's when I found out they were offering an upgraded bag that is bigger (285 gal's vs 200) and is wedge shaped so the back end is wider than the front, supposedly to ease emptying. My 2004 unit has some webbing at the lower back corners (plus being square), it's difficult to empty. Anyway, they quoted me about $150 for the new bag that would go on my existing frame. It comes with two wings you mount to the back frame that allow you to move the frame outward at each side. I didn't get it for this year since I'm almost done with leaves, but I'll probably pick it up for next year.