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ronhatch

BEST LAWN SWEEPER?

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ronhatch

I am considering buying a lawn sweeper to compliment  my tractor mount power vacuum system.  I'm looking for recommendations based  on how well different brands pick up stuff and how well they hold up without stripping out gears, etc, etc. 

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gwest_ca

It was the design of this Agrifab 44" that got my attention.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=agrifab+44+sweeper&qpvt=agrifab+44+sweeper&FORM=IGRE

The axles for the wheels are fixed. It is the brush that gets raised and lowered. The early models were junk. The later versions have a mesh on the back panel of the hopper. These also have tighter tolerances for the wheels and roller clutches that seem to work much better. 

We do not use the tube to dump as it was awkward. Added a rope that goes around the seat back of the tractor and then goes back to the hopper. It is easier to grab from the left or right. Another change I made was to add an electric linear actuator to control brush height. Only drilled one new 1/4" hole in the end panel to mount the bottom of a new brush height scale. The actuator mount is clamped to the square crossbar like the tow bar. The tow bar can be mounted anywhere along the crossbar to offset the sweeper from the tractor.

We often go quite a distance to dump and the brush gets raised so it is just going for a ride. When we come back we lower the brush until it starts moving new material. Never have to stop and the brush is at the ideal height and not overstressed. Six inches of leaves will jamb the brush up solid. Taking about 2" layers at a time with multiple passes is easily accomplished and never get out of the seat. Gave it to my 91 year old dad to use on his 2 acres and never got it back. Will get a picture of the actuator the next time I'm there.

 

Garry

 

Adding

The unit knocks down for storage quite well.

The drawbar will swing left or right against the crossbar.

Once the hopper is removed the support arms it hangs on fold into the housing.

The hopper will collapse to almost flat.

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WVHillbilly520H

Got the same one as Garry, so far has exceeded my expectations vs the old one I had @gwest_ca, awesome idea on the electric brush height , Jeff.

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ronhatch

I like the Ohio Steel unit that has a set of spiraled brushes so there is less contact at any one time with the ground thereby reducing the stress on the nylon gears. I also like the Brinkly unit that has 3 brushes around the shaft for a better sweeping action, but of course. that would add to the strain on the drive gears.  But then again I like the AgriFab unit because it's on sale, it's sold by Blain's Farm and Fleet that is only a couple of miles from me and also the fact that they're made in my home state of Illinois.  Now, if only I could put all of this together in one unit! 

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