[Matt Hougan]

I have been pumped to find more uses for my John Deere 318. I recently purchased a Agri-Fab leaf vac. I think the 8 hp Tecumseh engine is shot. It smokes like crazy and leaks oil pretty bad when it runs. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed.

Today we were sitting around the shop talking about what to do with my big POS leaf vac. I think I may have found a 11hp Honda engine that will really suck up the leaves.

Since my leaf vac failed me yesterday I had to use my leaf blower and my big tarp to collect leaves for a residential customer. I had no idea how I was going to haul the leaves to the mulch place. I decided to try and drag the tarp full of leaves into my empty 16' enclosed trailer. It worked like a champ. The guys at the mulcc place laughed until they saw how quickly I unloaded and was gone. I like figuring out a new process... Now I figure I can dump the leaf vac onto the tarp in a line then drag that onto the trailer and off to the mulch place for a dump.....

So then we got to thinking about a 12' or bigger enclosed trailer dedicated to leaf removal. Heres our idea.

12'-16' enclosed trailer. Mount a 11+ horizontal shaft engine on the tongue with a vacuum. Pipe the vac into the top of the enclosed trailer. Then we tried thinking of ways to get the leaves out of the trailer when I thought of a conveyor floor. That would enable us to pile the leaves on the street curb and just pull up to the piles and suck them up......

Here is the lawn I finished up today. Leaves sucked up with the 318 and the Agri-Fab.

Finished up with a mow from my 61" Wright Stander.......Nice!

 

[F250Highboy77]

My brother-in-law has a lawn care co and they have a 1-ton with high sides and a top and have a huge 4 cyl gas engine runnin a sucker hose mounted on a trailer. The hose is about 12" in diam and all they use it for is leaves. I have seen this thing work and it amazed me how fast they had the fellas yard cleaned up. I think you have a great idea going there.

 

[krm944]

I think it's northern tool at sells the rolling floor conveyor belt for trucks. Leaves aren't super heavy...should work fine but trailers are lower to the ground...


EDIT- i can't upload pics with my iPad..there are tons of conveyor belt floors when i googled them. $75 bucks. They are hand cranks, but with a bit of thinking you can add a small electrical motor and pulleys with a remote control.




Kyle

 

[cranky1]

yeah "load handler" like for the bed of a pick up. It'syour tarp concept except it lays on the floor of truck/ trailer and you simply turn the crank handle to wind it up and it of course drags the leaves out with it.

 

[pianotuner]

The agrifab really chops the leaves. They will be HEAVY. I actually use them for land fill.

 

[Moon_Man]

You could always just put a tarp down on the floor when the trailer is empty and then pull the entire tarp out to dump. That way, even if the tarp is heavy, you can pull it out with the tractor. Much cleaner than a moving floor, I would think.

 

[Vonrow]

back when I did lawns, I laid out a 30x30 tarp, and either raked, blew, or emptied the lawn vac onto the tarp. once done collecting, we took the tarp by all 4 corners and slung it onto the trailer. I'd get about 5 or 6 tarps on the trailer and then off to the compost heap.

 

[ironroad38]

Load handlers kick ***, I got my at HF with a 20% off coupon and it has paid for itself many times over and this is the cheap model. they made a heavy duty model with metal brackets and bearings, but I had unload a cubic yard of gravel in just a few seconds.

http://youtu.be/qSLLb4Q8gsw

 

[SonnyT]

I have a Loadhandler that I use in the trailer and the pickup. Haven't used it for gravel, but lots of other stuff. It unloads leaves and mulch real easily.:fing32:

 

[gburnett]

I have a just the leaf sucker for you it has a 12" hose,was used to clean out culverts and runs off a 4 cylinder Hercules diesel engine.You can suck up leaves,sticks,rocks,cats or whatever.

 

[slkpk]

I have a Loadhandler that I use in the trailer and the pickup. Haven't used it for gravel, but lots of other stuff. It unloads leaves and mulch real easily.:fing32:

I had one on my S10 and it worked great once I took out the rubber bed liner:banghead3 slkpk

 

[marlboro180]

A Versa-Vac on the tongue,

and a Loaddhandler in the trailer

Sounds like a great idea!

 

[Vangellis]

I had one on my S10 and it worked great once I took out the rubber bed liner:banghead3 slkpk

I just started using my loadhandler for firewood and picking up 1/2 ton loads of coal from the breaker. I have a plastic liner in my Ford Ranger which I sprayed with fluid film..........and the stuff rolls right out, no problem.:fing32:

Thing works great.







Kevin