Good job! Yeah, we have used a cyclone rake before and boy does it fill up fast.


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Good job! Yeah, we have used a cyclone rake before and boy does it fill up fast.

I would consider one but I don't have enough storage as it is. It's many dumps of the Craftsman triple bagger for me. This time of year I'm lucky if I can do one perimeter trip of the yard before the bagger is full and the lift tube is clogged.

boy does it fill up fast - How fast it fills up depends on how much you let leaves build up before picking them up. I prefer picking up several times rather than waiting until they are all down, like the pictures posted at the daughter-in-law’s mom’s front yard. Her backyard still had many more to come down.

I don't have enough storage as it is - It’s amazing how little space the Cyclone Rake takes unless you leave it set up like I do, mainly because I don’t like lifting the engine-blower unit off the trailer frame. Cyclone Rake website has pictures showing how it folds up, hangs on the wall for storage. Estate Vacuum hose would take up the most space, but even it comes apart rather easily with snap latches. My Scotts is only a two bag unit. When it filled traveling once across a 100’ 1/2 acre lot, I got so sore climbing Off-On each unload, 11 times on one lot, X3 lots. That’s when I decided to do something different and was fortunate to have helped a friend and saw how effective the Cyclone Rake is.

 

Just finished my 2nd round of leaf clean up with the X500/ 48" deck / Cyclone Rake yesterday. Took 5 unloads. Compare that minor dumping work to hours of raking, raking onto big tarps, dragging to the pile, then returning to rake up piles again...ugh, hate to even think of it now.

Cyclone Rake is a huge benefit, sucks up almost anything you can run the mower over, even wet matted leaves.

One recent improvement is the addition of G5 Gator blades that I find tend to chop leaves/sticks/grass a lot finer than standard blades. I can pack more into the bin this way. I'm guessing I get one "free" load for every 5 loads dumped.

 

Nice setup!! I’ve got the DR Power version, but yeah.... once you have a leaf vac set up you can’t imagine life without one. I’ll end up doing 18-20 loads with mine.. don’t want to thinking about how many trips that would be with a rake and tarp.

 

I would consider one but I don't have enough storage as it is. It's many dumps of the Craftsman triple bagger for me. This time of year I'm lucky if I can do one perimeter trip of the yard before the bagger is full and the lift tube is clogged.

 

Re Storage:
Yep, my Cyclone Rake Commander model just folds up and stands along the side wall of the garage with the blower rolled under my workbench. I keep the hose out back in my shed but could just as easily rig up a bracket in the garage rafters to keep it up and out of the way. All assembles in just a few minutes, same with break down and storage. Fittings are of highest quality I've seen.

I also use it every mowing, spring, summer, fall and early winter. Around here, leaves start dropping about end of September, and keep coming down into mid November, so right about now is the heaviest weekly leaf burden.
I usually do a final run including clearing the roof, gutters, flower beds and drainage ditches near Thanksgiving. Then its power washing the deck, repainting the underside, grease, blade sharpening and put away. I also power wash the CR blower housings to clear anything that might have stuck on the inside surfaces.

All season, no clippings, no mulching worries, long grass, short grass, leaves, sticks, doesn't matter.....all get packed and dumped with ease.

 

Don't some of them have a mulching feature on the impeller as well?? Seems to me, that would be a really good idea for leaves.....

 

My buddy that I got my X540 and Cyclone from, said it came with a 4 blade impeller, and he upgraded to a five blade. I don’t know if it’s better. I’ve only used it as I got it.

 

All leaves get mulched, some more than others. I had dry maple leaves mulch to 1/2” size, but some green oak leaves maybe 2” or bigger. If they are damp, it packs tight enough to be work to pull them out with a steel rake.

 

emptying the cyclone is the only weakpoint I found about the unit! right now I'm still winterizing the resort but this coming week I'll be at leaf pick up again! I'm going to try building a box that fits inside the hopper and see if I can pull the box out to empty it!
I know dumping is easier before it gets completely full, but it's a long ride back to where I dump! I know I'll have a least 30 loads!

 

The Cyclone Rake impellers are designed to flex with specific spacing between them and the blower housing. It allows rocks, large sticks etc., to pass through without jamming and without breaking the impeller blades. Most information is that they are not intended to shred anything, although they do break up dry leaves and sticks pretty well. There is a difference in the fineness of the material when used on the mower deck, and when just using the suction pipe to clear piles of leaves. Raking piles of leave near the end of the pipe makes them disappear, quick!

I confess that I've abused my CR somewhat by running over 1.5" sticks that made an awful racket going first through the deck blades, then up through the impeller blades but made it in 2 or 3 inch chunks into the CR bin. (Gee, they didn't look that big from the tractor seat).

Mine is the 4 blade impeller, but I've heard of folks adding steel "teeth" or tire rubber based extensions to these, but remember, the impellers are of a certain plastic formula with a certain flex designed in. Adding stuff like that adds stresses not considered in the design. I'd hate to be around when some jagged steel tooth bar ripped off the end of an impeller blade running at speed.

Nope, the CR does its job just as it should. Keep it clean, grease the wheels, and change the oil and air filters, and it will go on, and on, and on. I guess if my impeller were to be damaged somehow, I'd look into a 5 bladed replacement and only if it was sold by Woodland Power Products, the CR manufacturer.

Henry Ford said if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Applies in the case of the CR, in my opinion.

 

Another great cleanup day. Roughly 15-16 loads of nice dry stuff at son’s, his mother-in-law’s backyard, and my 90 yr old friend‘s that lives across the road from her. Even the snow that came at the end didn’t present any problem. Just wish I hadn’t dropped my long hose and broke the plastic end. 😞 Still a fair number of leaves on the trees at all three places.

 

"dropped and broke it" those things are tough I beat up on mine like it's made of steel, falls off the top of the machine,falls out of gator at 15mph,gets thrown as far as I can some days!

 

It wasn’t a Cyclone Rake hose end. A friend had given me a DR hose and end. I had already replaced the hose with the heavy duty hose from Cyclone Rake. After sucking up leaves and acorns from the ditch across the street, there was a lot of damp dirt that stuck to the inside of the hose along with a couple of sticks and acorns. I’ll have to order the tip from Cyclone Rake. For yesterday, there were some big piles that had been raked up where I just unhooked the hose from the mower deck adapter and used my feet to shove leaves toward the hose. Went pretty quick and easy until I got rid of the piles.

Does anyone have experience with the new hose end that Cyclone Rake has with the metal handle? Is it as good as the plastic bent tube? I have used one of those plastic ends at my friends house and liked it. Looks like the new design is intended to keep the hose closer to the ground so you’re not holding the weight of the hose as much.

 

You can unlatch the chute that goes into the hopper, four snap latches, rotate it a 1/4 turn, unlatch the tube going to the mower deck, same 4 latches. Hook up another suction tube and you can suck the hopper out in seconds. It will blow the contents over a fence. Or, hook up the long tube and blow them into a pile 20ft high if you want. You can also use the L shaped plastic vacuum tube and fill Paper Yard Waste bags. Very versatile.

 

• you can suck the hopper out in seconds. - When the leaves are dry, probably so, but I pick up as many damp or wet leaves that pack in so tight I wouldn’t want to run them through the blower again, especially not in seconds.
• It will blow the contents over a fence. - I’ve done the 1/4 turn and just driven the tractor blowing leaves into the woods with good results.
• fill Paper Yard Waste bags. - with the amount of air coming out of the blower, I can’t imagine setting a paper bag in front of that let alone trying to catch debris.

I do agree everything Cyclone Rake does seems to be well thought out, tested, proven to work, and heavy duty. Since redoing some stitching on the bag that was letting loose, the unit is as good as new. If I don’t run the MDA into too many things, it will still last as long as I’ll want to use it. Now just need to get one for my son to use on his own yard. 😲 😉 Maybe an early Christmas present.

 

Got a second Cyclone Rake Commander Pro from the gracious MTF member raisin1. Spent yesterday making a second hitch for my son’s X730.

After mounting 1.5” steel angle vertical to the lower hitch pin brackets, I found the most ridged method was to be bolted in place. The standard Cyclone Rake hitch plate had two issues for me. The hitch didn’t extend far enough to the rear and the standard holes in the short leg for mounting to the tractor were very close to the sides of the angle rather than in the center. So I made another large aluminum hitch plate like my original one and bolted it to the two steel angles. While trying to mount my original hitch to the X730, the pin on the left went in easily. However, the right one would not. We ground the pin hole more, but was running out of material. We removed the short angle pieces bolted to the tractor hitch plate. Caution, the rear bolt on the left side won’t come out without removing the two bolts holding the tractor hitch plate to the frame. Swapped the two short angles and bolted them in place with both pins installed through the Cyclone hitch brackets. Thought I might have to adjust the two Cyclone hitches, but was pleased when both hitch pins dropped in fairly easily.

Then we put the MDA (Mower Deck Adapter) up to the deck and found we needed to increase the opening to the front and added a slot at the rear of the opening. The top of the MDA was 1/2” above the deck. The provided mounting bracket had an offset which if turn upside down was 2” above the deck top. We didn’t want to drill holes in the deck, so we added 1/2” plywood on top the deck, which also helped cover excess hole in the top center of MDA. We changed the deck carriage bolts that normally mount the discharge chute to longer bolts, added washers on top and wing nuts to make it quick to remove the MDA for mowing. Then using 1.5“ x 8” metal straps from Home Depot, match drilled straps using the original bracket to mount the MDA using the original holes, drilled two more holes to mount the straps to the 1/2” plywood with carriage bolts and locknuts. Mounting was pretty ridged. Extra straps were bought if we needed more rigidity, but seemed unnecessary for now.

Finally, on to leaf pickup. A nice clean sweep, but as usual with Deere decks, a little blowout to the front right. Didn’t let it stop us though. Even tested the Power Vacuum Pickup.

Overall, very pleased with the outcome and it ran great! Thanks raisin1.

 

I can vouch for the 1/4 turn on the output chute method to blow material out into the woods. I have a ridge right where I dump my bin. I dump right in front of it with several piles left there. Then, the last item of the day is to rotate the output chute toward the woods, and just rake or back pack blow those piles toward the intake hose laying on the ground. Easy, and an oddly satisfying use of a leaf rake.

Only leaves left now are those Oak leaves, still falling so not quite done yet