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Peco Vac Conversion

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sblunier

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 4, 2006
Messages
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Steve Blunier "Mr. Plow" (Central IL)
Decided to convert my Peco Vac to trailer mounted collection system.....

Lengthened the trailer tongue on my old cart, transferred the Peco Vac motor and blower over, then worked on the chute adapter/mount for the 54" deck and finally the "silage wagon".

Still waiting on new hoses and a few small details....

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Steve-

It looks like you will be dumping manually?? I have a similar project but plan on using an electric/hydraulic system. My trailer will be a bit larger and on leaf springs. I will be making a chute for mine as well maybe from scratch. I know they can be bought but they are pricey. The flex pipe is rather expensive too. I like your exhaust; it looks like it will work well.

These systems are probably the most work saving machines ever invented.

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I EPayed the flex tube...found a source for 6" clear reinforced PVC (UV stabilized) leaf vac hose by Flexaust (same as comes on Cyclone Rakes, etc.) for right at $10/foot....not cheap, but not bad either. 6" x 12' shipped to my door for $118......I thought that was more than fair considering what some places charge for it. Now just waiting for it to show up.

Yes, mine is all manual. I don't have a huge amount of trees, but the park next door does and I end up with most of them stuck in my fence, ditch, retaining walls, etc. I just got tired of the cloth bag system on the original set up.

This will also give me a chance to try grass clipping mulch on the garden. About half way through the growing season, when the plants get too big to cultivate around, I may try the 2" of grass clipping mulch concept and see how that works for extended weed control....this set up will make that easy...
 
Finished.....

Ended up putting a Harbor Freight Honda copy on it and making a few more tweaks...including a muffler extension pipe....

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I give up........turn your head if you want to see them....
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Bunch o bits just dumped out of my laptop... I've wanted to replace the hose on my Scag Vac setup - it's starting to show it's age - and I like the idea of clear, so I can spot the start of plugging. Going to do some searches... Thanks!
 
Steve-

Let us know how the vac system has worked out. Do you just pull the hose out of the trailer when you dump? I'd like to see a video on the dump task itself and what it involves. I've got to get my system finished for the garden as well like you mentioned. I've heard a lot of good things about the mulching and weeds are my biggest enemy every year.

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Used the vac trailer on LOTS of leaves last Friday......ended up with 6 full trailer loads that blew into my fence line from the park next door. Had it on my 365L Cub Cadet ZTR with 54" deck. Worked very well. Once per load I would shut off the deck and vac engine and allow the screen vent to clear of packed leaves for best performance.

I didn't dump, just opened rear door and raked/shoveled the shredded clippings out with a grain shovel....quick and easy....
 
Pics......

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Had a tire that has been going down forever (2 different tubes, no burrs in rim, etc.......it's actually flat in the pic with the ZTR...

Finally got fed up and put run flats on it......need to paint the rims though.....

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Steve-

Your outfit seems to be doing a fine job. That's my goal to have piles of ground leaves in the garden then spread them with a front blade like gravel in a parking lot. I should have been doing it for years now. I'd also like to start a large compost pile...something else I should've been doin'. I will have plenty of leaves for both as always.

Nice job!

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Wayne, as you likely already know, just remember if you use a large amount of leaves in your garden it will tie up the nitrogen for a while as the leaves are breaking down but will release it again once they are broken down. Soooo, you might want to add a small amount of nitrogen rich fertilizer. Or just monitor your plants for nitrogen deficiency. EDIT: I use leaves as a mulch around plants in the garden and it works great. At the end of the growing season I use the Cub to mulch them and then til them in, basically sheet composting them. I use a mixture of Oak and Maple leaves but NEVER use Black Walnut leaves as they are toxic to other plants.
 
Thanks Kraig, that's good to know. I have a bunch of clover growing in and around the garden and I think that will help with the lack of nitrogen. There's also an old road bed I've been fighting for years now that goes through a portion of the garden. I'm just trying to get some quality soil in place by loading that area up with ground leaves/organics. I've also noticed the ground leaves don't last any time at all. Once they are turned/tilled in they're gone in a short while. I also plan to incorporate grass clippings during the summer once I get my machine up and running (or built one might say).

I would have copied Steve and gone with a smaller unit for the season but my blower engine is an 8hp Briggs which is a little big. The trailer I build will have a stage and plenty of room for the lift mechanics/battery, etc. I also need to build the exhaust chute for a 44a deck as well as adapt the blower from a square opening to 6" round.

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Wayne, the clover, being nitrogen fixing, will certainly help.
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Steve, nice work as usual.
I have a #40 Easy Vac & #4 IH cart that I bought 40 years ago ,that I still use for fall leaf cleanup. Have upgraded engine a 4 hp to 5 hp on the vac & started with a 128 (42"), then a 1450 (44"), to a 1811(44") & now an 882 (50"). I did put Gator Blades on the deck & that helps shred grass & leaves very well. Many times I will preshred grass & leaves a week before vacuuming. After composting pile for two years it makes excellent compost for wife's flower mound.
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PAUL, STEVE, - After years, about 15-16 years of pulling around a 32 inch Parker lawn sweeper, SON finally got his wish, he pulled it with his 129, it fell apart, The light pipe frame fatigued and fell apart. I'd been looking for a vacuum unit for several years, found a couple, the one at Statz was sold minutes after it entered their yard, mechanic bought it. Dad saw a CC with a vac unit parked along US Rt 6 just west of Ill. Rt 84. Guy would NOT split up tractor and vac, had to take both, I should have bought it and sold the tractor. So about 1998 I started gathering parts, a K-161 from an Original Dad had, bought 500# of various sizes of steel, bought a 3.50x4 wheel/tire, two 4-bolt face mount bearing flanges, and built a vac similar to one Trac-Vac made. The blower and engine is on it's own frame semi-mounted, blower is 16 inch diameter by 6 inch wide 4-blade impeller, hub is solid 6 inch steel round bar with 1 inch hole bored and 3/16" keyway broached. Some government jobs went thru the machine shop at work on that hub. The sides & top on my cart are all steel, about 14 ga IIRC. I used aluminum expanded metal from our old satellite TV dish for vents top and front, my cart is a bit smaller than Steve's, 42 inch long x 32 inch wide by 36 inch tall. I've made 2-3 major revisions to the blower. IF I had it to do again, I would make the blower larger in diameter, about 20, maybe 22 inches, use 8 inch hoses and increase the size of the chute on the discharge of the mower, blower inlet and outlet. I used hose similar to Steve at first, spiral wound smooth bore opaque vinyl with a high tensile wire wound into the vinyl, it lasted about 2 years. I've used non-perforated black plastic drainage tile since then, the corrigations make no difference and it holds up better, but I can still throw an acorn thru it occasionally. I know Wyatt posted pic's here of my setup.

Wyatt came out one Sunday when I was vacuuming, He had his Gator's on the deck on his 169. I'd vacuumed all day Saturday and on Sunday vacuuming where Wyatt mowed the amount of leaves I picked up was reduced by about a third, maybe close to half. There was a huge cloud of dust surrounding Wyatt and his 169, pulverized leaves!

The last time I vaccumed I started about Noon, maybe 1 PM on a Mental Health Friday. Son got home from work about 4:00, Wife about 5:00, Son left to hang with friends about 6, got home about 11-12 Midnight. I'm still out vacuuming a load of clippings and leaves about every 15 minutes. No stops for a bite to eat, an occasional beverage and gas stop for tractor and vac, Finally done about 2 AM Saturday morning. Saturmday afternoon I took the vac off and hooked up the aerator. Sunday I aerated the yard twice, once N&S, once E&W. When I was done Sunday I had put 25 hours on the 72. Pulling that vac was a REAL load for the K-241 in that #72. I did vacuum once or twice with the K-321 in the #72, The extra HP really helps.

If I tried to put a vac on my TANK, I'd have to use my BIG Pronovost P-503 cart. I'd fill my little cart in 4-5 minutes. And I'm not sure 8 inch hoses would be big enough. The BIG Maple trees are even bigger now, so more leaves, I just mulch them now. Last time I vacuumed I lost track of how many loads after 25. With the bigger trees I bet there would be 35-40 loads now.
 
Denny, I believe these are the photos that Wyatt took of your vac setup. His old truck is in the background of the last photo.

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Kraig -Yes, That's it. Wyatt's old #73 is the tractor in the background of picture #4, upper right corner. Wyatt must have caught me getting ready to vacuum a couple loads, one picture there's no cart behind the vac unit, and no back door on the cart when it is hooked up. With the back door on the cart has a huge rear weight bias. But the profile shot with Wyatt's white F-250 shows the hiitch point of the cart on the vac unit. I could trim around anything and not have the cart get into it, AS LONG as I drove straight away from it, If I turned away from whatever I was trimming around the cart would crash into it. For the most part it made three tracks in the grass, the rear tractor tires with the cart tires running in them, and the caster wheel.
I only ever ran the motor on the vac about half throttle, the K-181 pulled the blower easily. It was fun watching it suck leaves under the mower deck from six inches away from the deck. Back then I smoked, I'd toss a cig ahead of the deck and quickly look back into the cart and if I was quick I could see a flash as the cig went into the cart.

I think the lawn sweeper cleaned the lawn cleaner, fewer leaves left, but having to empty the sweeper into a cart, then empty a cart was way too much manual labor. I wanted to put a unloading chain conveyor in my cart like a full size silage wagon so I could unload the whole BRICK of leaves & clippings. They were packed in almost as hard as a bale of hay! I've seen remote furnaces farmers have built that burned big round hay bales in Farmshow magazine, I did think about making a furnace to burn my leaf bales. I could feed them into the furnace with one of the loader tractors. Would have been cheap heat for the shop.
 
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