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wkashner

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wayne kashner
Looking to fabricate a leaf rake to work in an old cemetery (a volunteer project). It took about 20+ hours to do the project this year using an Agri-Fab lawn sweeper, a lawn rake and a blue tarp. There are many trees that make a heap of leaves and my thinking is to construct some type of rake that can be mounted on the snow blade attached to a Cub Cadet 149. That way the leaves can be pushed down each row and into the bordering woodlot. I have seen some manufactured rakes on the internet but since this is the only place it would be used, I'm trying not to spend a fortune on it. Also, my preference would be to push the leaves ahead of the machine while moving forward. Has anyone seen a homemade device that would perform this work?
 
My parents have one like the one that Scott posted a link to. I've never tried it on leaves but it does work great with grass clippings. I forgot about it, I should give it a try on leaves but I have a feeling the snow will cover them before I get a chance. I have used a rotary broom on leaves and they work great. I have a beat up old Dexter Sweepster brand rotary broom but the brushes are worn out and I've not used it in years. Replacement brushes are about $500 and I can't justify the cost. It worked great for snow removal too. Is the rotary broom design what you had in mind?

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I was thinking along the lines of attaching some tines to a length of pipe type. Or using a piece of angle steel and attach tines to that and then remove the cutting edge from the snowblade and attach the angle steel to that. I'm really not committed to any plan right now and have until next fall to get my ducks in a row. I'm keeping my eyes open for old (worn out)farm implements (like an old hay rake) that can maybe provide some usable parts for this project. As Kraig said, I can't justify a lot of expense for this.
 
Wayne, perhaps a dethatcher would work for what you have in mind. You could probably use the one in the link below and attach it to your blade frame. If you keep it up off of the ground a slight bit it might rake the leaves.

DETHATCHER

This is the rotary rake that my parents have: RAKE
 
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

I've also considered mounting a furnace fan or blower on the front of the tractor, driving it off of the PTO, to make a super blower. A front snowthrower bracket or a generator bracket could be used. The outlet would need to be necked down to increase the velocity.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

<font size="-1">Interesting concept...</font>
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I turned a gas powered push type leaf vacuum into a blower by using hot-air duct elbows...works pretty good.
Now about furnace blowers...can they be safely spun fast enough to make them blow well? Will necking them down really give a good wind?
Tune in next time when Scott and others have the Great Blower Buildoff. Go for it guys !!
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Wayne, Scott, Allen: The output of a furnace-type blower is already moving at a relatively high velocity. Technically, the equipment is known as a centrifugal fan because the forward-curved blades "chop" the air and fling it out against the housing. So, with its typically rectangular output cross-section, 95% of the air (give-or-take) is moving through just 5% of the area --the outer edge of the blower housing. As Allen suggests, all you need to do is direct the flow where you want it, similar to the output chute on a typical snow thrower.

It would be cool if the blower could be rigged to turn like a snow-thrower chute; power the blower off the PTO. This has got me thinking about something for my own yard . . .
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Did a little Googleing(sp) and found that most furnace blowers (centrif. fan) have an RPM range of 900-1100 RPM. Have no idea how much more RPM can be added before bad things happen. Just threw this in if someone needed to figure pully ratios between the PTO and blower pully.
 
I built a yard blower a few years ago using a motor mount from an old snow blower mounted to the top of a furnace blower, axle welded underneath and the handle from an old lawn mower. I built this because I was tired of moving the good one (similar to a Troy Built unit) back and forth from our cabin. I worked, but not as good as the commercial one. One problem was I had to have a screen on the air intake and it was always blocking with leaves. Another point - and this hold true for all centrifugal blowers - is that they are designed to work against a specific back pressure, so a portion of the outlet needs to be blocked - I used a vehicle license plate and duct tape to test it out and when I got the right (maximum air movement) , I made a permanent cover that could also be tilted to adjust the air stream. Note that you can test this out on an electric powered blower by using an amp-probe and varying the blockage - One blower I've got will draw 16 amps when not properly "tuned" and 7 amps when proper, with a noticeable increase in air velocity when it's right..

I just question whether you'll be able to move any large amount of leaves if your "alleys" are very long - I can see them piling up and over the top of the push rake you have in mind and as far as a blower type, you may blow a path, but not push the leaves - if you've used any type of yard blower, you'll note you have to keep swing it back and forth, kind of "herding" the leaves ahead. The best yard blower I have now is my Scag Tiger Cub - drop the deck to 2" or less and take the safety chute off the side, run back and forth along the edge of the leaf pile and it'll move the leaves five feet or more on every pass. Saves on the back too...
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I have not raked leaves in years. I just mow through them and leave the chopped bits around the yard. But then I don't have Oak trees. I have Birch, Maple and Ash trees and their leaves break down rather quickly. There are Oak trees across the road from my place and some of their leaves do blow into my yard but not in enough numbers to worry about. My brother has Oak trees in his yard. He has to rake and bag them to get rid of them as he lives in town. He hauls the bags to my place and empties them into my garden. I then mow through the pile and scatter the leaves and till them in. My neighbor to the north has a tow behind vac and he collects his leaves and dumps them in my garden as well. Gotta like free, minimal work, organic material for my garden.
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This year my neighbor dumped a bumper crop of leaves. I mowed some of them and tilled them in already but left most of them in the pile along one edge of the garden to use as mulch next year to reduce weeding. My brother has not yet delivered his leaves this fall, the bum has been too busy.
 
WAYNE - You might want to search the local video site for "garden tractor leaf blowers" and see what comes up. I've seen a video of what you're describing, a garden tractor mounted & powered leaf blower on steroids. I seem to remember it blowing waves of leaves 20-30 feet.
 
Wayne, add a plywood upper "blade" to a dethatcher rake mounted to your blade subframe and go for it.
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I just came across this, thought it's not tractor mounted, I thought it might be of interest to some here.

LEAF VAC
 
That blower setup is quite the unit. I found a used 28" Snapper Thatcherizer at a flea market and will keep my eyes open for another one of similar size. Plan is to fasten them together with angle steel and then attach to the snow blade frame on the CC 149...or the bucket on the CC Sc2450.
 

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