"Leaf Sucker" Picked Up Nine Tons Of Leaves Last Year

"Leaf Sucker" Picked Up Nine Tons Of Leaves Last Year FARM HOME Miscellaneous 27-2-32 Larry Seiter, Conway, Ark., turned an 18-in. dia. impeller vacuum that he obtained at work into a giant capacity 3-pt. mounted, pto-operated leaf vacuum. The rig sucks up leaves in a 6-ft. wide path, breaks them up into little pieces, and blows them into a high-sided wagon. Seiter uses his Ford 3000 35 hp tractor to pull the machine, which is painted Deere green and yellow. "I call it the Leaf Sucker 2000 because I built it in 2000. It keeps my lawn looking nice and virtually eliminates the need to do any raking by hand," says Seiter. The fan mounts on a frame made from 4-in. channel iron that's supported by a pair of large caster wheels. The vacuum hood mounts directly behind the fan and is made out of two sheets of 3/4-in. thick, pressure treated plywood. The fan was originally powered by a 20 hp electric motor and operated at 3,600 rpm's. Seiter calculated how many rpm's the pto-operated fan needed to run in order to get the vacuuming power needed to pick up leaves. Then he hooked a jackshaft up to the pto and installed a 24-in. dia. pulley on the fan shaft. "The fan now runs at 2,200 rpm's, which provides about 3,000 cubic ft./min. of air. It only takes about 5 hp off my tractor so I hardly even know it's behind me," says Seiter. A 6-in. dia., 40-ft. long flexible plastic hose connects to the side of the machine. By sliding a board through the hood, Seiter can shut off the vacuum to the main hood and direct all the vacuum to the hose. "I used it for the first time last fall on my 3-acre lawn and also on my neighbors' lawns, and it worked great. I also used it on the tree-covered grounds of a club that I belong to. The cage has a capacity of about 400 lbs. All together I picked up about nine tons of leaves. My machine covers a wider area than most commercial rigs, which are limited to a 4-ft. area, and it also has a lot more suction. It's also more compact which makes it easier to maneuver around flower beds and corners of buildings. The 6-in. hose has tremendous capacity. "Originally I blew the leaves into a cage mounted on a 2-wheel trailer behind the fan. However, I couldn't negotiate around trees very well so I decided to mount the cage directly on the leaf sucker." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Larry Seiter, 14 Rooster Rd., Conway, Ark. 72032 (ph 501 327-1995).

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