Snowblower Lawn Sweep Picks Up Grass, Leaves

Snowblower Lawn Sweep Picks Up Grass Leaves FARM HOME Miscellaneous “It keeps my lawn looking nice and virtually eliminates the need to do any raking by hand ” says Marvin Hechel Neshkoro Wis who converted an old walk-behind snowblower into a pull-type lawn sweeper     The machine blows leaves and grass into a homemade trailer It’s equipped with a 4-ft wide sweeper mounted in front of a 4-ft wide auger and blower which was made by welding together the augers off two different walk-behind snowblowers Power is provided by a 6 1/2 hp Briggs & Stratton engine which belt-drives both the sweeper and the auger Hechel uses his 1974 Roper 16 hp garden tractor to pull it     “The sweeper throws everything into the auger The blower sucks the material out and blows it through a homemade 6-in dia curved metal spout into the trailer ” says Hechel     He bought the snowblower at a junkyard for $10     The snowblower was 32 in wide but the sweeper is 4 ft wide so he bought a second snowblower for $5 cut its auger to length and welded the two augers together     He bought the sweeper at a hardware store for $40 He mounted bearings on each end and ran a steel shaft through the middle     The rig rides on an angle iron frame supported by a pair of swivel wheels on front and snowblower wheels spaced farther apart on back A pipe with a steel shaft welded into each end forms the axle     He used sheet metal and plywood to build the trailer which measures 3 ft wide by 4 ft long and has 3-ft high sides It rides on wheelbarrow tires     “A metal rod extends from the blower pipe up and around the engine and then hooks onto the trailer so whenever I turn a corner the spout turns too ” says Hechel “It always keeps the leaves blowing right into the trailer no matter which way I turn ” He screwed together 2-ft sections of stove pipe to make the blower spout         “It makes quite a sight When they see me operating it my neighbors ask me if I’m going into farming again ” says Hechel “But it makes my lawn work fast and easy I dump the leaves in a pile and grind them in a home-built grinder I also use it to do work for three or four neighbors ”     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Marvin Hechel W423 County Rd E Neshkoro Wis 54960 ph 920 293-4731

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