Wood Chipper Converted To Leaf Vac-Shredder

Wood Chipper Converted To Leaf Vac-Shredder FARM HOME Lawn Mowers 31h 38 Ron Byelich turned a used 2-wheeled wood chipper into a trailer-mounted leaf vacuum-shredder He uses the machine along with a 20-ft long 6-in dia flexible hose designed for lawn vacs or garden tractors to suck up leaves from flower beds and around his house The vac-shredder mounts on a small platform on front of the trailer and shreds the leaves and blows them into it Byelich uses his Deere garden tractor to pull the 8 by 4-ft trailer which has 4-ft high plywood sides and a plastic floor The tongue sets on a homemade 2-wheeled dolly He uses a backpack blower to blow leaves into big piles then pulls the trailer alongside them and uses the hose to vacuum them up Once the trailer is full he shovels the shredded leaves out the back “It saves me a lot of work and time I own a 1 1/2-acre lot with lots of trees so cleaning up leaves every fall is a big job ” says Byelich “I use the ground-up leaves for compost or haul them down the road to our county recycling center The machine grinds the leaves into small pieces and can convert 2 or 3 square yards of leaves down into just a couple of bushel baskets If I want I can also grind up small branches and blow them in with the leaves at the same time I carry all my yard tools including a shovel manure fork rake and broom on front of the trailer ” This is the fourth leaf vac-shredder Byelich has built over the years “I saved a lot of money because new commercial vacuum trailers cost $3 000 to $4 000 I spent about $600 including the cost of the trailer which a friend built for me Also commercial vacuum trailers can’t be used to shred branches like my converted wood chipper can ” He bought a 15-year-old MTD 2-wheeled wood chipper powered by a 7 hp gas engine for $75 It came with a small hopper for grinding small brush and leaves and a bigger hopper for grinding tree branches He removed the wheels and axle as well as the machine’s discharge chute and replaced the chute with a homemade steel sleeve that extends through an opening on front of the trailer He also removed the large hopper for grinding branches and bolted the hose and cone in its place The machine still has its original small hopper “Old yard-style wood chippers are easy to find and they’re cheap ” says Byelich “I chose the MTD model because it’s easy to service and to work on and always starts on the first or second pull I bought the hose and cone from Tractor Supply Company for $100 ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Ron Byelich P O Box 63 Higgins Lake Mich 48627 ph 989 821-9251; hdglide2011@hotmail com

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