# Lawn Sweeper



## Argee

Last week I purchased a Brinly Hardy lawn sweeper from Home Depot. I was looking for something to pick up pine straw (pine needles) from under the numerous white pines in my large yard.

I've used it about three times and must say, I'm quite impressed. Not only does it pick up the straw, but does so after the never ending rains we've had of late. Picks them off the grass and the ones buried in the grass.

It has a cord that runs to the hopper so you can dump it right from the tractor seat. Sure saves the back....I can vividly recall raking into windrows and then going back with the trailer and loading them. I borrowed my neighbors estate rake last spring and used it to windrow. It did a great job, but I still had to go back and pick them up. This sweeper eliminates rehandling them....you just find a suitable area to dump them and go.

Money well spent!


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## guest

it will also break down well for storage...


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## Chipmaker

The sweepers work fine for the short needle varieties and leaves etc, but those long needle types such as on long leaf and lob lolley pines are quite a bit more hassle to get up. They seemed to sort of infiltatre and wrap up on the brush assembly and then just quit working. I had borrowed one to try, but it did not work out, so I went the vac cart in conjunction with the lips on the deck of ther JD 180 I had. Did a fantastic job. NOw it looks like this year I am back to using the L & G tractor to make windrows, and then pull my vac cart with my Ford 1720 while the wife or youngin walks along side with the intake duct to suck up the windrows, as I still have to make a transition from the deck to the duct on the cart, as my old one won't even come close to fitting, so its a whole new transition shoe that has to be made, and no time for it this year, at least not before the pinestraw needs to be picked up.

Been kicking it around on using PVC to make a transition shoe.

I sure am not in the mood to go back to handraking and a pitch fork for loading if I can help it. Those sweepers and vac carts will spoil you.


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## Argee

I'm tickled with mine so far. I'm still contemplating a bagger that I'll rig up to dump into my trailer. If I can just get the the piece that fits onto the mower deck, I could fabricate the rest. I need to go out on the Craftsman forum and see if anyone has a model numer for the bagger, then I can go to the Sears part website and order one.

By the way Chipmaker, did you get your hydraukic problem solved on your 1720. Puts some pics of your 1720 on the Ford/New Holland forum.


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## Argee

Well I've put a few hours and miles on the sweeper. So far it has performed up to expectations. I've managed to pick up about 10 bushels of pine straw from the yard. Wife raked some out of the flower beds into short windrows....ran over them with the sweeper and it picks up everything.

I think in the spring I'll borrow my neighbors estate rake and windrow the entire yard and then run the sweeper. It should make short order of yard prep next year.


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## leolav

My Mow n Vac does that stuff without breaking a sweat. Only thing that is bad about it is the amount of space it takes up.


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## Chris

*How much?*

Around how much are we talking for this sweeper? I am interested in one for my property (especially when the grass clippings get thick and pile up) ---- could use for leaves too --- but I tend to mulch it up if I can. 

Thanks.

Andy


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## Adamr88

How well can I relistically expect a sweeper to work on acorns/

Adam


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## Argee

> _Originally posted by admin_
> *Around how much are we talking for this sweeper?*


 I paid $200 at Home Depot.



> _Originally posted by Adamr88_
> *How well can I relistically expect a sweeper to work on acorns*


 Well, it picks up everything from that fine pine straw to loose rocks, branches, pine cones, etc...I think it'll do a nice job on acorns...

I'm amazed every time I take it out, just what it does pick up!



> _Originally posted by leolav_
> *My Mow n Vac does that stuff without breaking a sweat. Only thing that is bad about it is the amount of space it takes up.*


 One of the attractions of the sweeper is the way it stands up against the wall when stored.


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## Chris

*Can you post a pic of it???*

Thanks so much! Argee!



Andy


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## Argee

I'll go out this morning and take some pics of it hooked to my GT.


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## guest

not to overlook the fact that the sweeper will breakdown and store really well... but Brinley is pretty good about service.. The 1st time i used the sweeper, i swept up too much gravel and the bottom of the sweeper bag (or whatever it would be called) tore. i contacted brinley and no questions asked, they sent me a replacement bag. I duct taped the original and its been working for 3 seasons... 

also the sweeper will stripe your lawn if you like the stripes...



sj


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## Argee

> _ Originally posted by simple_john_
> *Brinley is pretty good about service.. *


I here you there. I purchased a cultivator from them, a couple of the tines were drilled wrong, they sent them UPS, no questions asked.


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## Argee

Here's a pic of the sweeper hooked up and ready to go.


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## Argee

The business end of the sweeper.


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## Argee

Another view.


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## bontai Joe

Brinley makes a decent sweeper and I've heard folks say the Agri-Fab unit works well also. I've had a Parker for over 20 years and it works great. The Parkers cost a lot more but are built heavier and if you use it a lot, will take more abuse and last longer. If you were sweeping an acre or less I'd say save some money and go with the Brinley or Agri-Fab. If you were sweeping 2 acres or multiple lawns each week, I'd highly recommend the larger Parker models. I hang my Parker on the wall of my shed so I can utilize the floor space under it. I'll admit it's a good "GRUNT" to get it up there, but I need the space.


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## Argee

*bontai Joe*

I'd like to see some pics of that unit. Are your tires pneumatic? What's the weight?


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## Chris

*That is exactly what I need!!!*

Wow Thanks for the pics... BTW, love your new avatar...will miss poor ole BALTO though! 

Q's:

Will this pickup lawn clippings, etc? Can you mow and sweep at the same time? How is the emptying process?



I don't really care for the Agri-fab stuff too much...breaks and wears out very quickly IMHO. Dont know what the problem is, but I always have problems with their stuff...

Thanks again, Argee

andy


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## Argee

As you can see in the business end pic the hopper is pulled up in the dump position. You do that from the seat with a pull rope.

Yes it picks up grass clippings, just pull it behind you as you mow.

That avatar is the one I use on a couple of other forums. Couldn't use it here until you expanded the size.


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## bontai Joe

*Parker info*

I don't have any digital pics of my old Parker. Mine is a 36" wide trail-a-long model. Tires are not pneumatic and without the basket, it weighs about 80- 90 pounds. I found a website with decent pics and prices of current Parker stuff.

http://www.lawnmowersrus.com/parker.html

Mine closely resembles this current model:
Trailette TE9036 
Sweep width = 36" inches, Capacity = 10 cubic feet, Professionally handles medium to large size lawns. Features an easy dump basket that collapses for convenient storage. And heavy duty construction for rough terrain.


To answer the question of sweeping and mowing at the same time, yes IF your mower is a rear discharge and you don't mind interrupting your mowing to empty the basket when it is full. I suppose you could rig up an offset tow hitch, but that makes for some awkward turns and navigating.


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## Argee

*Lawn Sweeper Update*

After using the sweeper several times I've come to the following conclusions. Now keep in mind the needles are really starting to fall.

1. The hopper is not large enough

2. The hopper is not large enough

3. The hopper is not large enough

4. And lastly, The hopper is not large enough

mg:


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## tisenberg

So, are you saying that the hopper needs to be bigger, or is it too small and needs to be bigger or that the hopper is not large enough and needs to be expanded


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## Argee

*So, are you saying that the hopper needs to be bigger, or is it too small and needs to be bigger or that the hopper is not large enough and needs to be expanded* 

Uhhhhhhhh, I'm not sure! :dazed:


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## Argee

We (my bride and me) were out picking up pine straw over the last weekend. To save time in having to transport a full hopper to the dump site every few minutes, we decided to lay out a tarp and deposit the needles on it for later removal with the larger capacity trailer.

The brushes won't turn as you back the unit up. So I thought if I back the unit over the tarp, release the contents, and pull forward off the tarp to reload there shouldn't be any problem. And there wasn't any for the first 30 loads or so. The wind flipped up the edge of the tarp, the sweeper apparently recognized it as something that needed to go into the hopper. The tarp, of course, felt compelled to wrap itself around the brushes, not alerting anyone until it was to late. Needless to say, I have brush repair and straightening to do today as I need to cleanup another portion of the yard. The only bright spot of this dilemma is the wife was driving the tractor when this happened. I, of course, implied that something like that could'nt possibly happen to me. Sheesh, such language!


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## treed

After reading this thread, I decided to rent a lawn sweeper last weekend, and I wasn't impressed. The one I rented was an Agri-Fab, and might have been overused and abused, but in heavy leaf areas, it just didn't do a good job. I made numerous passes over one area and still had a good covering of leaves left on the lawn. Either there were too much leaves or the unit was worned out, or something, but I wasn't thrilled with the performance. Raking the leaves would have been faster. Could anyone tell me how well these sweepers do in heavy leaf areas, or is this what I can expect from a new unit?


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## Argee

*treed*

When I used mine for the first time, I had to play with the height adjustment so it would sweep the needles into the hopper. I'm not familiar with the Agrifab, but it stands to reason, it is similar to the Brinly, and should work as well.

Were the leaves wet or matted? Did you have the brush adjusted down fr enough? It should sweep through grass just making contact with the soil...(Ideal condition)


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## treed

After playing with it a while, the front bar was bent, I did managed to adjust the brushes to it's lowest setting. The leaves were not wet nor particularily matted, though quite thick. It seem to pick up reasonably well in sparsely leafed areas, but not in heavily leafed areas. Maybe my expectations are too high. But again, like I said, this was a rented unit and might have been worned out. The brushes didn't look too bad though.


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## PeteNM

> [ Could anyone tell me how well these sweepers do in heavy leaf areas, or is this what I can expect from a new unit? [/B]


Although I have no first hand experience with these I was looking to buy one for my Mom last year. The salesman at Sears told me they had two models and the smaller one had a lower ratio between the drive wheels and the brush. He said the larger model turned the brush faster and did a better job. 

Could this have anything to do with how well they work ?


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## treed

Don't know what the sizes Sears have, but this was a 42" sweeper, made by Agri-Fab.


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## bontai Joe

My experience is with an old Parker. It seems to work best if the material you are trying to pick up is not matted down. For leaves, I cut the lawn first and then sweep up the clippings and leaves as they are on the surface of the turf and not matted down near root level. I have not usually had much luck with uncut wet leaves as the brush seems to skim over the top and leave the majority behind.


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## treed

Interesting, Joe. Might try that when and if I rent another lawn sweeper.


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## Ingersoll444

*Re: That is exactly what I need!!!*



> _Originally posted by admin _
> *Q's:
> 
> Will this pickup lawn clippings, etc? Can you mow and sweep at the same time? How is the emptying process?
> 
> 
> 
> I
> andy *


I have used mine to pick up clippings before. Works OK, only problem is the deck blows to the side, wile the sweeper is behind you. But still picks up a lot of the left overs, or you could sweep after you are done mowing. I used it a few time this "summer". It rained so much, and I was so busy, that a few times I mowed over a foot tall grass. It was just not braking down between mowings. Normaly I just leave them down to feed the lawn, but the clumps were just to big. Towed the sweeper around with me, and wile a lot stawed out to the side, it picked up a lot of the old cuttings, and the clumps that the mower left.


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## Ingersoll444

> _Originally posted by treed _
> *After playing with it a while, the front bar was bent, I did managed to adjust the brushes to it's lowest setting. *


If the bar would not let it go all the way down, That could do it.

Wile we are on that subject, hears a problem I had. Now first, I don;t know how people without tools, and skills to use them, EVER get any of these "low doller" stuff to work. EVERYTHING I get, I usly have to rebuild before it will eaven work. Noes everyone just return theres, or just park it somewere to rot.

As an example. My sweeper. Got it all together, hooked it up, and it picked up NOTHING!!! I am like "What the F:argh: ] So I check to see it everything is put together right, and I did. Then I see it! They made the [email protected] thing wrong!! Drilled holes in the wrong place on the side of the unit, and some MORON just "made it work" at the factury. These misplaced bolts where stopping the unit from dropping all the way down. Do it would have been hard to move the bolts, so I ended up putting a dimple in the tow arm, and grinding just a bit off of one of the bolt heads. 

And this is not the only thing. It seems like ANY lower dollor thing I buy needs to be repaired before it's usable. Is it just bad luck? Or is everyone getting the same stuff? What do you non handy people do?[there has to be a few out there that don't do there own work]


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## bontai Joe

Ingersol444,
You ain't alone brother, you ain't alone. It has been my experience that the bargain stuff isn't really a bargain. Even a simple thing like a wheel barrow. Look at the $29 on "sale" wheel barrow and see how poorly it is made. Look at the $99 dollar push mower at "W" mart and see how poorly it is made. Look at a $3 hammer and see how poorly it is made. The low end stuff is designed to break with any hard use. I bought a REALLY REALLY cheap set of socket wrenches once with the idea that I'd replace only the ones I broke and not lay out the cash for a total "good" set. After breaking the retchet, breaker bar, twisting the ends off the extensions and rounding off half the sockets, I realized that my plan was just plain stupid. If I need a specialty tool once, I'll rent it. If I need it a few times I'll buy the best I can afford and add it to my "barter pile". I just won't buy low end crap anymore, because it is not worth the agrivation. I am especially fond of crap that does not come with all the parts and/or hardware to even put it together. I have a buddy that is mechanically challenged and he asks me to put his stuff together for him. (ALL and I mean ALL of his tools fit in one 18" long Stanley plastic tool box. I carry more than that in my car) He buys some of the sorriest stuff I've ever seen, but it's his money. I tried to teach him about tools, but he is not interested. Since he is an accountant, he "saves" money by getting the bargain stuff all the time. Quality costs money usually, and I think some of the low end crap is intentionally made and marketed to be sold to guys like my accountant friend. Sorry to hear about your sweeper. Did you get it to work properly after reengineering it?


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## Argee

*I just won't buy low end crap anymore, because it is not worth the agrivation.*

:ditto:

Well said bontai Joe, well said!!!!


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## memmurphy

I have towed my 38" Agri-Fab behind while mulching heavy leaves and grass and it does as well as the two walk behind models that I've used. You don't have to empty it as often that way, yet the yard looks clean. There is one drawback, it makes mowing closely around trees and other things a little tricky. My biggest problem is uneven ground and roots that raise it up over some leaves. Finding the right ground speed for your conditions makes a difference too.

Mark


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## Ingersoll444

> _Originally posted by bontai Joe _
> *Ingersol444,
> Sorry to hear about your sweeper. Did you get it to work properly after reengineering it? *



Oh ya, works great. You know, the sad thing is I don't eaven think about it anymore. I EXPECT to do some fixing on new stuff when I get it. And people always ask why I almost always buy used stuff. Hey, it needs less fixxing.


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## johnray13

I have the Craftsman 42" sweeper and love it. I have a 32,000 sf lawn with mostly maple leaves mixed with some white pine. It does equally well with the heavy leaf areas as well as sparsely covered areas. That said, the hopper can fill up inside of a minute in a heavy area. Both my neighbors, after seeing me clean up the back yard so quickly, have come over to say they were planing on buying one. The two things I dislike about it are: I wish you could disengage the brush. As long as it is moving forward the brush spins. And the wheels tend to want to lock if you overload the hopper. This happens in heavy areas- and you contine to load the hopper as long as you are moving forward. If I had to do it again, I would buy it again  -John


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## leolav

I toyed with the idea of getting a sweeper for my leaves and it came down to performance and capacity for me. I have a TON of leaves. Most weekends during the fall, I have to pick up leaves on saturday and sunday! 

I looked at a large variety of sweepers and tried some out. They just couldn't do the job I was asking them to. I ask alot of the machine though! Price was also an issue as the sweepers were running around $200-$250 for a good quality one.

I decided to go with the Agri-Fab mow n vac because it can pick up just about anything (I've sucked up wood chips from my shredder with mine), doesn't have any brushes to wear out, and has a huge trailer to store the debris in. Best of all, I bought it for $725 with all the attachments from Lowes. 

Only downside is that it does not breakdown and takes up alot of space, but it does such a nice job that I can live with the space issue. I can't imagine going back to mowing them into my stock bagger ever again. I also use gators on the deck to further reduce the clippings and improve the cutting/lifting performance.

I will take pictures of this machine at work this weekend. It routinely will pick up 3"-5" of leaves very easily. If it can get under the deck, it will suction it up.


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## DeereBob

I'm in the Leolav camp. I used to have a 38" Craftsman sweeper that I used for many years. It was a good piece of equipment but with all the leaves I have, required dumping after almost every pass. I ran the mowing deck to reduce volume but still required too frequent dumping. For people that don't have too many trees on their property, this is a very cost effective solution like my neighbor to the east. However, for we heavily treed ones, a Power Flow Bagger or vac like Leolav and my neighbors to the west have are the way to go. The name of the game with leaves is volume reduction and sweepers or even a non-powered bagger just don't do that well in comparison. I have over 60 trees on 1.1 acres so my leaf volume is enormous. My only regret is I didn't get the Power Flow Bagger sooner.


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## leolav

I concur. The leaf reduction is simply unbelievable. I should run a test this weekend by making a huge pile of leaves and picking it up with the hand wand attachment of the mow n vac. I've done it in the past and everytime I do it, it always shocks me. 

I can really pack the leaves in especially if they are slightly damp (from dew or light rain).


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