Leaf Blowers

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 11:22 am

I'm the guy that usually just mows the leaves and have been thinking about getting a blower. The son of a guy I do a lot of work for has a big Honda powered Billygoat blower on a 3 wheel chassis. He used a bungee to hold it on the trailer and you know how that went. He called me thinking the motor was hurt and dropped it off last night. I did an oil change as it was very low. Turns out it must have been upside down or near it for a while, it was very low on oil and the muffler had a bunch in it when it ran it smoked real good for a bit. Anyway, since it was OK and I pumped up the front tire (he had been pushing it around for a week with the flat) I spun around the yard with it. My God, the thing is a beast! Blew the gravel off the drive and the grass off half the front yard and only took 3 passes! :D Have to find a used one.


 
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windyhill4.2
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 12:27 pm

Those blowers on wheels do a real good job of moving stuff. I have had a few in my shop over the yrs to work on.

 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 5:36 pm

The usual 3 wheel blowers are the worst engineered tools I have seen. The center of gravity is just too high. The blower should horizontal.

The handle is high putting undue weight on the smallish front wheel, making it hard to push. Work badly pushing on a slope.

Some years ago I wrote to Snapper suggesting a blower conversion for their classic mower. Replace the cutting blade with a fan and you have power going forward. Reverse could also be rigged fairly simply.

 
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Post by cabinover » Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 5:52 pm

I love mine, at least how it blows. It's an older B&S, doesn't like to start much but since it has what feels like a 500# flywheel all you have to do is get it spinning and it's forced to by design. What I really need to do is figure out a hand held hose for it and talk the wife into moving it for me while I blow leaves.

Like that will happen anytime soon :lol:

 
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joeq
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Post by joeq » Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 5:54 pm

franco b wrote:
Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 5:36 pm
The usual 3 wheel blowers are the worst engineered tools I have seen. The center of gravity is just too high. The blower should horizontal.

The handle is high putting undue weight on the smallish front wheel, making it hard to push. Work badly pushing on a slope.

Some years ago I wrote to Snapper suggesting a blower conversion for their classic mower. Replace the cutting blade with a fan and you have power going forward. Reverse could also be rigged fairly simply.
That's a good idea franco. If the impeller housing were down on the deck, you would need a vertical shaft gas engine, like most of the push mowers have. You should present it to "Shark Tank". You might be able to retire early. :D
I just purchased a used leaf machine motor and grinder, for sucking up all my maple tree leaves, and shooting the leftovers onto my trailer for dumping. I dropped it on an old mower deck, just to be able to push it around for storage, for now. Haven't acquired any hoses for it yet. But I was wondering if it would also work as a blower, if I reversed the hoses. But the exhaust is on the very top of the impeller housing, so it might be a bit cumbersome. Project for next fall.

 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 9:43 pm

Imagine a line going from the handle to the front wheel. That is the line you are pushing on. More effort goes to push into the ground than move horizontally along the lawn. Just try moving an 8 horsepower up even a slight slope with a reasonably soft lawn.

 
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windyhill4.2
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 11:07 pm

With the current design,they are using a horizontal shaft engine,these are generally longer life engines then are the vertical shaft engines.

With a horizontal blower,with vertical shaft, mounting the engine on the top of the blower would mean using stilts to keep the engine away from the blower housing so that the air intake would be between the engine & blower. The air intake could not be opposite of the engine or it would suck up all the dirt & debris underneath the unit.

It does seem like the good brand units are made with 3 wheels & horizontal shaft.

I suppose if one doesn't think a company like Billy Goat understands how best to make these blowers... :roll:

Someone just needs to get busy tinkering with the design that they think would be so much better than current units. :)


 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 11:29 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:
Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 11:07 pm
Someone just needs to get busy tinkering with the design that they think would be so much better than current units.
I do have something a whole lot better. A standard Ariens lawn tractor I bought in 2010. With standard blades it blows up a storm, and It works well at leaf blowing as well as lawn cutting. It has air intakes surrounding the cutter spindles. Power forward and reverse.

With a blade design made just for blowing I think it would work even better.

 
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Post by hotblast1357 » Wed. Dec. 06, 2017 4:56 am

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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Dec. 06, 2017 5:58 am

I have never really found a need for a blower that large. The wind tends to strip my property of anything not nailed down, so a hand-held works fine for blowing the leaves out of a few corners. If I lived in down and was buried in leaves it seems like a large vacuum would be more useful.

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Wed. Dec. 06, 2017 6:13 am

I think it’s ridiculous to blow leaves around lol but to each is there own!

 
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Wed. Dec. 06, 2017 6:39 am

Rob R. wrote:
Wed. Dec. 06, 2017 5:58 am
I have never really found a need for a blower that large. The wind tends to strip my property of anything not nailed down, so a hand-held works fine for blowing the leaves out of a few corners. If I lived in down and was buried in leaves it seems like a large vacuum would be more useful.
Same here except here the wind will push the leaves into huge piles around the "vacuum"side of buildings ,etc.

I like a vacuum best because there is much more control of the leaves than with blowing them. I have a vacuum cart that is pretty much worn out. My MTD garden tractor with a triple bagger works well for collecting leaves to use for mulching. Each bag can be carried to & dumped in the exact spot where mulch is needed. The dump cart required dumping near where the mulch is needed & then carrying the mulch by hand to the desired spot.

 
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Wed. Dec. 06, 2017 6:46 am

franco b wrote:
Tue. Dec. 05, 2017 11:29 pm
I do have something a whole lot better. A standard Ariens lawn tractor I bought in 2010. With standard blades it blows up a storm, and It works well at leaf blowing as well as lawn cutting. It has air intakes surrounding the cutter spindles. Power forward and reverse.

With a blade design made just for blowing I think it would work even better.
Unfortunately ,Ariens is a company of bid-built equipment, your Ariens is most likely built by Husqvarna.

Snapper always had the option for a HI-Vac blade for their mowers.

Seems as tho the folks who use those blowers are content with the current design & no one is interested in a blower that lays down on the job. :)

 
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Post by Qtown1835 » Wed. Dec. 06, 2017 8:44 am

I use a 10hp Little Wonder to blow my leaves. The blower works great, and you get a workout pushing it :) Not a chance any mower deck conversion could touch the performance this blower offers. I have seen from front mounted attachments for zero turn mowers that allows the user to connect the blower to the front of the mower and drive around.
Image
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Post by coaledsweat » Wed. Dec. 06, 2017 9:33 am

That last pic is the beast. Blew the rocks out of the driveway and grass off the lawn!


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