Last fall was my first season using my new home built leaf vacuum trailer.
It worked very smoothly minus the fact that the deck blades would audibly slow down as you got into a thick layer of big oak leaves. This spring I checked the blades' belt on the deck and found that the belt which the PO had installed was actually too small. The spring had come off of the tensioner. And it looks like rather than reinstalling the spring they had simply found a belt size that was just naturally tightish on the three pulleys. That left the belt being overall a little slack and one of the three pulleys not being adequately contacted. So I ordered the correct belt (in aramid) and now the blades don't slow down under a load.
The other issue was that the vacuum housing that I built to attach to the deck would clog up under heavy debris load. It wasn't clear if it was due to the blades slowing down and failing to chop up the leaves and sticks, or due to the fact that I had a bit of a tight joint with a sudden turn in the housing. I made the decision last year that I need to open up the gap where the turn happens, which I have just now finished. So we'll know in two or three days how much better it is.
Old:
New:
All told, it's a really helpful tool, especially on our property. Where we have around 20 trees scattered around our less than one acre lot!
"Never be afraid to try something new. How hard can it be?"
Sometimes a small change can improve air flow and overall performance. Have you thought of perhaps adding some sort of trap door to deal with stuck debris in case it may happen?
A trapdoor is not a bad idea. It's not too much trouble to pull the vacuum hose off and just reach your hand down the pipe and grab what's there. Due to the length of the thing you'd have to get all the way up to your shoulder to conceivably get near the blades themselves, so it's not too unsafe. It's just a pain. You have to stop the blades get off the tractor pull the hose clear the clog put the hose back on resume what you were doing. In order to compensate I found myself taking just a half pass with the deck, only covering 30 in per pass instead of 60 or whatever. But I'm hoping with these two improvements that I can go ahead and take full passes this year.
"Never be afraid to try something new. How hard can it be?"
Another trick is to replace your decks center pulley with one meant for an rm38. The small increase in blade speed sure does make a difference in cut and leaf pick up. I changed mine out a few years ago and noticed a big difference in quality of cut and the leaves seemed to pick up a little better. I want to get rid of the oem black plastic deck adapter on mine and fab one up similar to what you have. Looks good.
Jancoe wrote: ↑Fri Oct 15, 2021 6:55 am
Another trick is to replace your decks center pulley with one meant for an rm38. The small increase in blade speed sure does make a difference in cut and leaf pick up. I changed mine out a few years ago and noticed a big difference in quality of cut and the leaves seemed to pick up a little better. I want to get rid of the oem black plastic deck adapter on mine and fab one up similar to what you have. Looks good.
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I'll give that a try if this doesn't have the effect that I hope for. I never thought about increasing the blade speed. I wonder what the science or the formula is on the ideal blade speed...
"Never be afraid to try something new. How hard can it be?"
I also run the RM38 center spindle in my RM48 deck. Cuts nice but in heavy grass my Vanguard 16HP motor bogs down. I can't directly compare the RM38 spindle vs RM48 spindle because my RM48 spindle was worn out (pitted + a grove worn in to the pulley) and the belt would slip in heavy grass.
My hydravac boot also clogs in heavy tall grass. At the same time my vanguard motor cannot keep up. All I can do is slow to a crawl. Anyways while researching a new boot, I came across Agri Fabs 43830: https://www.ebay.com/itm/192784006530?e ... SwkjJcNEmG
Haven't gotten around to looking for a drawing of the 43830 boot to see if it would fit. There are videos on how to modify the boots to fit your deck.
Trac vac, cyclone rake ect... may offer boots.
I also came across the attached picture where someone made an adapter from the deck to the ingersoll boot.
When I first started, the housing plugged up immediately. But then I realized I didn't have my deck belt routed correctly. (I had it riding the crankshaft behind the PTO pulley instead of IN the PTO pulley. duh.) Fixed the deck belt, and that got the blades actually spinning. Big difference, and problem solved.
I can pretty much drive through as thick of leaves as I care to now. No clogs.
Woo Hoo!
"Never be afraid to try something new. How hard can it be?"
