Sharing my rig with you

[cleanlawn]

I've seen people showing pictures of their rigs so I thought I'd share some pictures of mine with you.
This first on is how I get the debris into the truck.
The second is a little closer.
The third is how I unload.

[Lawn Masters]

Pretty neat setup, its effective judging by the pics. I'd set something like that up if I had a bagger on a Z and a truck like that.

[cleanlawn]

Thanks, I use the truck and that riding unit for snow too. I take the mower deck off and install the blade and that's my detail plow. With a couple of ramps I can go from the ground to the truck. Rider acts as weight for the truck when plowing or just getting around, and there's enough room to haul over a ton of icemelt.

[RedWingsDet]

thats sweet. I like the truck, I wish I could find a dodge with a dump bed like that, only dodge dumps i see are the city trucks, and they're not forsale :(

[cleanlawn]

I couldn't find a truck bed that did this to buy so I built one. Been noticing that there are ways to make our lives a little easier, we just don't have the equipment available to us.

[sodgod]

i'm glad someone finally had the same idea as me i've always thought of putting a mower in the truck and then a ramp to the trailer but i've never seen if done better. Nice job!

[CrewCutEnterprises]

I dont know about you,


BUT if i was a one man show, I could cut grass till i was 80 with that set up. just sit on the mower and go, back it up to dump... o yea..

Very well thought out. I saved the pics for my thought in the future. Very Good work.

[cleanlawn]

Thank you, I'd been thinking of something like this for some time now, and man does it save the back. The bed was the first thing that I made. Here's a pic of the lastest thing that I've done. Tell me what you think.

[splatz100]

man I bet it would be fun to hook a sulky up to just the frame and ride around.

[CrewCutEnterprises]

.... ok. I wish i had something like that too.... But i have a dedicated Ariens 24 inch snow blower and then my walkbehinds... nice to put it to use in the off season..

[cleanlawn]

Crewcut,
What kind of walk behind equipment do you have, and how many?

[gogetter]

i'm glad someone finally had the same idea as me i've always thought of putting a mower in the truck and then a ramp to the trailer but i've never seen if done better. Nice job!

There's actually a pic from another member of a similar set up, but I think he has a Walker. The front of the trailer is a ramp that lays down into the bed of the truck. (MowEd maybe???)

I don't bag grass, but if I was ever going to (and I won't), it would only be with a similar set up. No way I'd be getting off the mower and manually heaving the clippings into a truck and getting back on the mower. No way!

Although, I'd go with a Walker with the aftermarket high lift mechanism that can dump over the side of a truck bed. I forget who makes that thing.
Seems like it would be easier then having to put down the ramp to the truck bed and backing up two ramps each time.
Plus, if you can keep the rear doors of the truck closed, you could pile more in. When you have to open the rear doors of the truck and actually back the mower into it, I would think you could only load it maybe 80% or so full.

[CrewCutEnterprises]

Crew 1
99 F250 Gas
16 ft trailer
We run a Toro 36" belt drive(The one i started with) a 99 model.
witha 48" Turf tracer HP.
and a 62 inch toro ZTR.
2 Echo srm 260T trimmers
1 PE 260
10 hp little wonder flat blower
2 echo pb750's or 650's
stihl 250 chain saw
10 gal air tank


CREW 2
99 F350 diesel with 7.5 western snow plow
with Ezdumper
bedscaper bed edger,
2 wheelbarrows
Vermeer sc130 Stump grinder


I need to consolodate some equipment for next year. But we dont bag any lawns, but if i did, I would have a bagger with a quick dump system.

Im planning on moving from the mowing business side and letting my forman take that over. I just bought a new truck Ill be on the landscaping side but I dont know about leaving the mowing side to someone and hope they dont mess it up.

I might consolodate to a 36" Hydro and a 52" Hydro walk or Z.
And run it all out of a box truck. its less mess. No trailer, less driver training etc

[cleanlawn]

gogetter,
I had thought of the Walker before I got the Hoppper just for the lift mechanism, but I had heard that lift has a history of collasping. I don't know that, cause I've never used thembut didn't want to take that chance. That, plus a few other things, pointed me in the direction I went in. Went with the Hopper and ramp system, only one deck to discharge, mulch or bag, fewer things to go wrong. Look a little closer there's not any doors on my rig, the tailgate of the truck IS the ramp. As far as capacity goes, I can put more on the truck than I ever did when I used the trailer. I had 4' sides on the trailer and dumped the debris on trailer, then had to unload by hand.

[cleanlawn]

bump......

[TheLawnBarber]

Nice stuff guys. I like the truck and trailer setup. I would love to have something like that in the future.

[grass disaster]

i remember reading this last year

bump

[ribbie78]

When I first saw the pics I was impressed at the efficiency/functionality;
but when you said you made it yourself that bumped it to Fan-frickin-tastic!

:weightlifter:

[PLM-1]

You made the right choice with the Hopper. I know I did. I can't really tell which model you have: 721D 725 928D or 932? I'm guessing 721D

[cleanlawn]

Thanks ribbie, once I bumped up to the grasshopper it seemed to make sense to dump the bagged grass or leaves into the truck, but couldn't find a truck bed that would allow this, so I made it to see if it could happen, and it does real well. I also built in the ability to load grasshopper from the ground with blade on for snow removal or for rocking driveways.