Stones & Gravel

[Lawn-N-Garden Guy]

I was at my dealer today looking at a Stihl FS85 Split Shaft,Any you guys ever use one with a rubber paddle broom to sweep stones out of a yard?Think they said it was around $500.00 complete w/ the broom and a trim head,I was thinking about getting one anyhow with an edger attachment on it and thought it may work for me now to broom stones off the grass.

[Gravely_Man]

No experience here using the rubber paddle to remove rocks from the grass but it seems this would take forever.

Gravely_Man

[Nozzleman]

I am looking for a new trimmer myself and I was wondering if the FS 85 is available with a edger attachment. I went to Stihls website and I did not see a edger attachment for the trimmers, just a polesaw, hedgetrimmer, and broom. Their edgers were in a different catagory than the trimmers.

[Runner]

Are you kidding me? There is NOTHING that works better for this than one of these powerswwep attachments. When I first saw one of these things, I thought it was a gimmick, but when I saw one work, I couldn't believe my eyes.
Even if the gravel is matted down into the turf and soil, this thing cleans it so efficiently and fast, it's amazing. It used to take me about 30 minutes to do a typical ditch full of road gravel from the plows, What I would do, is rake the gravel down into the bottom of the ditch, (by hacking at it diagonally, back and forth) - can't rake it uphill - then rake it into piles, and use a shovel to pitch it back up onto the side of the road. Then I would have to pile up the little bit left over where the pile was, and shovel it again. Now, with the powersweep,(Stihl), I just simply run that, and it pushes ALL the stones right back up. Also, technique wise, what I do, is flip the unit upsidedown and pull it behind me as I'm walking the ditch back and forth lengthwise, with the attachment a little diagonal so it pushes the stones up one row, and just sort of "plow" the stones and debris row by row up to the top and shoulder. Another thing this thing works great for is pine cones and rotting fruit such as apples, pears, etc. All in all, a great investment. I bought the stickedger, and bought the powersweep attachment for that unit. Or it may have been vice-versa.

[Jimbo]

Nozzleman,

Look at the FS85R it has an edger available for it.

Jimbo

[rodfather]

We have 2 Shindaiwa Power Brooms (rubber paddles). Those things are amazing the way they get stones out of the grass and back into the driveway. Doesn't matter if the lawn is wet either cause it does absolutely no damage to the turf. Since buying them, we haven't touched a steel or tine leaf rake once.

The guy who came up with that machine was a friggin genius. BTW, we have been using them for about 5 or 6 years now. Runner is right...there is NOTHING like them at all.

Best 500 clams (each machine) we ever spent. Guaranteed.

[Ax Man]

Sounds neat, I've been using a dethatcher attachment on my mini tiller to do basicly the same thing.
All I can say is it is much nicer than the old way.

[Qualey]

these things are the best. worth every cent. We beat the hell out of ours at every construction site and cleanup job be do.

[LB Landscaping]

They do work great for spring clean-ups and getting debris off of the lawn. Well worth the cost. I bought one last year and love it. Should work great for getting the stones off the lanw. They work great on pavement too.

[bastalker]

Wish I had 500.00 to spend on one....I got over zealous this winter with the plow truck at this motel I do. Gravel all over the grass. But cmon 20 inches of snow with no place to put it. I have to get the help to just rake it out, less one of you New Englanders want to loan one to me for a day!!:D ;) :drinkup:

[bigdaddyspags]

Does anyone have a preference between the rubber paddled versions and the ones with broom-like bristles?

[cantoo]

I'm thinging of buying one of these, the price is around Can$3300 total. 54" sweep electric dump and depth control. I also have a sweepster wbh and a 6' rotary brush. We have lots of gravel and sand to sweep here.

[danlawnser]

I was talking to my stihl dealer and he wants me to demo one of the new 4 mix 110 series. He says that they have more power and save on fuel. check into one of these. Supposed to be one of the hottest lawn items out for stihl this season.

[Agricare1]

We have three of those paddle brooms and they work great for pushing heavy wet sand out of corners so that the sweepers can get to the sand. i would highly recommend the Stihl, but buy the trimmer attachment at the same time. they work great as a trimmer.

[Lawn-N-Garden Guy]

Thanx for all the info,I will be picking one up this weekend if they got more in,currently the last time I checked was Thurs and my dealer was out of them but more to arrive soon,As far as the 4 stroke ,I think I'll wait a year or so to let everyone else buy them to see how they work,You still have to mix the gas 50:1 and heavier to handle,I lifted a Honda the other day and would want to run that thing all day,I still want to keep my (nads).