Truck loader?

[toddman35]

I was wondering what kind of leaf loader u guys use, what engine is on it, and if you have any complaints about it. i was also wondering how much these help when doing leaves. i was thinking about getting one next year.

[Five Star Lawn Care LLC]

They are incredible, we have a Billy Goat 16hp tailgate loader w/ an EZ-Dump insert and a homemade wood encloser. They work outsatnding for dry or wet leaves. wet leaves dont get ground up as much and u cant fit as many in the box but its a hell of alot better that hand loading. The hose has to be straight if u are sucking in a lot of leave or it will clog but u can ajust. one of the best investments i have made this year.

[beck]

what kind of price tag does it come with, if you do not mind me asking.

I was thinking of approaching neighbourhoods that do not have roadside leaf collection, about a contract with them to pick up at the certain times. have any of you been able to do this?

thanks

[lawrence stone]

Why not just buy a 44" Toro I have for sale for $1100?

There is no need to remove leaves if you have quality lawn mowers.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1209854&a=9559939

Lawrence Stone=Top of the lawn care food chain

[cantoo]

I bought a used peco 5 hp grass and leave pickup unit, I disassembled it and made a trailer for the blower unit to use as a leaf loader. I have also bought a 8 hp bearcat chipper that I will be attaching to the blower. This will mulch the leaves into very fine pieces, which I am selling to another customer for a few dollars. We are looking for a dump truck for next year too speed up the unloading process. There are lots of people here who rake their own leaves but have no way to dispose of the large volume of leaves, hopefully we can make some money off of them. This will help to extend our money making season. As for mulching the leaves, most lawns are about a foot deep in leaves right now. This is a Lake front community with millions of trees all raining down leaves. Lots of guys do the chase the leaves around the yard trick but nothing looks like the Walker GHS cut lawn.

[Getmow]

Stone,I don't mean any harm but a good push mower can mulch that amount of leaves. I do some 1/2 acre homes that produce up to 700 cubic feet of leaves for 2 or 3 visits (two week intervals). I found that NO mower I have tried can mulch them. Just a reminder I use double blades on Dixies, chains on dixies and toro walk behinds. The 16hp Billy Goat that I presently have is the core of my fall and spring clean ups. I will have a larger unit next year.

[thelawnguy]

I agree, a mower will handle MOST leaves but when you get to 10k ft lots with 3 or 4 mature oak trees there is a point where you must collect the bulk of the leaves and then do the finish job with the mower.

The maple, ash, locust leaves which are now falling are a cake walk-wait til the oaks and pines finish their dirty work in a couple more weeks.

[Five Star Lawn Care LLC]

16hp Billy Goat....$2700
EZ-DUMP....$2300
Custom wood box....$600

[Scotty]

We use a 16hp Billy Goat truck loader with the Vanguard engine. I purchased it fall 1996, we just mounted it today on the trailer. First pull and it started, highly recommend the Vanguard engine.

We load the leaves into a 8' x 9' dumping flatbed with solid stake sides.

[Doug406]

LONG LIVE THE BILLYGOAT 16 HP TRUCKLOADERS! Save the mulch up and raking for the unprofessionals.
We spent $2500 for the loader and $300 enclosing one of our 16 ' opens, purchace another 10 feet of hose for $165 and resuck the leaves back out. Don't forget to charge the customer a disposal fee.
Here are some of the comments I am getting.

1."saw you the other day and the method impressed me so much I am calling to see if you can do my leaves'

2. I cant beleive how fast you did that, and all the leaves are gone.

3. Nice job, very effective- you know how to make money, because we have always paid about the same as you charged us and you did that twice as quick.

[SLC1]

We run a Giant-Vac tow behind 25hp leaf vac. I love it. We like the tow behind because we have two of our 1 ton dumps with leaf boxes on them and we never have to wait to empty we just keep going. One year we had the vac mounted to the plow frame in front of the truck and I really liked the way you could drive up to leaf piles and suck them right up. We have had ours for 5 years and I think we paid around $4,000 for it. It sounds like a lot of money but the machine will last for many years and will pay itself back ten fold. Just my two cents

[toddman35]

thanks guys, i was thinking about making a box to put on our trailer, that would have little caster wheels on the bottom of it, for easy removal and dumping. what are the best brands in ur opinions?

[Getmow]

You will be money ahead to use a dump truck, an EZ Dump insert or a dump trailer.

[Skookum]

I only had one yard a few years ago that really needed the use of a truck loader. $899.00 - $1,600.00 was just too much to invest in a real loader for just one place. I had a small Craftsman blower/chipper/vac setup already. I bought it for under $400.00. I used the 10 foot hose vac setup to suck up the leaves. Then I disharged, without the collector bag of course, into a 6" pvc pipe setup that I made( 1 elbo + 6' pipe + 1 elbo ). I just have the chipper on the ground shoot into the pipe that goes up over the side boards of the dump body which is covered by a tarp. Worked real sweet.

Anymore jobs than a one or two and this would be a pain, but for just one, it was more money in my pocket.