Trac Vac & truck leaf loaders

[Jusmowin]

I am planning to invest in 2 trac vacs and a truck leaf loader for next year, but am interrested if this is a good combo fo leaf removal and leaf clean ups. Most of my yards are 15000sqft or larger with large gated back yards, so its not like i could just blow the leaves from the back to the front . So if anyone uses trac vacs or any type truck leaf loader(Billy goat,Parker ect.) please let me know what you think of this type of leaf removal systems, and are they worth the money?

Thanks for the help

[HOMER]

I was out jusmowin some leaves today, usin' my Trac-Vac to suck em' up! I am so proud of my investment, it has saved me countless hours. I use a combination, mulch with the Chopper and Vac with the Trac if the leaves are real heavy, and they were today buddy!!!!!!!!! I am a satisfied customer, using it on a 48" Scag Super Z. I don't dread the fall anymore! I ain't got no truck loader job, can't see the need. Spend the money on another mower..................or something.

Homer

[Shack]

I love my Billygoat truck loader. It replaced 3 men and does not complain.

[Tomslawncare1]

Jusmowin, I started with an 8hp Billygoat tailgate loader. It worked good but clogged alot. I gave it away, after I made my money back on it, and borrowed a friends 11hp Billygoat tailgate loader. That got clogged. Glad I didn't buy one of them. I also got tired of kicking out the leaves from my pick up truck so I bought a 2 wheel drive dump truck and also bought a brand new 16hp Giant Vac hitch mounted (swing away) leaf loader. I can do vac jobs by myself and charge $75.00 a load. 1 load minimum. Even if it takes only 15 minutes to suck up a pile of leaves I charge 1 load. I tell customers that I can take the average sized lawn (150 X 150)in one load. If they pile them up I should be out of there in under 1 hour. I try to allow myself 15 min to dump the load. My point is if I can do 2 or 3 small jobs at 75 a pop and only dump once, thats how you make pretty good money. Bottom line if you have alot of clean ups that you need to take away the leaves then you need some type of loader. Or alot of labor to handle those leaves.

[Getmow]

I have a 16hp Billy Goat loader. It is the best way we have found to do heavy clean ups. We use the trac vacs mostly for the finish work.

[JML]

We have trac-vacs on all our ZTR's. They are well worth their money.. I would get the trac-vac that uses two of the garbage cans instead of one, so it will hold more which equals less trips to the street.

[ups]

what were the results on what you bought? im looking to invest for the fall and need to know the best system to put on a 3-4 yd dump.

[John Gamba]

Did you look at the date????

John

[Meg-Mo]

Save your money and time. Put MEG MO blades on your mowers. Only will get 10 gal leaves per yard.

[KathysLGC]

Did you look at the date????

John

LoL at least we know he did a search....

[John Gamba]

LoL at least we know he did a search....

LOLOL
John

[ups]

interesting? that means that i am ahead of the game then..like one should be

[ups]

how does that little wonder blower work out for you? and what is all the hype with the trac-vac? is it something compareable to a bagger system? i currently have a bagger on one of the exmarks riders

[ups]

im wondering how the two trac vacs worked out. with the truck loader. also how does the combo work out as far as transporting?

[lawncuttinfoo]

I really don't understand what people like about the trac-vacs. I used one on my WB for my 1st two years of cleanups, it was my least favorite machine.

You have to turn it off every time you want to dump thus you must pull start it every few minutes. The only way you know it is full is that you start leaving a trail of mulched leaves in the lawn and by that time the thing is clogged. Or you can turn the thing off completely so you can peek inside to see how full it is then start it up again, if your arm hasn't fallen off yet.

You have to run the front of the deck of the mower at the highest possible height so that the leaves will go under, this in turn reduces the suction on the turf leaving the lawn a shade of brown.

This year I bought some extra length of piping and I will mount the vac on my hitch instead and blow the leaves into my truck box.

[Hard Worker]

Would someone help me understand what a Trac Vac is? How about someone post a picture of theirs? I'm confused as to what they actually look like. Thanks in advance for your help. :waving:

[nriddle77]

Save your money and time. Put MEG MO blades on your mowers. Only will get 10 gal leaves per yard.

That seems like a misleading statement. 10 gal. of leaves for any yard? The size of the yard and amount of trees were never listed.

[John Gamba]

Would someone help me understand what a Trac Vac is? How about someone post a picture of theirs? I'm confused as to what they actually look like. Thanks in advance for your help. :waving:


Heres one on a rider

[Kelly's Landscaping]

Heres one on a rider

Should ask before taking a pic of my mower John :p that mower is a clone of my 2

[John Gamba]

Should ask before taking a pic of my mower John :p that mower is a clone of my 2


lololololol :waving: :cool2:

[Mack77]

Has anyone come up with a home-made 'window' in their trac vac to see when it fills up? Maybe cut out a rectangle in the can, and replace it with some kind of clear lexan plastic? So when you look back at the can, you can see through and make sure it is full?

Just an idea, if anyone has done this please post some pictures! :)

[John Gamba]

Has anyone come up with a home-made 'window' in their trac vac to see when it fills up? Maybe cut out a rectangle in the can, and replace it with some kind of clear lexan plastic? So when you look back at the can, you can see through and make sure it is full?

Just an idea, if anyone has done this please post some pictures! :)


You can put a piece of ribbing on the vent. when its not moving much its getting full.

John

[Meg-Mo]

This is what we can do with the meg mo blades. It's not misleading . The 10 is in every yard as it is faster to pick up the last little then to get rid or cut up.

[cantoo]

Meg, I think he was saying that it is misleading because no one said what the lawn size was or what the leaf cover was. I do properties that are 3 acres and are 12" deep using meg mo's---> 10 gallons. I haul 5 loads off with my dump truck. The grass is so thin because of the trees that it's impossible to leave any leaves on the property it would smother what little grass there is. Maybe I need to look into the meg mo's for some of our properties though.