Leaf Loader Question?

[greengiant9963]

Looking to possibly add a leaf loader to the equipment list for next season. I know they handle leaves well but how are they with sucking up grass. Would it clog easy? We bag around 60% of are lawns and thought it would be alot easier to suck the grass up and blow it into the dump rather than lug heavy bags over the side of the ezdump. We have a dump from the seat on one of the Z's now for leaves. Any opinions would be appreciated. Looking at around a 18 horse power unit.

[cuttin-to-the-Max]

This is where the Quote: "The bigger the better" really comes into play.
I say buy the biggest one your budget can handle. I will say an 18 is going to get you buy but if you get a 23 or even a 26HP you will enjoy picking up grass and leaves.

I started off with a 18 LW loader...Im my opinion IT Was horrible/ sucked< No pun intended.

Now that we have the 26 we have never looked back.

Its great because the bigger HP the more versatile it is. With the 26 you can suck up grass and leaves with little to no effort. Also you can even offer a service of picking up curb side piles...Only problem with this is HO's like to mix sticks, garbage, and other crap into the pile.

[Darryl G]

Originally Posted by cuttin-to-the-Max

This is where the Quote: "The bigger the better" really comes into play.
I say buy the biggest one your budget can handle. I will say an 18 is going to get you buy but if you get a 23 or even a 26HP you will enjoy picking up grass and leaves.

I started off with a 18 LW loader...Im my opinion IT Was horrible/ sucked< No pun intended.

Now that we have the 26 we have never looked back.

Its great because the bigger HP the more versatile it is. With the 26 you can suck up grass and leaves with little to no effort. Also you can even offer a service of picking up curb side piles...Only problem with this is HO's like to mix sticks, garbage, and other crap into the pile.

Yeah, but you have to figure in the cost of the gloves you lost while trying to remove a stick from the intake chute, lol.

[lakesregionscapes]

Our 16hp Lesco doesn't do very well with straight green grass clippings, but it does get them on board with a bit of fluffing with a foot or rake - mix in a few dry leaves and there is no problem at all. It needs a little more surface area to get a hold of a bit of debris than the average blade of grass offers; some leaves in the mix seem to make all the difference. We have a process for twiggy messes too: as soon as it starts to stick, suck up a glob of leaves and "presto" it's all clear.