anyone find an easy way to dump clippings into their trucks??

[97Stroker]

OK guys here is another question...how many people here bag lawns, and are sick of duming the clippings into the back of the truck???
I know tomorrow we mow 35 lawn, and all of them are bagged. Yeah we can dump alotta the grass on property, but there are 20 that we cannot. And they are big lawns.
our 2 baggin machines are a John Deere Z 60 inch mid mount, and a John Deere Z trax 48 inch. Both of these machines have 9 bushell hoppers, that dump from the seat. As you can tell my boss and our company like things easy. So who here has come up with an easy way to get the green into the back of the truck???
We were seriously thinking of making a lify, with a big tray, that goes on the side of the truck. One that you can back right up to the truck dump the hopper into the tray, and then push a button and have it lift into the back of the truck.
We did at one time think about getting the hopper that already dumps into the back of the truck, but it sits too high for our enclosed trailer. We were also told they are kinda flimsy under pressure.

Anyone got any ideas, comments???

[mdb landscaping]

http://www.championlandscaping.com/HydT12.html


if im correct champion landscaping, a member here modified his trailer so it would extend so he could back his walkers right up and dump right in the back of the dumper. it looked like a real nice set up .

[cantoo]

I don't have a solution but I have a comment. Better to spend money on the one lift for the truck than to spend it on 3 lifts for the mowers which will likely only fit on the 3 mowers. Take a look at a garbage truck that has the front lift on it and get some ideas from that. For the type of volume you are talking I would think you would almost need a dedicated truck for clippings and it would work for other jobs too like firewood, prunings etc. A big leaf loader would work but not really very quick.
A tailgate lift that was reworked to lift higher might be a cheap way also.

[Grapevine]

We've got 3 Walkers and dumping in the truck has always been a pain in the balls. Last winter I hooked up with a guy who retro fitted my trailer (18 ft) with 2 ramps in front. One goes into the dump and the other drops down into the trailer.
We now drop both ramps and drive the machines right into the truck and dump, it works nice and I'm glad I finally did it.
It's the best when doing large condos or the fancy neighborhoods where you have to take the clippings
If you are interested, email me and I'll send you a couple of pictures. I'd do it on the computer, but I'm not real sure how.
I know a lot of the guys on this site side discharge, but I still have to bag it, too many mulch beds and there's no way I'm
side discharging after laying 20 yards of mulch.

[Kent Lawns]

A trailer like North Shreve offers might be a good idea.

www.northshreve.com or 1(800) 423-7801

And they're not expensive: $3500 or so

[97Stroker]

I would love nothing more than to use a ramp set up, so easy, champion landscapin has it all hooked up. But we run our 4 mowers out of a 24 foot enclosed trailer. So I would either have to do the side set up off the truck, or like a front mount set up. Great ideas though, keep them coming

[mdb landscaping]

im pretty sure there is a company out there that makes lifts for bags on commercial mowers. i know a few local guys have them on hustlers and i remember reading or seeing online a company that makes lifts that can dump into trucks.

[thelawnguy]

Eliminate the bagging and you wont need to fret about loading the truck (or unloading for that matter).

[97Stroker]

you mean like mulchin blades????a couple people told us that they were not good for what we were doin. I don't know though, I mean we use those baggers in the fall to do clean ups. The fact that we live on a island, we work down by the water alot. So when we do clean ups we vac the leaves up with the tractor, no mulching.. I don't know, what are the advantages to mulching it. alot of the customers believe that bagging is the way, what are my selling points goin to be?

[ronslawncare]

thats easy your selling point will be that its a free fertlizer .i mulch all my lawns and they all look like they are bagged just make sure you blow all clumps of grass