Try this-

http://www.jrcoinc.com/default.asp

http://www.acceleratorindustries.com/mowermodels/Exmark.htm

 

Or you might be able to ride on top of the bar if your talented enough, or you may even be able to weld some type of hitch extension on the mower itself

 

youll end up hurting yourself trying that. There are attachments for walk behinds for leaves. The collection barrel and vac goes above the engine. Not sure who makes it but i have seen them around here. Jrco also has wheel barrow attachments that also stays on top and front of the mower. If you lose your footing pullint trailers it could get ugly fast.

 

is it REALLY a lot of leaves that it leaving behind? I mean, no matter how good of a job you do cleaning leaves, theres always going to be a few strays that blow onto the lawn from a neighbors yard or from a tree by the time you leave anyway, so whats the difference really? I think you're also asking for an accident and hurting yourself with this thing the way you are talking about doing it.

Now, I'm not engineer (or artist for that matter) but what about something like this, where you have a stand-on style sulky that attaches to the mower in a "hard mount" way so that it does not pivot like a conventional one would, and then have a shaft coming out of it that would pull the leaf picker-upper thing and allow it to pivot off the sulky. I don't think you would want it to pivot in 2 places because it would get too out of control. I also think doing something like this will undoubtedly make your mowing rig a lot longer and really decrease your maneuverability.

 

I think that your best bet would be to get a bagger for it and also in the link i first up is to get the bin from jrco that mounts on to the deck and can be taken off easy. You will do just fine bagging the leaves then the sweeper will do and plus the sweeper is more of a pain because it is so big and it would be hard to use it in tight places. Go to your exmark dealer and ask to see the bagger for walk behinds and get it.

 

is it REALLY a lot of leaves that it leaving behind? I mean, no matter how good of a job you do cleaning leaves, theres always going to be a few strays that blow onto the lawn from a neighbors yard or from a tree by the time you leave anyway, so whats the difference really? I think you're also asking for an accident and hurting yourself with this thing the way you are talking about doing it.

Now, I'm not engineer (or artist for that matter) but what about something like this, where you have a stand-on style sulky that attaches to the mower in a "hard mount" way so that it does not pivot like a conventional one would, and then have a shaft coming out of it that would pull the leaf picker-upper thing and allow it to pivot off the sulky. I don't think you would want it to pivot in 2 places because it would get too out of control. I also think doing something like this will undoubtedly make your mowing rig a lot longer and really decrease your maneuverability.

You can't hard mount the sulky to the mower unless you use castors for the wheels. Hard mounting won't allow the unit to turn without casters that act independently.

Hitching something to the back of a sulky may work even if it pivots in two places. I doubt that you will be backing up much anyways.

 

get an accelerator. blow everything to the center mulching it as muchas possible.Then use the Accelerator to pick up what's left. Simple.

 

There are attachments for walk behinds for leaves. The collection barrel and vac goes above the engine. Not sure who makes it but i have seen them around here.

Here it is...

http://www.trac-vac.com/index_files/Model470.htm

 

Thanks guys for all of the comments and good ideas.

In particular, the trac-vac (as well as a simple bagger) seems to be a relatively low-cost solution that would work well. The only problem is, if there aren't a lot of leaves, the mower tends to blow them away rather than sucking them under. It would also probably have helped if I had mentioned that I had already purchased the lawn sweeper. I probably should have done my research first!

As far as the sulky goes, as FDuce noted, the hard-mount wouldn't work without its wheels being able to pivot since it would otherwise scrape sideways everytime you made a turn. I am an engineer and I don't see a problem with dual pivots until I have to back up. Fortunately, I don't really have any areas where I have to.

I guess the worst-case scenario is that I just resell the yard sweeper and purchase one of the add-on ones made for a walk-behind.

Any other thoughts or options?

Thanks,
CJ

 

In particular, the trac-vac (as well as a simple bagger) seems to be a relatively low-cost solution that would work well. The only problem is, if there aren't a lot of leaves, the mower tends to blow them away rather than sucking them under.

With the bagger, yes, you can get blowout. With the Trac-Vac it less likely to happen. The engine driven impeller on the Trac-Vac creates a vacuum under the deck so the blowout is greatly reduced. I use a Brinly (http://www.amazing-atv-machinery.com/lawn-vac-brinly-products.html) and there is no blowout except on bare dirt.

 

Oh yeah, the Trac-Vac model 470 has a suggested retail price of $1500 so whether or not it's low cost is up to your perceptions of expensive.

 

$1,500? Ouch.. that's not low-cost to me!

Thanks,
CJ

 

I believe there are anti-blowout baffles available for your deck from eXmark.

Here is a post of mine from a while ago. http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=33787

It totally stoped all frontal blowout. Gave a better vacuum, but compromised high speed QOC (you would be affected by this with a WB)

 

Thanks- that baffle looks like a great option. Wish I had known about it last year when it was so dry.

CJ