From what I recall, the HPV doesn't have self propel, I've demoed one before, and it's not light. If you have a lot of hills, I'd say look at something else.

Have you looked at a DR? I know that they are for homeowners but it has self propel, & optional elec. start. Since you said you are only doing urs and a neighbors, it seems to me that route may be more worthwhile for you.

 

I bought a Billy Goat leaf vac 2 years ago off of craigslist for $150, it was only 3 years old and it runs great. It can holds more leafs than my 22" Toro, and it can fit in between a gate that m 52" can't.... It's pretty slow moving but it works great!

I only use it in the spring and fall, and for trimming shrubs.

 

There is a cyclone for sale on this site. I believe the guy lives in PA. If I were closer to him I would purchase it. You can vacuum the leaves up into the hopper then dump somewhere on your property or put six hoppers in with bags and bag as you go. Goggle Cyclone rake for an idea of how they work.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

Are you wanting to use a hose kit with it? If so both the DR. and Little Wonder require you to remove the intake nozzle to attach the hose kit.

While the Little Wonder weighs 170 pounds empty, up to 250 pounds full and only comes as a push unit it does have good suction. The nozzle height control is nowhere near their normal quality.

I'm biased, but I've demoed our Billy Goat KV series versus the Little Wonder more than a few times. All I ask is that you push the units through the grass before you make any decision. Or you can try the KV self propelled.

The new DR. is a MacKissic. Buyer beware, seriously...

 

Billy Goat is the way to go!!!

 

Been there, bought that, gave it away. I have a Brinly LVS 33 now and don't regret buying it.

 

Been there, bought that, gave it away. I have a Brinly LVS 33 now and don't regret buying it.

Richard what kind of price we talking about?

 

Richard what kind of price we talking about?

If I recall correctly from a couple of years ago in another thread, he got that Brinly on sale from Home Depot around $ 1,200 !! You wouldn't get that price now, I think they go for about $ 1,800 plus tax now.

 

If I recall correctly from a couple of years ago in another thread, he got that Brinly on sale from Home Depot around $ 1,200 !! You wouldn't get that price now, I think they go for about $ 1,800 plus tax now.

You got the place I bought it from right, you're just way off on the price. I paid under $500 for it. I would still give full price knowing what I now know though.

You can pick these up brand new for $1200 plus shipping, which is about $100 to my house in NC.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200381736_200381736

 

Well that would give me a reason to buy a lawn tractor too. My yard just has too many small areas and little curvy walkways to make a lawn tractor work.

I had not even seen the DR model. Seems similar but more HP and self propelled. Any owners of that model on here?

 

Yes, I would. It beats having my crews waste time raking and then shuffling leaves into bags. This way, they just blow everything into a pile and suck it up with the 40 gallon bag. Then they can dump the bag into a 55 gallon liner.

Major timesaver.

 

Read the specs, its not 11.5hp. I assumed that from the part number its 11.5ft lbs of torque.

 

You got the place I bought it from right, you're just way off on the price. I paid under $500 for it. I would still give full price knowing what I now know though.

You can pick these up brand new for $1200 plus shipping, which is about $100 to my house in NC.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200381736_200381736

Good info: Will this pick-up and handle loblolly and long leaf pine cones? Here in Southern Pines I have mostly pine trees and they are killing me!

 

I'm starting to look into a leaf vacuum for this year. It will be nice for some of my properties that have fenced in backyards as using my 21" mower gets old real fast for leaves.

My main reason for wanting to getting a walk behind leaf vac is for acorns. We have a ton of oak trees in my area, so certain years acorns are worse than others. There really is no good way of picking up the acorns (at least with my current equipment). So I'm hoping to see if a leaf vac will be able to pick up the majority of the acorns that fall. Plus, it will be able to be used to help clean out landscape beds and fenced backyards.

 

I bought a Billy Goat leaf vac 2 years ago off of craigslist for $150, it was only 3 years old and it runs great. It can holds more leafs than my 22" Toro, and it can fit in between a gate that m 52" can't.... It's pretty slow moving but it works great!

I only use it in the spring and fall, and for trimming shrubs.

Wow, I didn't know they had a hedge trimmer attachment for them

 

You got the place I bought it from right, you're just way off on the price. I paid under $500 for it. I would still give full price knowing what I now know though.

You can pick these up brand new for $1200 plus shipping, which is about $100 to my house in NC.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200381736_200381736

Damn! I could get a cyclone rake for less than 2 grand. Brinly's a ripoff

 

Good info: Will this pick-up and handle loblolly and long leaf pine cones? Here in Southern Pines I have mostly pine trees and they are killing me!

It'll suck up anything your blades can feed to it. I used to use it in my yard. I had 13 long leafs. I sold the house and bought another without any pine trees. PM me and I'll make you a deal.

 

I would only buy a billygoat! I bought a CubCadet chipper Vac and it worked alright for cleaning the driveway and cleaning out the beds, but was more of an anchor for the big leaf clean ups!

 

Curious if anyone has used a Patriot vac? The design looks similar to the Billy Goat KV.
http://www.patriot-products-inc.com/products.htm#gascbv

Also, do the Billy Goat KV vacs shred leaves and debris? On Billy Goat's site under accessories is a "shredding screen", so I'm wondering if you need this to shred leaves or not. The Patriot vac shreds leaves with flail blades. I think the Billy Goat is designed to suck up not only leaves but bottles, etc. and as a result I think it only shreds with its impeller?

 

I always wondered how these threads got the Lazarus treatment....I now see the link(s) on the sidebar

We have a Little Wonder HPV (terrible choice for an acronym, right?). We love it. We ran in the summer when we did shrubs and our cleaning large parking lot...Makes cleanup (shrub/parking lot) an absolute breeze. It is absolutely great for: a small operation, anyone starting up, someone with small storage space or large shrub jobs.

Things I absolutely love: the lift mount on the top of the housing makes it super easy to bungee it to the trailer. The bag, it's very easy to unload and since it fills from the top it's hard to impossible to clog even when full. How much quicker it is than using our 22156 and HRX. I did get the impeller off, it is without a doubt a heavy, at least twice as thick as our deck I'd say at about 1/2".

The only design problem, is that the large fan wheel- Over time may do a number on the engine. At the time of the swap, the shaft on the old engine had quite a bit of play (this could also be due to a rough first life). I think that over time the main shaft bearing will be the first to fail on this product. You'll notice that large leaf loaders have a much smaller impeller...I'm assuming that this is part of the reason fo this design. Also, it (the HPV) has some inerta when full of leaves- But, I'm still able to move it around as fast as a push mower (although, it does take a little hustle). I would also say that the nozzel adjstment is a little annoying trying to figure out how to make a crank system to make it a little esaier.

Our only problem with the purchase was: I bought it used (real cheap)...It had always been difficult to start (I'd assumed the: large fan/flywheel was the culprit) as it got cooler, it was an absolutely atrocious to get running. I adjusted the valves, cleaned the carb....came to the conclusion the rings were bad.

I ended up looking around and found a replacement engine (after trying to work with: Dealer/Briggs/Little Wonder/SEW...Everyone tried to get me an exact replcement....which no longer exists) a Vanguard 10hp 305cc. It bolted right up to the fan housing, I only needed to remove the muffler shroud and drill four holes in the chassis for mounting. Took me maybe 1 hr (I did cut the heck out of my hand on the keyway....That thing is silly sharp)? It's plenty powerful now (do most jobs at 50% throttel) and for a small operations like ours it's a life saver. We blow leaves into a pile run over them over with the 30" suck and bag (at that point the leaves are powder and we can load them on the trailer and stick them in front of our house for collection).

Here is our leaf setup:

20161109_173235 2

• TrainingWheels
• Nov 13, 2016

Overall, for us it's been a blessing and a great help....It also stripes a lawn like an absolute animal. We'll probally add the vac tube and an extra bag next year.

BR,

~TW

 

I just read this. I just re-engined an old billy goat push vac. Got the vac for free, the old Tecumseh motor had had it, wasn't worth repairing it and the guy didn't want to buy a new motor, I put it behind my shop, and there it languished. Then I stumbled across a relatively new pressure washer with a bad pump, the pump was ridiculously expensive, so I bought it for 50 bucks,cleaned the carb and it ran great. Then I got to thinking......a little tinkering and that Billy Goat is busy sucking leaves up from around my house. I love that little thing......
After now owning one, I'd recommend it to anyone
This is a newer version of mine http://www.billygoatparts.com/PublicMedia/GetClientMedia/30117