Re: (ET) Leaves and an E-12

[steven1955 comcast net]

Mike from Colchester, CT asked "I was just curious if any of the 
Elec-trakkers out there with a leaf problem found a way to use the tractor 
to pick up the
leaves?"

Years ago I bought from Bill Gunn a vacuum attachment for my E15.  It had 
an electric vacuum/blower mounted on a steel frame that bolted to the back 
of the tractor.  It bolted to the tractor frame in such a way that the 
blower frame could move up and down, but stayed in line with the tractor.  
The weight was taken by two swivel casters.  The mower deck was converted 
to side discharge (which I find works better than rear discharge when the 
grass is damp) and the side discharge chute was replaced with a hose 
connection.  A hose ran from the mower deck to the blower inlet, and the 
blower discharged into a mesh bag on the frame under the blower.  The 
mower deck did a bit of mulching to the leaves as they were collected, but 
nothing like a modern mulching deck would do.

This blower appears to be the same blower as used in the parking lot 
vacuum cleaner accessory GE once offered.

Well the bag, which actually was bigger in volume than a snapper riding 
mower dual bag collector, was too small for the amount of leaves I needed 
to collect.  So when it died of old age, and a replacement from Bill Gunn 
was over $200, I decided to modify the assembly.  I remounted the blower 
on a wooden frame directly onto the tractor.  I modified a pull behind 
cart to be about 7 feet tall wrapped in fabric.  The blower blows into the 
top of the cart.  Only dust and the smallest pieces of mulched leaves 
escape from the cart.

So my final assembly consists of the E15, a side discharge front mower 
deck, a rear mounted blower, and a tow behind cart.  When I am collecting 
leaves it looks like a train, the entire assembly being longer than a mid 
to large size car.

My modified cart has about 2-1/2 cubic yards volume capacity.  When it is 
full the the cart weighs so much that if I back down our hill to where I 
can empty the cart, well, if I make a mistake in alignment I cannot drive 
back up the hill even in LL gear even if the ground is dry.

Sorry, but I don't have any pictures.  I anyone requests pictures I can 
take some when I am set up to collect leaves a bit later in the fall.

Steve in Delaware