Re: (ET) Thoughts on fixing a lawn sweeper

[Steve Welch <oneoldbird icloud com>]

Raking is wonderful exercise. That said, when time is short a sweeper is 
nothing short of miraculous.  I have a pull behind john Deere unit (more 
heresy) that has been a godsend. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 19, 2013, at 7:48 AM, Jeff Antonucci <jlantonucci comcast net> 
> wrote:
> 
> Heretic - ban him from the list!
> 
> My lawn sweeper works absolutely fine at picking up leaves.  It works so 
> well in fact it fills up in only a minute or two of sweeping.  I bought 
> it from the guy who prefers to rake by hand....
> 
> 
>> On 11/19/2013 6:42 AM, Steve Shore wrote:
>> If you are physically able, a good rake can't be beat to rustle up 
>> those fall leaves.  And if you really go for it, it's great exercise.  
>> Ditto for snow and a shovel.  Now plowing/'tilling a garden is another 
>> story.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On Nov 18, 2013, at 10:34 PM, CZ Unit <cz alembic crystel com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Finally got the parts for my Elec-trak powered sweeper on Friday, and 
>>> spent a good chunk of Saturday putting them in.
>>> 
>>> I'm glad I ordered new bolts for the wheel spindles, because they are 
>>> an odd size and thread. Well worth the money.
>>> 
>>> I'm glad I bought a new spindle as well; one of them was badly rusted, 
>>> so I just replaced it.
>>> 
>>> The new bearings are nice; the rod now spins without vibrating much, 
>>> and the brushes are a lot more smooth. Bought some new brush clips as 
>>> well; it's nice to get all of them on there.
>>> 
>>> Overall though I can see why the bearings failed: They are under a lot 
>>> of stress, it's a lot of mass to spin, and they are not sealed 
>>> bearings so they will get leaves, dirt, and crud in there eventually.
>>> 
>>> It's a lot quieter (got a new master link for the chain) especially 
>>> when you put oil in the oil port for the pulley/gear shift. Makes some 
>>> noise, but not nearly as bad. And yet.
>>> 
>>> It stinks at picking up leaves. The big problem is if you hit a lot of 
>>> leaves; if you have the metal guard on the motor/chain part, then 
>>> leaves and debris get picked up by the spinning chain and become 
>>> deposited in the gear teeth on the top pulley. They stretch the chain 
>>> till it falls off, then you have to take the whole thing apart. 
>>> Running it without the guard keeps this from happening a lot, but man 
>>> that is a lot of stuff that could catch fingers and such.
>>> 
>>> I think it's designed for grass catchings; I have used it on that and 
>>> it works well. But for serious leaf work I'll stick with my old 
>>> Craftsman gas tractor+dual bagger option with 55 gallon drum liner 
>>> bags. I can fill two of them in a few minutes with chewed up leaves, 
>>> then I dump them in the back pile and keep going...
>>> 
>>> Just thought I would report in. Worth it, but not for leaf work.
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
>>> https://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/mailman/listinfo/elec-trak
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