# Which Lawn Sweeper and will a 3100d Tow?



## CAB (Mar 21, 2019)

I've been wanting a yard sweeper for a few years and have researched them on and off. Any advice or opinion welcome. <$500 range.

18k total, maintained around 3/4" - 1". Hybrid bermuda front and zoysia back. Five big boy 20"-30" oaks, water and white (small and big leaves, thousands of small-ish nuts and sharp seed pods). One 18"-ish female ginkgo (stinky fruit if not picked up before they rot). Already took down many other HUGE hardwoods a few years ago, they've been milled and are curing in my basement.

I want a sweeper for various reasons, but may eventually get a Cyclone Rake (big a** yard vac). Maybe even combine the two? There's an idea.

My Toro 3100d will tow the sweeper somehow, need to make a bracket. Think the hydraulic wheel motors will be strong enough?

I'm about to put down 18+ tons of USGA sand, do you think the sweeper will collect too much? Hard to answer without seeing my REALLLLY bad 80%+ eroded front yard. Back yard is mostly good.

Option #1

*Agri-fab 45-0492* ($325 44" 25cuft)
http://www.agri-fab.com/Products/Sweepers/44-inch-Lawn-Sweeper.aspx









I'd really like to do the same modifications this guy did.
[media]https://youtu.be/a1MnElAOqRY[/media]

Option #2

*Craftsman ES100CR* ($390 42" 12cuft) with electric brush motor
https://www.sears.com/craftsman-es100cr-42inch-electric-lawn-sweeper/p-A021714121









Other options
Opinions welcome. I'm too lazy to list them all out. I don't have anything against brinly-hardy, ohio steel, or all the other multi-brand sweepers.

I already own a few garden weasel nut gatherers, but it's too time consuming. Unless I weld a bunch together, which I saw somewhere on youtube once.
https://www.gardenweasel.com/garden-weasel-products/garden-weasel-tools/weasel-nut-gatherer/









If the sweeper doesn't pan out for the nut collection, I may have to get one of these.
https://www.cyclonerake.com/cyclone-nut-rake-tow-behind/


----------



## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

I would get the nut rake. I have a lawn sweeper and I just don't know if it would be able to lift up anything more substantial than leaves/grass/straw. I think it would just push the nuts around vs. tossing them up into the bagger.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

CAB said:


> My Toro 3100d will tow the sweeper somehow, need to make a bracket. Think the hydraulic wheel motors will be strong enough?


I thought about this but I dont want to wear out my 3100D. Plus I need to pull several hundred pounds so not sure it would be a good idea.

My father in law gave me an old toro lawn tractor that cant cut worth much but it does ok enough to mulch and pulls well. Great for the sprayer and spreader.


----------



## CAB (Mar 21, 2019)

Thanks for the input @adgattoni and @HoosierLawnGnome.

Got the sand today, did a few carts before dark. Easier to pull than I was expecting, so I'm tempted to tow with the toro. Hold my beer.


----------



## Cheesetoast (May 1, 2018)

@CAB What's in USGA sand? I'm putting together a plan for leveling this month, and am curious about the cost difference between USGA and masonry.


----------



## CAB (Mar 21, 2019)

@Cheesetoast I don't know all the specifics of its origins or size percentages, but I bought it knowing that it's up to snuff on the use case I have in mind. Just a sand mix of particular standards, maximum percentages of certain sand sizes, etc.

https://www.riversandinc.com/products/usga-topdressing/
https://www.riversandinc.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-usga-top-dressing-standards/


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Driving backwards all the time?


----------



## craigdt (Apr 21, 2018)

I have the Agrifab.

Works pretty good, but I always just get the feel that it's fragile and the gear is about to go out.
Never had any problems though....

And it doesnt take much to tow it. Your machine will do fine.

It's not as good as a bagging attachment- leaves some behind, but not very much.
Overall a good piece of equipment.


----------



## Art_Vandelay (Nov 20, 2018)

CAB said:


> Thanks for the input @adgattoni and @HoosierLawnGnome.
> 
> Got the sand today, did a few carts before dark. Easier to pull than I was expecting, so I'm tempted to tow with the toro. Hold my beer.


 That would be the last place I would hook something on a piece of equipment. But mount a go-pro there too so we can see the carnage when it all goes wrong in spectacular fashion


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

Please tell me you aren't towing something from a reel head. No way I'd do that on my machine.


----------



## CAB (Mar 21, 2019)

Drum roll.... so I made it about 10ft until I bent the cart handle a little bit because I was trying to fit through a fence gate in reverse (see first picture) and was tempted to push it instead of pull, bad idea. Switched to a line tow, worked like a champ (see second picture). Y'all made me second guess myself a few times, but that 3100d didn't break a sweat towing that sand. When running near low idle, there was no audible strain. At full engine speed, it didn't even flinch. On flat ground on a freshly scalped lawn, the new cart bearings (https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=8071#p136436) makes it super easy to move with a full load of sand, even my two year old can move it (a little). I'll have to record some video of the towing so you can notice something I'm not. Side note, I have mostly fresh hydraulic fluid in it.

As for towing it with the head (again, only did it for a few feet under load), I was okay with that because both front arms are already tweaked back on the outer edges due to prior operators hitting stuff, so I half jokingly hoped that it'd straighten things out a bit. I'd have to tow 10-30+ carts of sand up hill, in reverse, to get anywhere close to getting those arms to straighten out even a few mm. Not that I'd do that, but just saying those arms (?) and head units are beastly.

I've only done about 10-15 carts of sand so far. If there was any incline then I hooked it up to the mower and saved a lot of time and effort. Got to a point where I didn't untie/retie, just left plenty of line and kept it attached. I plan to do all 18 tons that way.

Oh, the 52" agri-fab sweeper came today! Third picture.


----------



## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

I got that 52" Agri-fab just last week too. Ordered from Lowes and man it looked like it was dropped off an airplane from 20,000ft. Returned the first one, second one looked pretty much the same, but I just took it...was scratched, gouged, minorly dented, etc but I needed one. My box was also missing the two support rods, but Agri-fab is mailing them out. They said they aren't needed and will be phased out in the future. Got it together and used it this weekend, it worked very well overall.

Couple items:
1) A full bag will be HEAVY! Just keep in mind when emptying, it's wasn't like in the video where they just pull a line and out it flows. It took a little bit of man handling to empty it.

2) When it gets heavy, making an adjustment of the sweeper level isn't easy. Seems like a lot of torque gets applied to the screw/peg depending on how the sweeper sits when you stop. You may have to shift it around a bit (not easy, it'll be a couple hundred pounds between it's weight and the weight of what's in there) to get the screw to adjust easier.

3) Regarding point #2, if you need to ride over other stuff, like gravel or take in the woods to dump, you'll need to lift the sweepers or you'll be trying to pick all kinds of unwanted stuff up along the way.

4) Careful on sharper turns, the inside wheel will want to drag outward. Almost looked like I would rip it off a couple times. So try to take wide turnarounds if possible, which is not always possible depending on obstacles.

Overall, it worked very well, if I get 4-5 uses out of it, it's paid for itself in cleanups. I do believe it will pick up acorns as well, as long as they aren't mashed into the lawn. Pretty sure I pulled up 150+ lbs of sticks, dead grass, pine needles, pine cones, acorn shells, etc in about 20-30 minutes on less than 3/4 of an acre. I could get to about 95% of my lawn areas I wanted to, but some areas I couldn't turn around in gravel because it would pick up some gravel, which wasn't worth the time savings of just raking those areas for a couple minutes.

Good luck with yours, let me know how it goes!


----------



## CAB (Mar 21, 2019)

g-man said:


> Driving backwards all the time?


@g-man Ha, yes, that was the plan until I realized I couldn't fit through the gate with it attached like that. Switched to towing with a rope, worked like a champ.


----------



## CAB (Mar 21, 2019)

@Clover13 Thanks for the tips and feedback, I'll keep all that in mind. I'll reply here when I get it together and use it some.


----------



## tgoulart (Jun 21, 2018)

Clover13 said:


> I got that 52" Agri-fab just last week too. Ordered from Lowes and man it looked like it was dropped off an airplane from 20,000ft. Returned the first one, second one looked pretty much the same, but I just took it...was scratched, gouged, minorly dented, etc but I needed one. My box was also missing the two support rods, but Agri-fab is mailing them out. They said they aren't needed and will be phased out in the future. Got it together and used it this weekend, it worked very well overall.
> 
> Couple items:
> 1) A full bag will be HEAVY! Just keep in mind when emptying, it's wasn't like in the video where they just pull a line and out it flows. It took a little bit of man handling to empty it.
> ...


You have the same one that I purchased last year and my experiences are exactly the same. I am challenged by some pretty significant hills in my front yard but all in all this does about 80% of what I need it to do...mainly picking up debris and thatch in the spring and leaves in the fall. I don't know if I can justify the $$ for a cyclone rake (or DR), or maybe a bagger for my rig, but I suspect I will do an upgrade within the next 2 years and let this one go for a song on Craigslist.


----------



## johndisuza (Apr 30, 2019)

Agreed, the choice for me the Agri-fab 52" lawn sweeper.


----------



## phoward47 (Jul 23, 2020)

I was also looking for a way to tow with my 3100D....so I made a hitch for it. It's not pretty but it works.


----------

