Hi all,
I own a 60 acre farm in central Virginia and cut about 15 acres of grass with an 8 foot Woods RFM (rear finish mower) on my farm tractor and use a Kubota ZD331 for around the house and smaller areas the farm tractor won't fit. We have had such a wet year that I'm having to cut the grass every week just to keep up (could go at least 2 weeks in the past) and even then I'm left with huge piles of cut grass that rot and kill the grass underneath it. So, I purchased an Ohio Steel, 50" lawn sweeper ( Model 50SWP26). I'm pulling it with a four wheeler. So far it has been ok except for having to replace a wheel because the plastic gears stripped and now the pinion gears that drive the brushes are slipping and the brushes are only rotating half the time I'm pulling the unit. This makes for double the time, double the gas and double my frustrations.
I went with the Ohio Steel because the price was reasonable (about $450) and it had one of the largest baskets at 26 cubic feet, as well as a 50" wide sweep. When I was a youngster I had a landscaping business and we used Parker brand sweepers. They were great! I looked at those and they now run over $900! I just can't justify that much money for a lawn sweeper.
Ok, here's my question......is there a better sweeper out there I don't know about that will hold up to my 15 acres of weekly sweeping and doesn't cost almost $1000? Or, is Parker really the best and it's worth all that money? Or, should I just stick with the Ohio Steel and keep buying parts?
BTW, I found out during my research that Gravely has purchased Parker Sweepers.
Any and all advice and experience is welcome. THANKS! :thumbsup:
P.S. I'm posting this in the General Discussion area as well.
I own a 60 acre farm in central Virginia and cut about 15 acres of grass with an 8 foot Woods RFM (rear finish mower) on my farm tractor and use a Kubota ZD331 for around the house and smaller areas the farm tractor won't fit. We have had such a wet year that I'm having to cut the grass every week just to keep up (could go at least 2 weeks in the past) and even then I'm left with huge piles of cut grass that rot and kill the grass underneath it. So, I purchased an Ohio Steel, 50" lawn sweeper ( Model 50SWP26). I'm pulling it with a four wheeler. So far it has been ok except for having to replace a wheel because the plastic gears stripped and now the pinion gears that drive the brushes are slipping and the brushes are only rotating half the time I'm pulling the unit. This makes for double the time, double the gas and double my frustrations.
I went with the Ohio Steel because the price was reasonable (about $450) and it had one of the largest baskets at 26 cubic feet, as well as a 50" wide sweep. When I was a youngster I had a landscaping business and we used Parker brand sweepers. They were great! I looked at those and they now run over $900! I just can't justify that much money for a lawn sweeper.
Ok, here's my question......is there a better sweeper out there I don't know about that will hold up to my 15 acres of weekly sweeping and doesn't cost almost $1000? Or, is Parker really the best and it's worth all that money? Or, should I just stick with the Ohio Steel and keep buying parts?
BTW, I found out during my research that Gravely has purchased Parker Sweepers.
Any and all advice and experience is welcome. THANKS! :thumbsup:
P.S. I'm posting this in the General Discussion area as well.