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Ultra-vac Pulley; Can/Should It Be Left On?

#1

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cruzenmike

My Lazer Z CT has a double pulley installed on the deck for the Ultra-vac system. Is there any risk in leaving the double pulley on all the time or should I change it back to the original single pulley if I am not going to use the Ultra-vac system?

I can think of a few reasons to remove it but I figured I would let the professionals offer some input.

Thank you.

Mike


#2

BlazNT

BlazNT

No issues leaving it on except it would drive me crazier to see it not connected to something.


#3

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Pumper54

My Lazer Z CT has a double pulley installed on the deck for the Ultra-vac system. Is there any risk in leaving the double pulley on all the time or should I change it back to the original single pulley if I am not going to use the Ultra-vac system?

I can think of a few reasons to remove it but I figured I would let the professionals offer some input.

Thank you.

Mike

I am not a pro but I would think you should look at the time and effort required to remove and install it, the slim chance of braking something while doing it and then decide. Just looked at that system on line and that is one heck of a vac.
Tom


#4

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cruzenmike

I am not a pro but I would think you should look at the time and effort required to remove and install it, the slim chance of braking something while doing it and then decide. Just looked at that system on line and that is one heck of a vac.
Tom

Unfortunately I do not have the fancy Ultravac system that you can dump remotely or anything like that. But, my only gripe with the system is that the bags are kind of small and there are only two of them. A 50" Cub Cadet rider with a bagger can hold 1.5x as many clippings as mine or more. Because I have about an acre of grass to mow, I hate the idea of stopping, driving away to a designated spot, having to disengage the clutch to get up and dump and then drive back to where I was to do it all over again about 10-15 times. Its just a lot of extra driving around and wear on the pto clutch.

But, I can say that when I do use the system, it works well. I think I may just swap the pulley over and side discharge all year. Due to the size of the bags I cannot use the system for leaves so that might be when I consider getting a block off plate for the deck and some low-lift mulchers.


#5

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cruzenmike

No issues leaving it on except it would drive me crazier to see it not connected to something.

There is a separate black plastic cover that goes over the double pulley but it is hideous!! I believe you can put on and take of the Ultravac with the cover on, but still, it just doesn't look right when the left side has a nice red metal one.


#6

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Darryl G

I leave mine on. It never occurred to me to take it off. The Ultravac is ok but doesn't do a clean one pass pick up on leaves the way the Boss vac on my Bob-Cat does. There's always some blowout out the right front corner.

Edit: I use my vac systems mostly for leaves. I just grind them up to about dime size before vacuuming them up.


#7

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cruzenmike

what I have noticed is that on the ultra vac system with the normal blades which would be the notched high lift the leaves do not really shred that small when they go into the ultra vac bags. so what ends up happening is having full bags rather quickly and then having to dump them all the time. what I do instead is remove the ultra vac and make five or six passes over the piles of leaves which would eventually cut it up small enough to not see.


#8

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Darryl G

Yeah, agreed. They hardly do anything to leaves. Gators or wavy mulchers are much better for leaves.


#9

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cruzenmike

Yeah, agreed. They hardly do anything to leaves. Gators or wavy mulchers are much better for leaves.

I think that this year I am just going to use a piece of 1/4" steel to make a block off plate and get some wavy low lifts for the leaves. The Micro-Mulch kit was crazy expensive and I am not even sure I can get it for the CT anymore.


#10

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Darryl G

I think that this year I am just going to use a piece of 1/4" steel to make a block off plate and get some wavy low lifts for the leaves. The Micro-Mulch kit was crazy expensive and I am not even sure I can get it for the CT anymore.
What size deck do you have? I've got 48 and 52 inch mulching kits for the tri-vantage deck.

Edit: Now that I'm at a real keyboard I can describe how I dealt with leaves with my Lazer Z HP and Ultra-Vac which your machine is just a slightly cheaped-out version of.
(Note: that machine is now just a back-up and for mowing my back acreage).

I tried using the Micro-Mulch kit for leaves on both of my Exmarks and it works well in the early season when I could make most accumulations disappear in one or two passes. But for thick and/or wet leaf cover and in areas where the leaves had concentrated it just took too many passes to give a clean enough look for my standards and sometimes it just didn't give acceptable results.

Another method I have used I don't think I'd recommend for you because I'm not sure your engine and spindles are up to it. I put 2 precision-balanced blades on per spindle in a + arrangement, one Gator and one high lift with my discharge chute down. It basically turns the machine into a combination blower and mulcher. What I do is cut in 2 or 3 passes around the edges and obstacles clockwise to blow everything inwards. Then I do my back and forth straight passes. The high velocity of the discharge blows the next row to be cut nearly clear of leaves to the point that when I do the pass facing towards the cut grass the few remaining leaves are mulched and dispersed well by the double blades. When I get to the end of lawn I grind up the pile that have been blown there and throw on my catcher or hook up my Ultra-Vac and pick them up. You can alternately stake down a tarp and use the mower to blow them onto it or use that old-fashioned rake or a blower or just grind them to dust.

My preferred method is to run a set of Gator mulchers. First I use a backpack blower to blow the leaves off of hard surfaces and from around obstacles out to where I can get at them with my mower. Then with the Ultra-Vac unit off (I keep the hopper on at all times) I run around and grind up the leaves to about dime sized, sometimes running backwards to run leaves over that want to run away. After they're all ground up nicely I put the Ultra-Vac unit on and pick up the ground up leaves. You can regulate how many of them you pick up with your cutting height. You can raise up a bit to leave the well-ground leaves and dust to decompose or drop it down to try to pick up the majority of it. The resulting leaf mulch is great for composting and for use in the vegetable garden for weed control.

And finally, there's a hybrid method where I do the same as above but with the Ultra-Vac unit on at all times. Gator blades. Again I blow the leaves to where I can get at them. But then I run around and pick up leaves until the bagger clogs, and I just keep going with it clogged, essentially running it as a closed mulching deck. On my unit the Ultra-Vac will keep running clogged and will not stall and burn/destroy the belt. I can't do that with my Bob-Cat and you should make sure that you can with yours. Running the bagger impeller is an additional draw on the machine so you can't run over big piles as easily without straining the engine, but you can raise the deck in the areas of heavy accumulation. After I grind up what I think is a full bagger load of leaves, I unclog the unit, dump the partially ground leafs in the hopper back onto the ground and bag and dump until I'm out of ground up leaves and repeat the process. The reason I started doing it this way is once I ground up the leaves on a large heavily-littered lawn and an afternoon shower came through and got everything wet. It was like trying to pick up wet cardboard!


#11

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cruzenmike

I have the 48" deck on my CT. I agree that the spindles might not be up to the x-blades and I have also steered clear from the Gators (G5/G6?) that are thicker, wider and heavier than the stock blades. I have always stuck with OEM blades and I know that Exmark makes an "extreme" mulcher that is similar to the gators in design. I have not been so thrilled with the ultravac because like I stated before the bags just fill up too fast. I had not attempted to make a single pass and then follow up with the vac on but I could certainly try that when the fall comes.


#12

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Darryl G

Yeah, just grind them up with Gators to shred them to reduce their volume before bagging.


#13

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cruzenmike

Yeah, just grind them up with Gators to shred them to reduce their volume before bagging.

Thanks, I will give this a try in the fall. I guess this means that I will be leaving the pulley on!


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