45-0492 44" Tow-Behind Lawn Sweeper, 28 cu. ft Hopper Bag Capacity; Leaf & Grass Catcher, with Adjustable Brush Height and Dump From Seat Handle

I used the Agri-Fab 45-0492 Lawn Sweeper behind my John Deere tractor mower. This product is very easy to set up and very easy to use. For me backing things up has always been an issue and this is no different. I try to make all my passes where I don't have to turn around or cut real sharp. My lawn is very large & takes quite a bit of time to cover everything. In my front yard I have 18 Cottonwood trees and the leaves they drop can be very overwhelming. I use this and it was like just mowing the lawn. Everything was picked up pretty much on the first pass. With these trees, I get a lot of dropped branches and twigs. This picks up about 95% of all the twigs. It seems to be a quality product and have had absolutely no problem with it at this point. It is so effective that the bag fills up very quickly as it picks up everything in its path. Of course picking up everything in my situation requires a lot of dumping of the basket. The basket dumps extremely easily by a handheld rod which you simply pull and drive forward. When the cotton is coming off the trees and settles into the grass it is very simple matter to get that taken care of as well with his sweeper.I bought it for the leaf problem in my yard but have been pleasantly surprised by the fact that it picks up everything in its path. Cleaning is a breeze and all you have to do is take your hose to it and put it away. In it's stored position,it is a bit bulky. All in all this is a fine product and is very sturdy. It can be adjusted side to side by simply sliding the bar left or right and re-tightening the clamp. The sweeper cut my work time by 85% when the leaves are on the ground. When the twigs build up, I get the sweeper out and make short work of a tough situation. You can buy with confidence knowing that you just saved a lot of back breaking work. Agri-Fab 45-0492 Lawn Sweeper, 44-Inch

A well made unit made in the USA, but the bag is flimsy and made in China. My suggestion to all interested in buying this unit to read all the reviews. Especially the Negatives ones to be aware of problems that come with almost any product. That way you possibly will be able to avoid the pitfalls in knowing up front. The bag material is lightweight, it's frame is lightweight and the support rods that hold the bag open pop out and get lost. I added tough nylon reinforce. tape around the small rods at their top to the upper tubing frame of the bag in case they popped out. (they did pop out at the bottom, but never got lost.) I never over loaded the bag to put too much stress on the frame, but I'm thinking on adding maybe extra bracing to strengthen the frame later on (I was in a hurry at the time to get this unit together and picking up) I did make a cover to give extra protection to the outside bottom of the bag using cheap tarp from HF. I check when done picking up that day. I couldn't find any wear on the tarp to justify if it was needed but I was just picking up fairly light thatch and the bag never touched the ground. Still the tarp was cheap and easy to cover the bottom and I will leave it on. Probably the most important negative of the product is the plastic gear teeth in the wheels that can break. I don't know what can be done to prevent this from happening except I feel that lowering the brushes to low into the grass and them not turning has to be the most likely the cause of this. Setting the brushes just to touching the grass by looking down into the unit as you set their height is a good way to get the setting right. I think people may try to get the unit to pick up more by lowering the brushes too deep to get more of a pickup and would be better making an extra passes if needed than pushing their luck. Checking the wheels as you start pulling the unit to make sure they are turning and not scooting is a good thought to prevent this. The hitch on the unit comes with two large spacers that depending on the height of your mower hitch is awkward in making the connection, but adding a strip of duct tape around the two spacers putting them together is less of a hassle when hooking up. I found that storage of this unit to be easier and take up less space if you remove the bag from the unit. Release the two support rods that hold the bag upright allows the bag to be flattened. (putting like a little duct tape over the end of the rods will keep them from punching a hole in the bag is wise too). The two arms on the unit which allows you to attach or remove the bag can be folded inward if you remove the upper pin on each side and pivot the arms inward next to the brushes. Putting those pins back into the holes of the body with their clips for storage will keep them from getting lost. I'm giving this a 5 star because of how great it preformed, and the solid construction of the body. If after finding out later on that this turns into a problem with breakage from the plastic tooth wheels (no matter how careful I am of setting the height right) I will downgrade my review. Update: Still doing great. I am still convinced that setting the brushes too deep into your grass is the reason for the broken teeth in the gear that runs the wheels/ brushes. My setting that seems safe is 7 holes from the top. I found that the two rods that suppose to hold the bag spread in the rear are just too easy to come out and then get dumped with the leaves. Checking each time you dump to see if they are missing will help in finding them if they do fall out. I will look later in the spring to see what can be done about them. I mentioned earlier about folding the arms that allows the bag to be attached to the unit. Swapping out the pins that go into the holes of the arms when in place with a pin that just has a button in place of using clips makes easier to put them in and pull them out. Adding a spring clamp to the two arms in the middle after folding them inward keeps them in place without them falling back in your way during storage. Adding pics to show you what I did to help explain all this. UPDATE: I just got thru sweeping up the lawn of leaves and now after six years I have no complaints. Trust me you will never regret buying it.

Here is my initial review for delivery and assembly. Will follow with performance once the rain stops. The product arrived damaged. The photo tries to show a bent cross beam that I discovered only after full assembly and attachment of the hopper. I bent it back as best I could. I don’t think it should affect performance but if it does, it’s going back. Missing one nylon lock washer. Had to buy a package on Amazon as Lowes doesn’t stock them in 5/8 x 18. $4 out of pocket and a 2 day delay to assemble. Assembly instructions: 1. Page 2 Part #4 looks like a tube in the drawing. It’s actually a flat bar. 2. Page 4 slide #5. All the parts on Page 2 are numbered. Slide 5 uses letters “N” “O” and “I” instead of the numbers on Page 2. Actually N=15, O=17, and I=12. I had to go through the instructions part by part before assembling this step to make sure I wasn’t going to use a part that was actually required later. 3. Slide 5 only shows the assembly of 1 of 2 Part #12. Not a big problem, but make sure you install the open side facing out and the slots facing up for both sides. I always hate it when the person writing the instructions never actually assembled the product. I should be on the payroll if I have to correct their instructions. The hopper only attaches to the sweeper at two points on the bar in slide 5. I hope that can handle being dragged across the lawn. I’ll find out soon and add a performance review to these comments. After 10 uses. Revised from 2 to 4 stars This is the one to buy based on the large size of the hopper. Also, it does a very good job picking up leaves and sticks. For my Bermuda grass it did a great job of removing thatch. The bar I mentioned above must have only one connection point so that it will tip to empty it with the handle. The aforementioned damage (bent bar) didn’t affect performance and is out of site behind the sweeping brushes. Aside from the assembly instruction issues, I would highly recommend this sweeper.

Looks good, huge collection bin, easy height adjustment

Wish I bought one a long time ago. Great customer service from manufacturer. Mine came with a few minor scratches and one brush had real crooked bristles that had been squashed in packing and wouldn’t return to their original form. A quick call to the manufacturer and they quickly sent out touch up paint and a replacement brush. If you have a tractor, lots of leaves and an average to large size property, this is a must have. Easily dissembles for storage, goes back together quickly too. It is large and still takes up a bit of space to store though.

Great product

Picking leaves up from garden and cleaning drive

Good overall sweep. Well made, large capacity. Met expectations. Took one star off for shipping damage.