We have a sizeable yard to maintain and in the fall the leaves can be a problem. We have a lot of trees and so we have a lot of leaves. Raking them at my age, (70+) with my health problems has become a long chore that lasts for days on end. Friends and neighbors and our son, in his 40s now, has helped in past years. We even payed one year to have them cleaned up. And we don't want the trees cut down.

Well, I figured enough is enough. So since I have a lawn tractor and an old trailer, why not make myself a leaf vac?, I bought a small electric generator from Harbor Freight and also a leaf vac and blower combo. Then I cut a round hole in the front of the trailer the size of a dryer vent mount. I bought the mount and a long dryer hose. Then I went to work.

I mounted the dryer vent on the trailer hole with short drywall screws. Then I put the dryer hose onto it with a really long screw clamp. The leaf vac-blower came with a zippered collection bag that is way too small for our yard. So I cut the end out of it that hooks to the blower. Clamping the other end of the hose to the blower bag connector, I then made a platform on the front top of the trailer for the generator. Using bungee cords, I sat the generator on the shelf and fastened it down to bolts in the sides of the trailer. I covered the open trailer with a large piece of cardboard and then put a tarp over it and that was it.

I plug the blower/vac into the generator and move around the yard sucking up leaves. The trailer holds a lot and as they pass through the vac, they are mulched and the vacuum compresses the load of leaves in the trailer so I can suck up leaves for around an hour and then dump them out on the road for the leave guys to pick up. Mostly, I wait until most of the leaves have fallen. It takes me a day to do it all but that's much better than three to five days like before. It works really well.