Throw away your pitch fork and wheel barrow. Times have changed.

[Ron 733]

I started this nearly three years ago. How to design a front loader for a garden tractor? Offsetting 200 pounds in front of a riding mower or garden tractor is a lot of weight. The new design incorporates several innovations. As the scoop is lifted it also tilts back about 40 degrees all in one motion. This centers the weight in the scoop. Reduces the chance of spilling mulch as you transport it around the yard. It also moves the scoop as close as possible to the front end reducing the offset weight as it lifts to about 12 inches above the ground. The scoop is a clam shell design. As the bottom move forward to open it gets higher off the ground instead of lower. All this allows you to drive right up onto the mulch bed and dump 4 to 5 cubic feet of mulch. Without this much height the pile would be so tall you couldn't close the scoop without grabbing back some of the mulch. How does it lift all this weight? Well the truth is it lifts nearly nothing at all. The servo drive is rated for 660 pounds of lift. The scoop with all the hardware weights in at about one hundred pounds. Then add in a hundred pounds of mulch. Above the scoop are four linear constant energy springs. As they uncoil and recoil they produce 150 pounds of lifting force. So the scoop is actually negative fifty pounds when it is empty. Meaning it wants to stay up not down. The servo must force it back to the ground to be loaded. But filled with a hundred pounds of mulch it is positive fifty pounds. Which means it only takes fifty pounds of force the lift a hundred pound of mulch. I will soon be introducing the scoop for sale to the commercial landscaping market. Putting down mulch cost about $35.00 a yard to have someone do it. Moving four yards an hour works out to $140.00 an hour with this attachment or $1100,00 in an eight hour day. All without a shovel, pitch fork or wheel barrow. Ron 804.536-1213

 

[Darryl G]

I sometimes use the font-end loader of my compact utility tractor for mulch jobs and have never come close to $1,100/day installing mulch in the 15+ years I've been doing it. Most of the time spent mulching is in the detail work of spreading the mulch, not moving the mulch. So lets be realistic here.

 

[Ron 733]

I live in central Virginia. The going price for mulch is nearly $40 a yard delivered. The price for a landscaping company to lay it is about $35 to $37 a yard. I have 1.2 acres and requires 35 yards of mulch each year. This does include edging and cleaning the beds. But raking out mulch is the easy part of the job. Getting it to the beds is the hard part. On the average mulch weighs 600 lbs. per yard. In my case that's nearly 20,000 lbs. in shear weight. The job has been done the same way forever. Shovel all day into a wheel barrow and dump it. It has got to be the most labor intensive back breaking job there is. In my area no one would let you use a small front end loader tractor to do the job. It just tears the yard up. But how can they refuse using the same lawnmower which just cut their grass? I believe this is just a better way to do the job without killing yourself. Plus I saved myself a thousand dollars and never broke a sweat. That's nearly the cost of the attachment in just one job. My wife and I worked Saturday for seven hours. Then I worked six hours Sunday by myself and finished. I really believe there is a market for an attachment which will lay mulch like this. Especially if your in the landscaping business. Two guys can easily do the work of four with this. By the way it was 96 degrees both days and I am 68 years old.
https://www.facebook.com/ronald.flournoy.5/videos/1953258684705571/

 

[Darryl G]

Ok I guess but I've never torn a yard up and never had a complaint using my tractor. I run turf tires on it, keep it in 2wd and mix up my path across the yard.

 

[cpurvis]

In my area no one would let you use a small front end loader tractor to do the job. It just tears the yard up. But how can they refuse using the same lawnmower which just cut their grass?

Because that 'same' mower's front tires now have the weight of the mulch plus the weight of the loader on them, that's how. Probably more psi on the ground than Darryl's tractor.

If you consider shoveling mulch into a wheelbarrow to be 'back-breaking' hard work, you should get a job laying sod or putting up square bales of hay. Shoveling ten tons of something as light as mulch is nothing.

 

[Darryl G]

I rarely shovel mulch into wheelbarrows even when I'm not using my tractor. I usually rake it directly from my truck or dump trailer into wheelbarrows or on some beds I pull my truck right up to the beds and pitch it in directly from my truck. And people around here often have plants in their beds with no room to dump, so the mulch gets forked out of the wheelbarrow or tractor bucket into the beds.

Hey if it works for you great. My only issue is the $1,100/day selling point appears unrealistic and exaggerated, at least for the types of mulch jobs I do.

 

[jwax]

New to the forum, but can't help but wonder if Ron ever got this attachment into production?
Looking for a light weight loader to add to my John Deere 175 Hydro. Does such a thing exist?

 

[ILENGINE]

The OP hasn't been here since June of 2018 so I doubt you will get a response from him.

 

[anointedrj]

I spread 12 cy every year. I've always used wheel barrel, cart on Husqvana rider, pitch fork, and use my hands to throw the mulch where needed. I take my time and takes about 3 days. I prefer to use my hands so I get exactly what I want and where I want it.