I have an older 5hp unit on my 48" mower deck, works well as long as the
leaves are DRY. Wet or even dew damp leaves will clog incessantly.

I looked at the parts cost vs the complete assembly. You want the
engine, the hoses, the deck adapter, and the mount but not the trailer.
Northern has this typical complete package for $950
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...2824_200042824
You want everything in the package except the trailer and the canvas
over the trailer. But Northern also sells the same 500 pound capacity
trailer for $71, toss in $30 for the canvas. Net: 85% of the cost of a
new unit is for components that you want/need. How about buying the
whole rig, sell the el-cheapo trailer that comes with it?

If you want to go cheap you need to do is find an older push type leaf
blower with a 4 cycle horizontal shaft engine. Example:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...6145_200316145
They are not very popular compared to the new backpack style blowers
with the same hp. I picked up a smaller 2.5hp version for $15 at a yard
sale, works very well. Toro made a larger version with a 5 hp engine.
Fab up the adapter and a mount, buy a replacement hose, good to go.

Joe wrote:
I remember this topic was discussed a couple of years ago, but I want to
add a powered vacuum to my JD lawn tractor, primarily to suck up leaves.
I want to use the existing deck and let the blades mulch the leaves. I
see that Northern (low end) up through Dr. (Big bux) sells systems like
what I want, but I already have a good sized trailer - just need to
build a light-weight housing to increase the capacity.

My hope is that there is someone who sells an engine/blower with the
hoses and deck adapter that I can add on to my trailer. I’ve looked into
buying the stuff as “replacement parts” for the existing systems, but
the cost seems to be close to the entire system. Is there someplace that
sells these specifically as a DIY for rcm-types? Oh, yeah - a twig
chopper on the blower would be pretty much mandatory for my location, as
well. And I don't need a bagger, as I have plenty of places to dump the
compost-to-be.

Thanks,
Joe