Agri-Fab, Inc. 44" Tow Lawn Sweeper

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

We live in south Georgia where there are lots of pine trees. The box took a "beating" in transit but it was well packed and arrived without damage. The instructions were clear and we assembled it without any difficulty. There were no missing parts (and more importantly there were no "left over" parts) !! We made one adjustment of the height then started clearing the front yard of pine straw. I expected to have to make several passes to clear the yard but one pass cleared it completely. The dump feature worked wonderfully. We finished the front and back yards in one hour. This would have taken several hours by hand. This unit is very well made with a heavy duty frame. I am extremely pleased with my purchase and it exceeded my expectations.

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.

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.

This product has far too many design flaws to be usable. I tried to use mine on two days and now I am returning it. I don't understand how anyone could give this product a passing review. So the good points: Most of the parts are rugged and appear to be durable. When it works, it does a reasonable job, if I pass over the same spots multiple times - I'm OK with that. Also, the height adjustment mechanism moves smoothly, without requiring force. The sweeper worked equally well with my lawn tractor and my zero turn mower. The unit is quite wide and the basket does hold a lot of material, when it works. Now, the bad points: OVERALL THIS IS JUST VERY POORLY DESIGNED. The biggest flaw is that only the right wheel drives the brushes. If my lawn were as flat as a plate, this would work. But my lawn has ridges and dips, maybe 2" or 3". Sometimes, the drive wheel ends up in the air, so nothing is swept. Much worse, sometimes the brush gets stuck on the slight ridges; this locks up the brush, which locks up the drive wheel, which then skids across the lawn. I now have a bunch of 10'-30' gouges in my lawn. (Yes, I could raise the brush, but then nothing gets swept up - this isn't operator error, it's very bad design.) Also, because there is only one drive wheel, the brush doesn't spin very fast when you turn right. The basket is made in a foreign country from plastic mesh and a flexible, hard bottom. I don't think it would last long, but worse, the design is very, very bad. Two critical fastening points, in the front corners, are attached with metal snaps. These snaps are a pain to attach and they disconnect frequently during usage. This allows the bottom of the basket to drag on the ground. This lead to the sweeper dumping its whole load, one time, in the middle of my lawn, which I didn't discover until I'd made a full circuit and came back to that location. (That was my last straw, by the way.) This thing is held together with a bunch of clips (the instructions call them "hair clips") and there are 16 that hold this machine together. Again, bad design. One each of these must be manipulated when you adjust the brush height or remove the hitch from your tractor. It is extremely difficult to move this unit by hand. The draw bar must be held close to the ground or the basket drags and binds on the ground. You really have to remove the basket to move this device manually. You can dump the load by pulling that handle. But where will you dump it? Backing up is very difficult with this trailering machine, so you really have to drive forward all the time. This means you will dump into a bunch of small piles, rather than one big pile. (Remember that it is very difficult to move this baby manually. It's a perfect storm of bad design problems.) To attach the sweeper to the tractor, you must juggle two loose, small metal cylinders around the hitch pin. Plus, you have to attach one of those hairpins to the hitch pin. This is really just a very dumb setup - what were they thinking?? Look, I really wanted to like this thing. Most of the parts are well made and rugged. I hate raking, yet the lawn really needs it. I could modify some of the parts of the sweeper to make it work somewhat better, but there are too many flaws in the design of this product. It's just designed very badly and I'm totally disappointed in this sweeper.

This product worked great! I read a lot of other reviews and experienced none of the issues that others have mentioned. Shipping: Some reviewers gave low marks for damage on arrival, but in my opinion that is not a product review. That really depends on who is handling your shipment. Mine arrived in great shape and I had it built within 45 mins. I have never had issues with Amazon and with a 3 year warranty (which by the way is plenty considering it would cost more than $300 over three years to have someone else do the work of this attachment), any damage should without question be covered by the manufacturer. Headache to return and resolve yes, but nothing is perfect, even for $300. Assembly: This is the second Agri-Fab product I have built. I am not a fan of the picture only instructions as it is a bit difficult to clearly see the orientation of the parts, but this in no way was a big headache. In fact, I love that this product assembled entirely with clevis pins as it makes it easy to correct a mistake and easy to disassemble for compact storage. If your somewhat mechanically inclined and have built things around your house like furniture, kids toys, etc., this should be no problem. I had it together in less than 45 mins. Use: The adjustable tow pin is great and made it very easy to hook up to my mower without worry about my zero turn not having the correct tow height. It tows easily until it gets full, at which point my zero turn had some difficulty with traction. In hind site, I probably should have purchased the smaller version, because I didn't realize just how much grass this unit would hold (used it to cleanup the thatch on 3/4 acre after using the Agri-Fab 45-0295 48-Inch Tine Tow Dethatcher ). It was very heavy and full and seemed to have no issue holding itself up under the weight. Probably better to use this with a garden tractor, but I use what I have. I think this will do quite well to help me sweep up large piles of mulched leaves in the fall that tend to clog and kill my grass. Some reviewers noted that the bag it self started to wear out very quickly. It seems like Agri-Fab listened to the customers and upgraded the product. The bag now includes a flexible plastic bottom that wraps up about 3-4 inches on the frame, so I don't see any worry about the bag chaffing and ripping. Also, as long as the tow pin is set to the right height, there should be no issue with the unit bag dragging on the ground. Looks like the orange colored units are the new models, so I would stick with those to make sure you have all the latest features and engineering upgrades. Overall: I am not very good at remembering to take pictures, but when my job was all said and done, I had 7 HUGE piles of grass and a nicely scraped and swept lawn for overseeding. Very please with this product (and the dethatcher), amazed at how well it worked and how well it was built.

Why did you pick this product vs others?: I thought I was pretty thorough when I was looking for a new lawn sweeper. I already had an Agri-Fab plug aerator which I thought worked well enough for the money. I only had the lawn sweeper about 6 months when I was emptying it and the tubing near the pivot point bent and broke. I also noticed that there was a small tear in the catch bag as well. I had previously owned two Craftsman lawn sweepers and never experienced these types of issues. The sweeper it self works well however I am very disappointed in the quality of the tubing and sweeper bag. Value for money: It cannot be a good value if you have to piece it back together after having only owned it for such a short time Ease of cleaning: Generally ok Bending resistance: Poor quality tubing and catch sweeper bag Height: N/A Broom quality: The sweeper component is good however the unit is difficult to use with broken tubing until I can figure out how to fix the tubing and catch bag

After reading numerous reviews, I was initially unsure about purchasing a tow-behind sweeper. In the end, I decided to go with an Agri-Fab, and I’m pleased with my choice. The unit arrived quickly, and assembly was a breeze—I had it fully set up in about an hour. Finding the right height took a few test runs, but once adjusted, I was ready to tackle my acre-sized lawn. I was impressed with how well it picked up wet grass, leaving my yard looking neat and well-maintained. After just one use, I’m happy with my purchase. However, I do have some concerns about the durability of the catcher bag, as others have mentioned. The corners, particularly where they meet the sweeper body, lack reinforcement, which could lead to wear and tear over time. I also wish there were a way to disable the sweeper while towing it to my mowing area, as I find the bag is already a quarter full by the time I start. On the plus side, it does an excellent job of sweeping wherever I go! After my first use, I’ve already noticed some fabric stress and scuffing on the bag, which makes me question its long-term durability. I may need to reinforce it with patches to extend its lifespan.