Detaching Yourself From Single-Use Equipment: Mower Attachments

Mower attachments are one means to double, triple or even quadruple the productivity of the mower itself. With a few simple steps, a mower can become a tiller, grader, snowplow, power broom or edger. For some contractors, a mower can also be used as a backhoe or a loader. However, before running out and buying the latest bells and whistles to attach to a machine, contractors need to understand a few things about the attachment segment of the market.

KNOW YOUR NEED. Just about every power landscape tool is available as a mower attachment from some supplier. In addition to mower manufacturers, which manufacture attachments designed specifically for their equipment, short line suppliers manufacture a variety of attachments designed to fit a multitude of mowers. But endless attachments are not the panacea for a landscape contractor looking to offer a variety of services. Instead, studying one’s operation, customer base and scheduling needs is critical to successfully using mower attachments.

“We look at all of the available options in mower attachments,” recognized Dave Klier, of Torre & Bruglio, Pontiac, Mich. “Getting more work done with fewer people is the wave of the future, and if attachments help us do that, they will sell.”

Klier said that before adding any attachment to his arsenal, the landscape contractor must look at scheduling. “If you are going to take a mower and change it into an edger or a fertilizer spreader, you had better be sure you don’t need that mower when it’s applying fertilizer. Otherwise, you are defeating the purpose of that attachment.”

Klier said the only attachment used at Torre & Bruglio is a vacuum attachment that allows for easier debris and leaf removal in the spring and fall. “This way we can pick the leaves up quickly without having to redouble our efforts.”

Productivity is the key to this choice. “One technician is more productive with a riding mower and a vacuum attachment on it than three men are with rakes and brooms,” Klier noted. “We’ve saved a great deal of labor costs that way.”

In Klier’s case, the attachment decision is simple. Adding a vacuum does not pull the mower away from its intended function – it still cuts the grass, the vacuuming is an additional feature. The same can be said for one of the most popular attachments available today – blowers.

James Haney was a commercial landscape contractor for 15 years, looking to save time in his operations. His crews would cut, then blow grass clippings away from walkways and driveways. This extra effort took enough time to cost Haney a few dollars a job.

“We began experimenting with blower attachments that would blow the clippings away as they were being discharged from the mower deck,” he explained. “We ended up with a U.S. patent on that concept.”

Haney was so successful with his attachment that he sold his landscape business in 1997 to concentrate on manufacturing the units.

“We mount blowers so they can blow at the clippings after they exited the deck and before they hit the ground,” Haney added.

Since the blowers are a separate tool, they don’t require any additional horsepower from the mower. “The blower has its own five-horsepower engine, and the bracket attachments are very simple,” Haney noted.

Randy Ferrari, vice president of operations, Minor’s Landscape Services, Fort Worth, Texas, added blower attachments himself to his mowers. “We have made the attachment with a clip assembly for the front of our walk-behind mowers,” he noted.

Ferrari said the company has several accounts with wide open spaces, such as one with 17 miles of curbs, that require blowing away the clippings, so the attachment makes sense. “In areas close to buildings, we have to shut it off and go in later with a hand-held blower, but when we are in these wider areas, we can hit almost everything we need to hit with the attachment.”

The self-designed blower attachment remains the only attachment in Ferrari’s garage, however. “We have looked at other items, but we haven’t purchased anything.

“We toyed with edger attachments, but I’m not really thrilled with the results,” Ferrari continued. “They seem to dish out the edge a little more than I like, and the edge doesn’t seem to be that crisp, so we are sticking with the stick edgers at this point.”

THE WHOLE PICTURE. Personal preference is one reason to not select an attachment. Another is the wear and tear on equipment. For instance, snowblowing attachments require mowers to be out in the winter and expose them to salt and sand. “We use the snow brushes on our tractors but not our mowers,” said Klier. “First of all, we get better traction with the tractor because of the tires involved.

“And then you have to take that mower out into the winter elements, which is not good for the unit,” he added. Instead, Torre & Bruglio uses the Michigan winter as a time for maintenance of its mower fleet.

“Our mechanics go through about 250 units between November and March,” he noted. “Putting snowblowers on those would cut into the important maintenance time.”

But for John Dinsmore, operations administrator, D. Foley Landscape Inc., Walpole, Mass., adding a snowblower attachment to a mower saves the company money.

“We put a snowblower attachment on one mower because one of our accounts had a lot of sidewalks that needed cleaning,” he explained. The attachment cost the company about $2,000 – about the cost of a new snowblower – but it takes less room at the shop to store and allows the company to use the mower 12 months out of the year, instead of eight, as it did before.

“We had to buy two tires to increase the mower’s traction, but that was it,” recalled Dinsmore.

Dinsmore added that he evaluated the risk of salt damage to the mower unit. “The risks were there, but they were not substantial enough to deter us from making that purchase,” he recalled.

And Dinsmore noted one other crucial factor working in favor of the purchase. “There was absolutely no conflict in scheduling,” he pointed out. “When the snowblower is being used, we are not cutting grass, so there was no concern about overlap.”

Scheduling conflicts between an attachment and the power unit are particularly a concern when selecting attachments for use during the same season. A contractor looking to add a backhoe or tiller attachment to the mower cannot dig and cut grass at the same time. So extra attention must be paid to the cost of having a mower out of service during backhoe operation hours.

Tim Robine, senior product specialist, John Deere, Augusta, Ga., recommended contractors pay particular attention to how the implement attaches to the mower, as there are definite benefits to superior attachment systems. “That way a contractor can bring one power unit to the site and attach and detach implements as necessary without wasting too much time.”

Robine said removing or adding attachments should take only a few minutes. “Contractors can load and unload dirt, sand and mulch very quickly, then add the blade attachment and grade the site,” he commented. “Or they can change to the tiller attachment and do the necessary tilling without having to bring a variety of tools to the site.”

“Having one power unit with a wide array of attachments is a major advantage over using multiple dedicated machines for different purposes,” agreed Patsy Penner, marketing coordinator, The Grasshopper Co., Moundridge, Kan. “Attachments extend the use of the power unit into additional months of the year allow so it can pay for itself in a shorter amount of time by increasing cash flow.”

GETTING HITCHED. There are some downsides to attachments. If a company already owns a tiller, there is little need to purchase a tilling attachment. “We have two power brooms, so there is no value in purchasing an attachment to handle that job,” recognized Dinsmore.

Another downside to the attachment question is the requirement of adding an implement hitch to the mower. “If you are just going to buy one attachment, purchasing that implement hitch is costly,” asserted Dinsmore. “But if you plan on putting a broom, a tiller, a snowblower, etc., on the mower, that hitch is a valuable item.”

Again, scheduling is also a concern. If the attachment takes the mower out of service while it is being used to till, grade or vacuum, what is the cost in lost mowing time?

In some instances, mower maintenance is increased because of the attachment. For example, Bob Walker, president, Walker Mfg., Fort Collins, Colo., said adding a thatcher to his company’s mower means additional dust will be kicked into the air during use. “Dethatching can be a pretty dirty job, so the operator must pay attention to the air cleaning unit on the mower,” he cautioned.

In addition, while most attachments require no extra power, Walker said dethatching is more strenuous than mowing. “It’s not a large requirement, but the dethatcher does take more power to push,” he commented. “And the contractor must be aware of that.”

However, he added that since thatching is usually done in the early spring before any significant grass growth has commenced, power usually used for cutting is transferred to the thatch operation.

“It is also important to make sure the necessary horsepower is available for attachments,” reminded Grasshopper’s Penner. “Our units are engineered to work with the power units recommended.”

That is the case with most mower manufacturers’ attachments since they supply power to both the base mower and the attachment.

“The main advantages for a contractor buying a power unit and attachment from one manufacturer would be the consistency,” noted Robine. “The reliability, warranty, parts and service back-up, and, of course, safety are all ingrained when you stick with one manufacturer.”

That is not to say there isn’t a market and for short line products. A contractor using mowers from several manufacturers might find it easier to deal with a short line supplier that can supply attachments for all of the mowers. Likewise, as the attachment market grows and new attachments are developed, contractors might find that a product the company wants is not available from the mower manufacturer.

Suppliers and contractors agree that attachments are growing in use. While they might not be the cure all for every landscape application, contractors can increase their productivity by adding one or two attachments to their tool shed.