Agri-Fab 44 In Tow-Behind Lawn Sweeper with 28 Cu Ft Flow-Through Hopper Bag, Adjustable Brush Height, and Dump From Seat Handle

I bought the Agri-Fab 44" tow-behind lawn sweeper to help with leaves and grass clippings around my property, and it has been a huge time saver. I pull it behind my riding mower and it picks up debris surprisingly well without needing multiple passes. The 28 cu. ft. hopper holds a ton of leaves before needing emptied, which is one of my favorite features. I can cover a large section of yard without constantly stopping. The dump handle works great too — being able to empty it right from the mower seat is extremely convenient. Assembly took a little patience, but once everything was together, setup and adjustments were pretty simple. The adjustable brush height helps a lot depending on whether I’m picking up leaves, pine needles, or grass clippings. On dry leaves especially, it works fantastic. The build quality feels solid and durable, and the sweeper tracks nicely behind the mower without bouncing around. If you have a medium to large yard and get tired of raking every season, this is definitely worth the investment. It has made yard cleanup much faster and far less work.

The sweeper is straight from Olympus. Assembly was very easy using the YouTube video and brief references to the printed quick guide. Did a superb job in picking up grass clippings. I can’t wait to use this for Fall leaf cleanup. Be aware though: The 3/8 inch diameter hex bolt that goes on the upper hopper tube is too short. The bolt is 2.5 inches long. Would recommend picking up a 2.75 inch bolt.

This review does not speak to the longevity as I have only had this for just under 2 weeks. It was received quickly with no damage to the box from shipping, yet when I pulled it all out of the box to begin assembly the external arm on the left that adjusts the height was bent out noticeably, enough that the catch spring pin that locks it into its set height position would not catch. So before I could even begin assembly I had to disassemble the item almost completely in order to remove the piece and straighten it out. None of the parts bags were ripped, yet before I got started I opened the bags on my table to make sure all of the parts and quantities were there and I was missing 2 hair pin cotter pins (R-clip cotter pins) and one lock nut. Thankfully I have some spare parts bins in my garage and was able to grab spares to complete the assembly. It went together quickly and very easily once all other issues were fixed. It took me 1.5 hours to assemble, but that includes having to strip it to fix the height bar and then reassemble as well as sort through my spare parts bins to find parts to replace the missing pieces. If everything had been proper right out of the box this would take less than 30 minutes to assemble. USE: It works very, very well. I have used it twice now. Birch leaves, birch branches, spruce needles, spruce cones, dried dog doo, small stones, you name it, it picks it up first pass! It did take about 10 minutes of messing around with the height adjustment (its very easy to do) as well as speed to drive at until I found the 'sweet spot' but now that I have it set and know the speed to go I only need to do one pass. The only thing I am not 100% about is it does throw some of the lighter leaves (dried birch leaves for example) over the top of the bag. I am not sure if I were to put a little ramp on the underside of the top at the edge to force the leaves down more, or if I should just try to extend the top of the leaf bag down further towards the metal top by using nylon door screen, would work. I'll ponder it some more first. I find if I slowed down enough that the light birch leaves don't fly over the top / back of the bag then the sweeper wouldn't pick up the heavier stuff like the birch branches or dog doo. I also have this offset slightly so that its edge is on the same line as my mower deck so I can sweep the leaves right to about 4" from the fence or house. Emptying this is almost too easy, even full of leaves I just reached back, grabbed the handle while still seated on my lawn tractor pulled it towards me, it took very minimal effort to dump. The pivot point is perfectly placed. I just pulled the bag completely upside down and drove forwards then set it back and parked it back in my garage. The bag also detaches with two quick spring clips and the bag folds to only about 6" deep, so minimal room is wasted in my garage. Bottom line: Great product (almost perfect), but very poor care in factory assembly and packaging detail.

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.

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.

Update after the first season AND update at the beginning of the 2nd season, please find at the end. I had a piece from Ohio, that lost a wheel within the first 5 minutes of usage and went straight back to the big box store where I bought it. My neighbor had a Craftsman and was somewhat happy with it, so I went and bought the same. It was ok, it had a bunch of quirks but it was ok. After 3 season it gave out on me. My main problems was the hopper and all the nuts and bolts that needed continuous replacement. Why I mention this? This sweeper took all the problems I had with me old one and fixed it. Bolts are replaced with pins with safety pins, the hopper is huge. So here my first impressions which I will update over time. Let me start with the good: -looks and feels sturdy -the hopper is HUGE, easily 50% more then the craftsman I had. -the one hand emptying feature is great (be careful NOT to overload)++++++see update+++++ -the settings for brush height are great and finally a sweeper that keeps the setting -the solution how to "un"-center the sweeper is a Masterpiece -Amazons delivery time. Ordered on Tuesday about 9pm, delivered on Wednesday at 1pm no one can beat that :-) -3 years warranty! Unheard off! the bad: -the bigger parts are just thrown into the box -the instructions are a freaking nightmare (please read my remarks ) ++++++++++++++++UPDATE+++++++++++++++ -the upper rod broke, even while being careful. But as you can see, Agri Fab replaces them and are aware of this -the clover pins, I have NO idea how, but the come off.....and get lost.... Remarks: The unholy booklet/instructions Basically everything up to the hopper assembly......geeze people......do NOT follow the instructions on the pictures. Some of the structure must be threaded THROUGH the hopper bag. Means the side pieces. If ypu assemble everything as shown. you will be doing it again. Aside of that, assembly time was about 30 minutes, was pretty easy, NO tools needed! Just the hopper assy was a mess because I had to redo it because of the bad instructions. First run: I am impressed, the brushes pick up everything, small branches, bigger branches, leaves, empty cans and even a beer bottle :-) old and dry grass. the hopper is huge, don't overload or you will need to get off and empty the hopper by hand. For now, I would advise anyone that is in the market for a sweeper to go for this one, it is by far the best I tried. I will update this at the end of the season or if i face problems. If you have questions, need pictures or more insight, please feel free to ask. As with all of my buys ex Amazon I stand to my word and answer every question I can. #############################################################Update############################################# I am not that impressed anymore. The main rod on top of the hopper first bend then broke (this happened to a lot of people, if you read the other reviewers you will see that. Several of the pins that came with the sweeper went lost. I contacted Agri Fab, but so far I am ignored. I will try further to get them to reply and send me the missing pieces and a replacement for the bend and broken parts, but I am not impressed anymore. I will keep this review up to date and supply new if they happen. Update, 2nd season, beginning After I tried to contact Agri Fab in November and never received a call back, I honestly forgot. Last week, I pulled out the tool, and started a new try with Agri Fab, and I got a reply. We are sorting things out. I will let you all know how that went once we are set.

I have over an acre of grass in my yard and trees surrounding it. It is a pain to pickup the yard clippings and it usually takes a full weekend's work to get the leaves. We did not rake the leaves this past fall like we should of and waited to late winter to try this. it had no problem (except for the wet leaves). it was super fast and even fun pulling it with the riding mower (my little boy loved watching the leaves fly in). After getting the leaves up, we did our first cut of the season, and offset this sweeper to pick up the clippings. the yard has never been so free of debris; it looks amazing. this even gets small sticks (and some not-so-small), so I did not have to go through and pick them up before mowing. If you have a large yard, or cut multiple yards, this is worth the price tag. It was super easy to put together with olny two bolts needing tools (see note), and it folds up easy. My favorite parts are the offset hitch and solid dump arm (most use ropes). The dump arm could be a little longer (my zero turn has the motor behind me), so I will be looking for a way to extend it a bit. The amount of yard debris in the bag is impressive. We ussually get 30-50 bags (big 33 gallon bags) of leaves each year, and this was about 8 full loads (with grass clipping). SO MUCH EASIER!!! NOTE: Be careful buying anything from Amazon warehouse. I got this with "minor cosmetic damage" and after un-boxing a good number of welds were broken and the sweeper box was bent up bad. I had to grind, weld, paint and bend back into shape before I could even get it together. 20230821 Update - I have been using this now for years and I still love it. I made some modifications to it to make it a little better (bolted angle iron as "stops" so the bag would not go past the bars holding it, and fixed the bottom of the catch bag with some thick plastic sheeting), it is still a great tool.

Looks good, huge collection bin, easy height adjustment

Wish I bought one a long time ago. Great customer service from manufacturer. Mine came with a few minor scratches and one brush had real crooked bristles that had been squashed in packing and wouldn’t return to their original form. A quick call to the manufacturer and they quickly sent out touch up paint and a replacement brush. If you have a tractor, lots of leaves and an average to large size property, this is a must have. Easily dissembles for storage, goes back together quickly too. It is large and still takes up a bit of space to store though.

Great product

Picking leaves up from garden and cleaning drive

Good overall sweep. Well made, large capacity. Met expectations. Took one star off for shipping damage.