Homemade Petrol 2 Stroke Leaf Sweeper
Homemade Petrol 2 Stroke Leaf Sweeper
Here is a video of a converted homemade petrol 2 stroke leaf sweeper. The original leaf sweeper was originally made by a German company called DKY, I’m not sure if they are still in existence.
The engine is from an old Mountfield hedge cutter which had been in my garage for probably around 30 years. I had never been able to start this particular hedge cutter so it was literally abandoned and hanging on my garage wall. The reason I had this hedge cutter was as the original new hedge cutter that I purchased was faulty and the dealer gave me a larger second-hand hedge trimmer. However, I was never able to start this hedge cutter or even get it to actually fire! If I remember rightly I cut my losses and purchased a brand-new hedge cutter. It’s too time-consuming to mess about with machines that don’t work!
We have a range of various leaf sweepers on our website
Thankfully, a good friend of mine, John gone has managed to make good use of this small Mountfield two-stroke engine. John has a good knowledge of two-stroke engines. He always seems to be able to get these old two-stroke engines running smoothly.
I know very few people who seem to be able to get a two-stroke engine running well. In my experience of two engines it seems like once you have a problem with a two-stroke engine, it’s difficult to get the engine right again. In most cases, it’s time for a new one, rightly or wrongly!
I’m guessing that the engine is around the 25 cc size. I know that it came off of a Mountfield single-sided 24 or 30-inch hedge cutter. Apparently, due to the age of the engine, it is engineered in a much better quality way than the equivalent engine today on this type of hedge cutter.
Fitting The Engine To The Leaf Sweeper
The two-stroke engine is attached to the front of the leaf sweeper. Being a bit tight for space on this leaf sweeper the fuel tank has been mounted behind the front wheel. Due to the fuel tank being in this position, the engine needs extra priming to lift the fuel to the carburettor.
The Mountfield engine has a centrifugal clutch that is attached to a couple of sprockets that then power the sweeper. The speed of the rotating brush is controlled by a throttle lever on the handlebars.
As the video shows, the leaves were quite wet. However, the sweeper seemed to cope very well, despite the wet conditions. The brush can be lowered for more aggressive sweeping, however, it also wears the rotary brush quicker!
Maybe a similar conversion could be made on a larger push leaf sweeper, maybe something for the future.
Please feel free to comment below.
