I am now the proud owner of the Steve Naugler Elec-Trak electric leafsucker version three. Heather says that’s too long of a name, so in Steve’s honor it ought to be called simply the Noggler. No word yet on what Steve thinks about that.
The original Elec-track E-Z Vac was a frankenstein from birth; Geo reports that it had a massive E12 drive motor attached to a blower and volute made by the E-Z Rake Corporation of Lebanon, Indiana. Thirty inch tall sheetmetal side panels and a cloth top were added to the sturdy Elec-trak dump cart to form the leaf bin, and two lengths of 6″ black plastic tubing connected the bin to the blower, which mounted on the rear stabbers, and the blower to a deck adapter that mounts on any side-output Elec-track mowing deck. The E-T dump cart itself was made by Ohio Steel Fabricators, who probably also made my Sears Craftsman cart of the same vintage.
Steve kicked it up a notch, building this excellent contraption using the deck adapter from an Easy-Vac, the blower from an original Elec-trak E-Z Vac, and the cart from the largest Trac-Vac. It’s like a best of breed hybrid from every leaf sucker known to man. He found some fancy piping that is mostly clear, so you can see blockages without dismantling the thing, with a yellow spiral stripe that matched the original paint job of Steve’s E-15. The leaf bin’s top is steel screening rather than cloth, and it has a sort of hood at the front that prevents leaf debris from ending up in the tractor driver’s hair.
Steve’s sold his wooded property and divested himself of his Elec-Trak and attachments – but the Noggler lives on. I’m almost looking forward to leaf-fall this year.