Craftsman Professional 44&#34 High Speed Universal Tow Sweeper Reviews

I have a 22 year old sears garden tractor that is epic. It is near criminal that this sweeper is sold as "professional." The metal sweeper piece actually works well. The bag system is absolutely useless. Mine was poorly made, with holes not lining up properly. The bag started to tear in the first use. The bags pulls off the frame on the slightest provocation.

Too bad, because the sweeper itself does a reasonable job. I intend to build a plywood box--a good bit larger than the bag that came with it...to salvage my purchase. Mostly I'm back to rake and blower. Poor design, Sears.

I was a little concerned about buying this after reading some of the reviews. If you have advanced college degrees and can't put this together it's probably you, not the sweeper. Okay, so the directions could be better, but a little thinking worked out the few issues that arose. The assembly took my wife and I about 40-45 minutes and I was sweeping five minutes after that. The sweeper adjustment is a snap and our two acres is now clear of clippings. The mount for the dump handle is poorly engineered and I expect to have to create another solution rather than the two cotter pins. Whoever designed...

Agree with previous reviews re assembly ... it took two high-IQ people with backgrounds in assembly to make sense of the line drawings -- even then had to come to website to see final pix to make sure correct !!  The "holes" that need to be face-up should be so identified in the manual -- with words and not just a dot on the drawing !!  Step 9 had to be re-done several times to get other steps ( such as 13 ) completed.  Very grateful to learn not crazy re the extremely flimsy inside poles -- they constantly popped out during remaining steps ... appreciate suggestion about buying stronger ones...

Overall, we have been very pleased with the Craftsman Professional lawn sweeper.  We have about an acre and it picks up grass, leaves, walnuts & hickory nuts very well.  The unit seems to have solid construction when compared to some of the other sweepers out there (esp. Brinly).

Assembly is about what you'd expect for this type of device.  The instructions were decent, but could definitely be improved with some additional detail/clarification.  I didn't really pay attention, but would estimate it took about an hour and a half to assemble.

We actually purchased a Brinly 42" sweeper from **********...

This sweeper works well when it isn't broken.  The weakest part is the broom rotor.  I have replaced screws and locknuts various times, each incident requiring bending the brooms back straight because they get wrapped around the axle.  Today, one of the flimsy sheet-metal brackets that hold the broom to the broom axle broke, and the broom will probably have to be replaced because it has been bent so badly.

I will admit that my 10 acres is a lot to sweep, but it is flat land and shouldn't have caused this much trouble.  I got this sweeper last summer and it has been broken for more time than...

The assembly process was so difficult I considered returning it. Perserverence and many hours of work, however, eventually overcame this formidable obstacle. At one point I had to purchase a file to widen two holes in which a rod was supposed to fit. This was the only time I deviated from the instructions which were pretty explicit, as long as I read each step three or four times becore attempting it. 

Unless you are very mechanically gifted or skilled, ask Sears to assemble it for you. Believe me, it's worth the expense.

The sweeper is amazingly effective on the lawn. I took it over a fairly...

Not sure where the other reviewers got hung up on assembly. The unit comes half assembled out of the box and the remaining assembly took about 45 minutes with basic hand tools. Plan on having a second person around if possible to make maneuvering the bag supports into place a little easier.

I have only assembled the unit so far, I haven't gotten a chance to use it. However, the build materials seem fairly substantial. The bag support rods are a bit flimsy as is the dump handle setup. But the main box and drag bar are very solid heavy gauge metal. 

Will update my review once I have had a chance...

Assembly took three of us to figure out directions and then still got it wrong. The inside poles are good for nothing  flimsy and weak  keep falling out. Did not get all of the parts so rather than drive the 30 miles one way and 45 minutes to the nearest Sears we had to take the time to go find parts at a harware store

The first time I tried my lawn sweeper, the right wheel locked and never freed, it just kept sliding. I drug it half way around the yard using forward and reverse but I was unable to free it. This is a brand new, expensive sweeper, and don't  work!  The sweeper itself comes pre-assembled from the factory, so it wasn't nothing I did. I bought it via internet, and since it was not a "in store" purchase, I might have some trouble exchanging it. I called the sears outlet store where I had the sweeper shipped (it's free shipping to a sears store) they only had a store display, but took...