120 Ft Wide Sprayer Built From 4WD Tractor

120 Ft wide sprayer built from 4WD tractor SPRAYING Miscellaneous 13-5-21 "It's a great all-purpose postemergence sprayer," say brothers Richard and Dennis Goodyke, Crookston, Minn., who built a 120-ft. wide pressure sprayer out of a 1975 Massey Ferguson 1805 4-WD tractor. The sprayer, which carries a 1,000 gal. stainless-steel tank, can cover 100 acres per hour at 8 mph. The boom, which mounts on the tractor's 3-pt. hitch, is protected by plastic shields that reduce spray drift. The sprayer is also illuminated for night spraying. The Goodykes mounted the tractor's rear lights on either side of the tank to illuminate the boom. "We wanted a high-volume sprayer with multiple uses, but we didn't want to spend the money on a commercial sprayer," says Richard, who farms 4,000 acres of soy-beans, wheat and barley along with Dennis and uncle, John. "We spent about $20,000 to build the sprayer. It has already paid for itself, especially when you consider the cost of a comparable-capacity sprayer or custom aerial spraying. We use it to apply herbicides to wild oats and pigeongrass, as well as to apply foliar fertilizer and fungicides. As we spray, we follow the tracks left by the drill. We had been using a 50-ft. wide 4-WD pickup sprayer, but it was too slow and made ruts in the field. The tires were too small for the weight of the sprayer. The tires on this sprayer are much larger and roll along without sinking or slipping. They cause almost no crop damage. The shields deflect the wind, making it possible to spray in 25 mph winds with no problems." The Goodykes extended the tractor's rear frame 5 ft., then extended the driveshaft and bolted the tank to the frame behind the cab. They cut an oblong hole in the bottom of the spray tank and added a lower chamber beneath it. They use the chamber as a bottom sump which drains the last of the liquid from the tank for easier cleaning. The Goodykes installed the fill spout in the tank at a 45? angle to the sprayer frame to avoid kinks that can occur when a fill hose is connected to a 90? angle spout. To guard against nozzle plugging, they put an 80-mesh filter on the suction side of the pump and a 100-mesh filter on the high-pressure side of the pump. Nozzles are spaced 10 in. apart to improve the spray pattern. "If one nozzle plugs, there's still enough overlap from the other nozzles for good coverage," notes Richard. Four caster wheels, each riding on shock absorbers, support the boom. The two inside wheels, which carry more weight than the outside wheels, each are equipped with two 80-lb. shock absorbers. Each of the outside wheels has one 80-lb. shock absorber. The boom wings are hinged to avoid getting hung up in drainage ditches. The Goodykes spray fungicides at high pressure to get good coverage. Running the high-pressure sprayer with an orbit motor could have caused the hydraulic oil to get too hot and burn out the pump, so they modified the hydraulic system. New oil flows from the pump to an oil cooler, mounted in front of the radiator, and then flows back to the reservoir. Anyone considering building a sprayer from a tractor should look carefully at the frame, says Richard. "You need a tractor with a frame that can be lengthened. For example, Deere tractors won't work be-cause the transmission case is part of the frame." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, RichardGoodyke, Rt. 2, Crookston, Minn. 56716 (ph 218 281-5683).

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