State-Of-The-Art Pickup Sprayer

State-Of-The-Art Pickup Sprayer PICKUPS Miscellaneous 27-4-19 Leon Sowers built his first pickup sprayer back in 1982 and used it for years to topdress wheat and to do other spraying jobs. Six years ago he decided to replace it with a "new" home-built model that's equipped with a 60-ft. boom. "After running the first sprayer for so long, I felt that I knew exactly what I wanted in my next model and how to build it," says Sowers. He started with a 1988 Ford F-250 4-WD pickup equipped with a 460 cu. in. engine, 4:10 gear ratio, and 5-speed transmission. A pto-driven hydraulic pump is used to operate the sprayer pump and also to raise and lower the boom and to fold it. The sprayer's 60-ft. long, "X-fold" boom, which Sowers bought new, is fitted with 5-way Tee Jet nozzles that are regulated by a Tee Jet 844 controller that mounts in the cab. Extra springs were added to the pickup, as well as load boosters, in order to support a 500-gal. tank. A high output foam marker was originally installed but was recently replaced by a Mid Tech GPS light bar guidance system. "I'm happy I built it and have had virtually no problems," says Sowers. "Without a doubt, it's the best investment I've ever made in any piece of equipment. I use it almost all year long to do everything from spraying pre-emergent herbicides on milo, and sunflowers to spraying Roundup Ready soybeans to top dressing winter wheat. The 5-speed transmission is ideally suited for spraying work in most field conditions. In smooth fields I can go at speeds up to 15 to 20 mph, and by using low volume nozzles in large fields I can cover up to 100 acres per hour. "I spent about $12,000 to build it, which is far less than what a comparable commercial pickup sprayer would have cost." Sowers says he's willing to consider building sprayers if there's interest. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Leon Sowers, 13103 S.E. 40th St., Murdock, Kansas 67111 (ph 620 297-3343).

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