"Gleaner" Crop Sprayer

"Gleaner" Crop Sprayer SPRAYING Miscellaneous 28-2-25 "It's a great way to make use of an old combine and saved me a lot of money," says Chris Visser, Wakefield, Kansas, about the 60-ft. wide, hydraulic-fold crop sprayer he built out of a 1978 Gleaner L2 combine. The sprayer is equipped with a commercial 60-ft. boom with 24-ft. wings and a 12-ft. middle section. The rear-mounted boom mounts on a bracket Visser built out of 4-in. sq. tubing and strap iron. Nozzles are on 20-in. spacings for broadcasting pre-emerge and post herbicides. Visser removed the combine's grain tank and replaced it with a 710-gal. tank he bought new. The machine rides on tall, narrow 18.4 by 46 tires on front and 13.8 by 38 tires on back. It's complete with a Raven monitor and a GPS guidance system. "It works as well as anything on the market. The only difference is that it cost a lot less money," says Visser, who made the conversion one year ago. "I already had the Gleaner and paid about $1,000 for the boom, which I bought used at an auction. It was off a 1998 Deere 4700 self-propelled sprayer. I bought the tires and rims new, which was my biggest expense. I sold some of the parts that I removed from the combine, including the header, chains, belts, and grain cleaning components, which helped keep the cost down. My total cost was about $10,000. A used commercial self-propelled sprayer of comparable capacity sells for about three times as much. Even a new pull-type sprayer would have cost $12,000 to $20,000." He started by removing the header and all grain-cleaning components from the machine, keeping the 6-cyl. diesel engine, hydrostatic drive, and cab. He removed the combine's grain tank and replaced it with the 710-gal. tank. The engine, drive train, and fuel tank were left in their original positions. He mounted the boom on a frame he built from 4-in. sq. tubing. Combine hydraulics operate the lift, fold and wing tipping. The boom can be adjusted from 18 to 56 in. high. The feederhouse was removed. The sprayer is filled from the front of the machine, where a 15-gal. chemical induction tank tips forward for filling. On back, the straw walkers and sieves were removed to make room for a 60-gal. rinse tank that's also plumbed to the front of the machine. A foam marker tank mounts under the rinse tank. The spray pump is belt-driven off the combine's separator clutch. "I use it on all my crops, to topdress wheat, apply post emerge Roundup on soybeans, and preplant herbicides on milo," notes Visser. "I spray at 6 1/2 mph in the field and can go up to 18 mph on the road. The tall tires provide more ground clearance and make a narrower track in the field. My combine sprayer doesn't go down the road as fast as a Deere self-propelled sprayer, but it works just as good in the field. says Visser. "Last spring I installed a GPS guidance system so I no longer have to use the foam markers." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Chris Visser, CSV Farms, 1812 6th Road, Wakefield, Kansas 67487 (ph 785 461-5367; email: csvfarms2000@flinthills.com).

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