Look What He's Done With The Driver's Seat!

Vision tower for pickups PICKUPS Accessories 9-4-1 You've never seen anything like it ù a crow's nest cockpit for pickups that lets you drive from on top, rather than inside, the cab. "We think it's one of the best improvements in crop spraying ever developed," says North Dakota farmer Willard Brusseau, of Osnabrock, inventor-manufacturer. From the "Vision Tower" seat atop the truck, you can start and stop the engine, shift gears, accelerate, brake and steer. "By sitting about 6-ft, off the ground and high up in the tower, you have 90% better vision on the last row sprayed ù which is especially helpful in tall grain and rolling fields so you don't gap or overlap spray coverage. Sitting high also makes it easier to see the back boom and to spot spray," says Brusseau whose pickup is equipped with a 300-gal. spray tank and 78-ft. boom. Vision Tower sits just behind the pickup cab with its framework bolting to the truck bed's stake holes. It has a steel mesh floor and steps for easy access. Gear shifter, accelerator, and brakes are connected to the Vision Tower from the truck using Morse cable (cable within a cable used on Deere 4-WD tractors). All three cables run down the front of the windshield and into the truck. The brake cable goes through the firewall, attaching directly to the brake pedal. The accelerator is cabled to the carburetor and the shifting lever to a shifting rod on the transmission. Brusseau wired a switch into the ignition for remote stopping and starting. The upper steering wheel connects by a shaft with knuckle joints to the regular steering wheel inside the cab. A plate with a stub shaft fits over the regular steering wheel for the pto-style coupler to attach to. Brusseau replaced the back window of the cab with a sliding glass panel so the shaft could go through. He notes that you can change from tower to cab driving in 30 seconds, and remove the 370-lb. rig in just 20 minutes. Vision Tower fits most pickups with automatic transmissions. Brusseau adds that the system could be modified for manual transmissions. He's equipped the Vision Tower he uses on his own pickup with a deluxe seat, tachometer and halogen lights for night spraying. The kit sells for $1,175. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Willard Brusseau, K.W. Mfg., Osnabrock, N.D. 58269 (ph 701 496-3270).

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