After 25 years of running a Big A sprayer, Dale Huneke was tired of the hassle of emptying the spray tank. When he finally built his own sprayer, he eliminated the problem by going with a 750-gal. round tank.

"With the Big A, it was always hard to run the spray out. I would go up a side hill and end up with 25 gallons left," says Huneke." With this tank, I can get every bit of spray out. There will be less than a cup left."

Designed around ease of service, Huneke's 4-WD sprayer has the tank in the center, the engine on the back end, and the boom on the front.

The front axle is a 12,000-lb. truck axle that he widened out, while the rear axle is the front hydrostatic drive axle from an IH 715 combine with axle extensions. The extra wide axles have a 120-in. tread width, while the wheelbase is 118 in. long. The combination makes the sprayer extremely stable.

"I see RoGators sliding down the hill over the crop row," says Huneke. "This sprayer just stays in place like a tractor."

The rigid frame is constructed of 4 by 10-in. steel tubing with 8-in. steel pipe for cross members. The engine, radiator and hydrostatic-drive are from the same IH combine. They were left on their original subframes and bolted in place.

The front axle oscillates about 40 degrees in each direction for increased stability. Huneke built oscillation pivot points at the front axle and on the frame about 4 ft. in front of the axle. Stabilizer bars run back to the axle.

He also retained the hydraulics from the IH 715 and uses the reel drive circuit to power a new Hypro spray pump. All boom controls are electro hydraulic with all the master boom controls and foam controls connected to a joystick on the hydrostat lever.

As part of his ease of service goal, the 25-gal. foam tank on the front flips up if he needs to service the hydraulic system. The 460 Raven control system makes application easy, too.

The boom is a 52-ft. Top Air that Huneke widened to 60 ft. with 10-ft. breakaways and manual fold. "It has about a 4-ft. vertical lift and was simple to mount. It was designed as a 3-pt. boom, but I adapted it to fit on the front end of the sprayer. I just built new brackets and welded them to the frame and bolted the boom in place."

Formerly a custom sprayer, Huneke appreciates the importance of comfort. He rebuilt the IH 715 cab, mounted it on 2590 Case IH cab mounts and installed it behind the boom. The heating system was replaced with an air conditioning system, and the seat was replaced with one from Cat Challenger.

"With the older cab, I knew I needed to cut the noise, so I set the engine on the back end," says Huneke.

No longer custom spraying, Huneke says he likes to relax with his spraying, though he can cover 45 to 50 acres per hour if he pushes it." I can run about 8 mph in second, but I usually run about 6 1/2," he says. "If you throttle back, you cut your fuel use in half."

In the five years since he built the sprayer, he has sprayed around 12,000 acres. "I bought a lot of new stuff for it and built it to last."