New sprayer boom

[Tom King]

Buttercups and dandelions in our pastures, fields, and trails won't wait for me, so I had to get ready.  I've had an ATV boom on the back of a mower that has always been aggravating.  When it works, it works fine, but I always have to fiddle around with it, and even at best it will be intermittent enough to leave unsprayed areas.  I bought a good nozzle that will spray a 50 foot swath from a single nozzle with my pump setup.  The old one had three nozzles, and never would spray the same out of all three.  This one is really simple, and doesn't have springs and diaphragms in it like the other ones.

I'll cut the old boom off once this one tests out okay.  The brackets are sold to weld onto offroad vehicles as tow points for large shackles.  They came ready to weld on, and the holes have enough surface area that I hope the copper will last for years with grease. 

It's foldable to stow forward out of harms way, and swing into position out past the rear wheels on the rotary cutter.  I have switches up by the tractor seat the will turn the spray on to the boom, or activate another pump to a hand wand that stays by the seat for spot spraying.

I didn't have the right color red spray paint, but anyway, it won't rust.  After I cut that old boom off, if the new one works like its supposed to, I'll weld on some brackets, front and back to hold it in place.

 

[JohnG]

This is great! I’ve been wanting to get a sprayer, but couldn’t decide between a tow behind or mounting one on my carryall. Hadn’t considered mounting it to the rotary mower, but that’s a better solution.

[Tom King]

That mower stays on that tractor all grass growing season, unless something unusual turns up.

I used to have a 40 gallon tank on there, that you had to mix in the tank, and that was a real pain to have leftover mix in it, or have to find somewhere to spray it all out.  This Chapin sprayer only holds water in the 25 gallon tank, and there is a separate concentrate small tank that mounts on top of the big tank.  There is a dial that lets you set the percentage of the mix you want.  The concentrate tanks are easy to change, and you can use any number of them you want.  I keep dish detergent in one, and clean the rig when switching between poisons.

You can buy these at tractor supply, or order from Amazon:   https://chapinmfg.com/products/chapin-97561-atv-sprayer-mixes-on-exit-25-gallon?variant=30415672049746  They make a smaller one too.

I'm anxious to find out how this new nozzle works.

I do more spot spraying with it than large area spraying, which is only done once a year, most years.  There are two pumps. One is 60 psi at a good flow rate for the boom, and the wand pump is 150 psi at a low flow rate.  I can hit something 30 feet away, or high with the wand.  The pumps are mounted on that aluminum plate.

You can also see the door on the top at the back for blade sharpening.  I like to keep sharp blades.

This rotary cutter (commonly called a bushog) has two tailwheels which cut down almost all scalping that is so easy to do with a single tailwheel.   With sharp blades and the two tailwheels, it's almost as good as a finish mower.  It's 7' wide, and the 70hp tractor is a good size for it.  I don't know that a much smaller tractor could even lift it.

The square hole is so I can get a side grinder in there to cut the blade bolts with when I need to change blades.  I've never been able to get them loose, even with a 3/4" impact wrenh.

 

[JohnG]

Thanks Tom! Do you find the mixing ratio reliable (enough) with the aux tank setup? My rotary mower is just a single wheel 5’ cut, I’d probably mount it centered behind the gear box. 

Making sure the rotary mower is properly set up and aligned (in respect to the ground and to the tractor) goes a long way for cut quality. I’ve been very pleased with the finish mine provides. 

[wtnhighlander]

When I had my little 15hp tractor, I used a 4' finish mower with a simple rack made of angle iron to carry a similar spray tank. Like Tom says, keeping multiple nozzles on a boom flowing the same is difficult. Eventually, I scrapped the boom and switched to a wand.

[JohnG]

I’ll be doing all spot spraying, almost exclusively poison ivy. 

[Tom King]

I haven't done any checking about actual ounces per gallon, but figuring by following instructions on ounces per acre and setting accordingly, it kills like it's supposed to.  For some things, like Arsenal that are mixed so little per gallon, I thin it in the concentrate tank with water, set accordingly, and it still works good.  I think it's good enough.

[Tom King]

I got it all hooked up this morning, and sprayed the pastures.

That nozzle does a Beautiful job.  I'm kicking myself for putting up with that other contraption for so long.  I does cover 50 feet, but the last five feet on both sides are kind of spotty.  I just allowed for a 40 foot swath.  I did a test spray on clean pavement, measured, and saw that the coverage was very even.  I'm not using the pump that came with the tank though, and the pump I am using is pretty old, so it might be a little weak.

https://wlhamiltonco.com/product/hamilton-5-brass-agri-jet-boomless-nozzle/     I just noticed that I mounted it wrong, but I like the way it works like I have it.  There would probably be less drift if mounted horizontal, but I'm not going to be spraying in wind anyway, and this way I can back up to a fence, and spray outside the fence.

It's nice having the switch close at hand because it's instant on and off at the flip of the switch.  The switch box is mounted on the right rear fender, just outside the remote levers.  Front switch is for wand.  Rear switch is for boom, and the other two switches turn night into day.

The picture with the SAE plugs is probably not real clear what is in it.  The switch box has two leads coming out of it with two SAE plugs.  One wire is longer than the other one.  Coming from the pumps on the mower, both sets of wires are in the same cover, but one is longer than the other, so it's obvious which one plugs into which switch wire without having to mark anything.

Lines tied to the wand hose, and wire harness hang from the roll bar to keep them out of harms way, and keep everything untangled.