Building my own sprayer

[rlneal]

I am getting tired of using my 4 gallon backpack sprayer so I thought I would build my own pto driven sprayer. I have a couple of blue barrels and forks that go on the tractor's 3 point hitch to carry them with. My brother gave me an Ace centrifugal pump. But then I find out that a centrifugal pump is high volume, low pressure so it is not going to work with an orchard tree sprayer type wand for doing spot spraying. So I bought a 4 roller pump from TSC and a pto adapter. I get home and discover the 4 roller pump has a 5/8ths diameter shaft, the pto adapter requires a 15/16ths shaft. The 8 roller pump has the larger shaft but costs a lot more. I go online and look at the reviews for the sprayer wand and find that they typically last 2 years at best. And I have not yet figured out how to connect a hose to the barrel other than to lay it on its side. I would prefer to be able to get all of the chemical mixture (2,4-d) out while spraying rather than having some left in the barrel. I have a 25 gallon Fimco sprayer that I have put behind the lawn tractor but I have not been satisfied with that, either. It is not really suited for going out in the field. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[JK22]

Why not go with a 12v dc pump instead of PTO driven? Seems like a lot less hassle.

 

[rlneal]

The Fimco sprayer has a 12 volt pump and it is slow and not much range. It works ok to sit on the lawn tractor and hold the small wand around the house and along the driveway. But then, maybe I would not really be satisfied using a larger wand while sitting on the big tractor, either. Probably unrealistic to use a wand out in the field.

 

[duffer]

I was tempted to build my own, but by the time I added up buying all the components and parts individually, it wasn't that much cheaper than buying a good boom sprayer with a wand from a manufacturer. I got an Ag-Smart 10' boom, plus 25' of hose on the wand, with PTO roller pump. Love it! Cost about $900, and has full time agitation, which is important for many chemicals, plus a strainer to catch potentially nozzle plugging foreign debris. Has breakaway boom arms, so if I hit a tree or fence post (or both) the boom breaks to the rear, instead of busting off.

The 55 gal yellow tank will do 2+ acres without any problem. Dealer gave me 3 extra nozzles "just in case" as part of the deal. I've been told that the white tanks deteriorate in a couple of years, especially if left in the sun. Not sure if that's true, but the yellow tanks tend to be a thicker gauge of plastic.

If you build your own, I'm sure you'll do it for less money, but you'll have to have a return line to the tank, for the extra volume the pump puts out. Not sure how you attach the 2 blue barrels together to work in conjunction with each other. But you probably already have that figured out.

 

[rlneal]

I was tempted to build my own, but by the time I added up buying all the components and parts individually, it wasn't that much cheaper than buying a good boom sprayer with a wand from a manufacturer. I got an Ag-Smart 10' boom, plus 25' of hose on the wand, with PTO roller pump. Love it! Cost about $900, and has full time agitation, which is important for many chemicals, plus a strainer to catch potentially nozzle plugging foreign debris. Has breakaway boom arms, so if I hit a tree or fence post (or both) the boom breaks to the rear, instead of busting off.

The 55 gal yellow tank will do 2+ acres without any problem. Dealer gave me 3 extra nozzles "just in case" as part of the deal. I've been told that the white tanks deteriorate in a couple of years, especially if left in the sun. Not sure if that's true, but the yellow tanks tend to be a thicker gauge of plastic.

If you build your own, I'm sure you'll do it for less money, but you'll have to have a return line to the tank, for the extra volume the pump puts out. Not sure how you attach the 2 blue barrels together to work in conjunction with each other. But you probably already have that figured out.

So I took your advice and ordered a sprayer from Tractor Supply. It is made by Flimco and has a 110 gallon tank with a 30 foot boom width. For $1700. TSC does not actually carry this model, they had to order it from the company. I considered a well used sprayer for $550 from a local equipment company but the tank could very likely leak and the rubber hoses are probably rotten. And it did not include a pump. So I went with the theory that "Quality is long remembered after the price is paid." I have a 62 hp tractor so I could have gotten 200 gallon tank but with the hills (sinkholes) that I have, I thought it would be good to be safer with a smaller tank. I am sure the instructions that come with it will tell me but I am wondering how many acres per tankfull I can cover and how long that will take. That is, how fast do I drive. And I hope I do not regret not buying one with foam markers so I can tell where I have driven.

I was out bush hogging last week and was amazed/frustrated at how much the wild blackberry brambles, floribunda rose, and other creeping vines have taken over the pastures. For the fence rows, I bought a 15 gallon sprayer for the ATV and that works well. Though I could not imagine getting one with small booms and trying to do 75 acres.

 

[3Ts]

And I have not yet figured out how to connect a hose to the barrel other than to lay it on its side. I would prefer to be able to get all of the chemical mixture (2,4-d) out while spraying rather than having some left in the barrel.

You're not going to be able to. The only way is by using a tank that is specially molded as a spray tank.

 

[M5farms]

It's according to what you are spraying as to how much water you need. For 24d grazon I shoot for about 20gal of water per acre at around 7 mph . I have 200 gal tank so 10 acres is what I do at a time.

 

[Cliff76259]

You can order a 5/8 bore pto adapter to fit that pump shaft. As far as hooking the hoses to the barrel use a bulk head connector with threads 3/4 threads to screw in a hose bib. You will need one coming out of the bottom to feed the pump . The pump output hose needs to go to a filter then to a pressure regulator the regulated output from the regulator goes to your spray wand. The the bypass from the regulator goes back to the top of the barrel. Which helps agitate the mix.

 

[bigtiller]

The Fimco sprayer has a 12 volt pump and it is slow and not much range. It works ok to sit on the lawn tractor and hold the small wand around the house and along the driveway. But then, maybe I would not really be satisfied using a larger wand while sitting on the big tractor, either. Probably unrealistic to use a wand out in the field.

Here's a 26 gallon 12 volt one from tractor supply that sprays 30' vertical or 50' horizontal. They also have a 16 gallon one with less gpm and more psi.

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/t...RBDAw4OFkFLTTMaquSme76q1DxIN2nlMaAunSEALw_wcB

 

[rlneal]

I finally decided to order a Fimco 110 gallon sprayer in June. From Tractor Supply. They do not carry this model normally so they had to special order it from Fimco. It took about 6 weeks before it arrived. One of the guys at TSC assembled most of it, I had to assemble the rest. By then I was busy bush hogging so I used it earlier this week for the first time. It has 30 foot booms. Now, after using it and hitting fence posts and trees, I am wondering if a boomless sprayer would have been a better choice. I was thinking that this would have less spray drift. I am mainly spraying 2,4d.
The main problem I had with the assembly was filter. I was mounted on the sprayer in the center and pointing forward. When I lowered the 3pt hitch, the filter sat on the drawbar and would have smashed it if I had not stopped lowering. And being in the center, it is directly behind the roller pump. I made a bracket and mounted it sideways so the hose could then come around to the inlet side of the pump. That's another thing, they have the inlet and outlet sides of the pump reversed. I have attempted to upload their assembly drawing. Here below.