Sprayer Rack for Lawn Tractor

[quicksandfarmer]

This time of year I like to spray my stone walls with Triclopyr to knock down the perennial weeds. I find I prefer to use the lawn tractor for this because it has no problem driving very slowly and it's quite nimble. I have a 16-gallon sprayer from Northern Tool, in past years I've put it in a wagon behind the lawn tractor but I always found that kind of clumsy. So this year I made up a rack to carry it on the back. Here it is:

I can remember when lawn tractors used to have all sort of attachment options but they seem to have gone away from that, so it doesn't really have any mounting points on the back. I started with some heavy duty brackets from Amazon (Amazon.com) and I just drilled six holes in the back panel and through-bolted them on with #10 bolts and lock-nuts:

The sprayer tank has four threaded inserts on the bottom. I cut a piece of plywood to size and attached it to the tank with 1" 5/16 bolts. To locate the holes in the plywood I put the bolts into the tank just a single turn and set it on the plywood, it was up in the air enough that I could get my hand under the tank with a pencil and mark the location. I used a 3/8" bit to give myself a little bit of wiggle room. Then I put the tank and plywood on the brackets, and attached with wood screws.

The sprayer runs off 12V DC. It comes with alligator clips so normally I just clip it onto the battery terminals. Since the battery is under the seat I always worry the clips are going to short out or fall off. So as an extra feature I added a power jack on the back of the mower. Also from Amazon (Amazon.com ). To install I drilled a hole in the fender. I also put ring crimp ends on the wires and bolted them to the battery cables.

All in all it worked great. I was worried about stability with that much weight hanging off the rear but it wasn't a problem. The only issue is the through-bolts are a bit of a pain to put on and take off. I think my next enhancement is to look for some sort of threaded insert so I don't have to reach around behind to hold the bolts.

 

[Topzide]

Rivet nut would be what you want.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Rivet nut would be what you want.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

 

[bindian]

I welded up a permanent bumper that bolts on and the sprayer mount just hooks on. It's a 26 gallon sprayer that makes the rear end light on the Hustler. The sprayer has inserts on the bottom of the tank and stays mounted on it's mount.

hugs, Brandi

 

[dstig1]

I made a similar mount off the back of my JD X738 out of leftover 304 Stainless. There is a 12V lighter style plug on the back corner of the fender you can just see in the third photo to the right of the taillight. I plug into that for power, and it conveniently has a switch on the dash to turn it on/off.

But I was also concerned about stability as I have lots of hills and side slopes so I added a front weight bar retainer. The bumper can already hold 4x 42 lb weights, but it needs something to keep them from potentially bouncing off if something unpleasant were to happen, so I welded up a bar and clip to restrain them in place.

 

[2manyrocks]

rivet nut assortment:

Amazon.com

 

[quicksandfarmer]

rivet nut assortment:

Amazon.com

Thanks. I bought this set of a tool and assortment last night:

Amazon.com

It's coming Monday, I'll let you know how it works.

 

[Topzide]

You'll find a ton of uses once you get it in your hands! A very useful tool and mounting options. I'm using rivet nuts to hold on a remote oil filter mount to the frame of my truck! Jack nuts come in handy also. The are the rubber type that don't require a tool. Not quite as strong a mount but work to isulate with the rubber if needed. Coat the mounting bolts with anti seize going into rivet nuts to help with removal. Waiting to see what you come up with.

 

[SmallChange]

I've contemplated ways of making a sprayer convenient and foolproof for the purpose of brining my driveway in winter. I was thinking about a tank that would mostly fill the FEL bucket, and having a PVC pipe assembly to cover the spreading width with drilled holes in a cross piece. My idea was to turn the flow on and off by dumping or curling the bucket, much like a watering can. I figured I could get all the brine activity outside of and below the bucket, so I wouldn't keep corroding the bucket. Maybe I could keep this watering can filled with rock salt, and keep adding fresh water to it, so what I splashed during refill wouldn't be so corrosive. Not sure how much this last thing would help, though, maybe I'd be consuming the salt so fast I'm always messing with that anyhow.

 

[Topzide]

The brine used on the roadways has some sort of a byproduct like beets. This acts as a binder on put down before the event to get spread around to help not get caught behind the 8 ball! Sounds like a good idea in theory. Think you would be better off just spreading the rock salt as needed.
If you want to make that setup, make it so that the pipe is up and over the bucket lip. That way, the curl roll will work much better and keep everything away from the bucket. JM2C.