UTV Sprayer Recommendations

[Aggie66]

I'm not one to re-invent the wheel so I'd like to ask your recommendations on a brand of sprayer for my Kubota RTX-1140 side by side. I will be doing food plots for wildlife management...probably less than 1/2 acre per plot...I'm believing that a 25 gallon spray rig will be sufficient to do 3-4 food plots. I've looked at various brands and want to make the best decision for a $3-400 purchase. I've looked at boom and boomless and am leaning toward the boomless but I'm not bound on that as I have no experience with either.
I've researched FIMCO; Ironworks: North Star; all those that come up on Amazon or Tractor Supply....of course I want one with hand sprayer as well....I'm guessing I will only spray 2 gpm range....one FIMCO I looked at has a 4 gpm pump which I'm guessing I just adjust the pressure to 20-30 and let it backflow into the tank and it should be about 2 gpm....but I don't want to be hurting the pump etc....So any suggestions based on your experience is appreciated....I plan on just letting down the tailgate, strapping it in and using the UTV to do my spraying....easier than hooking something to my Kubota tractor....thanks for any feedback.

 

[WranglerX]

Not sure what you needs are, but if its boomless and only come with short hose (10-20 FT) replaces it with at least 50ft hose....

 

[oosik]

I have a 25 gallon Demco with a 25 foot hose. Bought in 1988. It's got a PTO driven roller pump. It does just fine. I spray thistles and anything else obnoxious. 25 foot hose is plenty for all my needs. Fits on the 3-point and the pump clamps right onto the tractor PTO stub. Meaning - no PTO shaft.

 

[jaxs]

Too many unanswered if ands & buts to tell you which is BEST but $300-$400 sounds like overkill for a total of 2 acres. You should be fine with a 12 volt pump on a 15-25 gallon tank. Just clean it up and run pump saver through it after every use and it will last years. The biggest drawback with boomless is drifting to non target plants when using herbicides. Which brings us to what you are spraying and why you are spraying.

 

[jjeff]

The tsc 40 gal. Pull behind sprayer has a boom and wand has worked good spraying sevin and consumer grade roundup, not so much for organic insecticides like neem oil. I can mix 40 gals of sevin leave it in there after spraying and it's still effective and doesn't damage my pump like neem oil did (long story). Most electric pump Sprayers also have a pressure switch so it's not going to run continuously when your not spraying but leave the switch on I also installed old repurposed valves on the boom to shut either side off when going around perimeter. I think building a sprayer would be a neat project but you may find the cost of materials needed will negate any savings imo. Good luck. Any questions on my semi (custom) tsc sprayer let me know.

 

[BnRidge]

My experience:
My need list was the same as yours.
I initially went with a Fimco 25gallon boomless spayer from FarmFleet, around $500.

I was able to go through 3 tanks full. Half way through the 4th it lost pressure. The screws holding the halves of the pump together had come loose. I can deal with a minor maintenance issue, but tightening the screws became progressively less effective. The pump is made up of plastic parts, and the course threads of the screws no longer held. The solution was to tighten every minute or so, at least until the tank emptied. Then the valve manifold broke loose and sprayed 2gal/min everywhere. No fix for that. The manifold is integral with the pump, and neither would stay connected to the other. And a spray nozzle broke off (that was my fault). Anyway, enough picking on Fimco.

So I researched other sprayers, returned the other, and finally settled on:

25 GALLON PLATINUM SPOT SPRAYER 2.2 GPM PRO HANDGUN

The Ag Spray 25 GALLON PLATINUM SPOT SPRAYER with 2.2 GPM PUMP and Pro Series Handgun is widely used for pest and weed control. This popular spot spra...

www.agspray.com

Two weeks after I ordered the Agspray, I received an email from Fimco that my sprayer had shipped. @#$%#@#$#@. I did not want a $#@ Fimco. Ends up Agspray is a agricultural branch of Fimco. My conclusion - get an Agspray sprayer. Everything about it is serviceable and high quality.

Pump - shurflo, metal housing, machine screws vs plastic housing and course screws made for plastic.

Filter - serviceable transparent enclosure up top, visible, and easy remove and clean, vs underneath, out of sight and difficult to service.

Manifold - threaded pipe fittings that allow the unit to be removed, cleaned, replaced if needed, vs a one pc moulding integral with the pump housing.

Boomless nozzles - it has none. I intend on sourcing my own high quality nozzles (hamilton #5) and plumbing them myself. Final cost for sprayer and nozzle assembly will end up about the same as the first sprayer

Pressure gauge - fluid filled, brass and stainless, high quality, vs mechanical, steel, and flimsy (cheap).

On the second season with the Agspray and so far it's held up nicely.

 

[jjeff]

My experience:
My need list was the same as yours.
I initially went with a Fimco 25gallon boomless spayer from FarmFleet, around $500.
View attachment 784537
I was able to go through 3 tanks full. Half way through the 4th it lost pressure. The screws holding the halves of the pump together had come loose. I can deal with a minor maintenance issue, but tightening the screws became progressively less effective. The pump is made up of plastic parts, and the course threads of the screws no longer held. The solution was to tighten every minute or so, at least until the tank emptied. Then the valve manifold broke loose and sprayed 2gal/min everywhere. No fix for that. The manifold is integral with the pump, and neither would stay connected to the other. And a spray nozzle broke off (that was my fault). Anyway, enough picking on Fimco.

So I researched other sprayers, returned the other, and finally settled on:

25 GALLON PLATINUM SPOT SPRAYER 2.2 GPM PRO HANDGUN

The Ag Spray 25 GALLON PLATINUM SPOT SPRAYER with 2.2 GPM PUMP and Pro Series Handgun is widely used for pest and weed control. This popular spot spra...

www.agspray.com

Two weeks after I ordered the Agspray, I received an email from Fimco that my sprayer had shipped. @#$%#@#$#@. I did not want a $#@ Fimco. Ends up Agspray is a agricultural branch of Fimco. My conclusion - get an Agspray sprayer. Everything about it is serviceable and high quality.

Pump - shurflo, metal housing, machine screws vs plastic housing and course screws made for plastic.

Filter - serviceable transparent enclosure up top, visible, and easy remove and clean, vs underneath, out of sight and difficult to service.

Manifold - threaded pipe fittings that allow the unit to be removed, cleaned, replaced if needed, vs a one pc moulding integral with the pump housing.

Boomless nozzles - it has none. I intend on sourcing my own high quality nozzles (hamilton #5) and plumbing them myself. Final cost for sprayer and nozzle assembly will end up about the same as the first sprayer

Pressure gauge - fluid filled, brass and stainless, high quality, vs mechanical, steel, and flimsy (cheap).

On the second season with the Agspray and so it's held up nicely.

Sounds like a nice sprayer, question, is the shurflo pump self priming? won't get into 4 letter word details of the cheaper non self priming pumps, lol

 

[BnRidge]

Sounds like a nice sprayer, question, is the shurflo pump self priming? won't get into 4 letter word details of the cheaper non self priming pumps, lol

It is self priming. Shurflo pumps are used on a lot of applications such as RV's, live wells, other applications that need remote fresh water pumps. They've been around a long time, and have a good reputation.

 

[Aggie66]

Thanks to all for the valuable feedback. That’s what I like about this site. everyone is always willing to provide great feedback based on their experiences. Thanks to each for that.

 

[JohnnyMX]

Bought a 30-gallon fimco from TSC for my RTV900. It only came with the wand and 10' of hose or so but for small stuff, I use it to drive around and get driveway/landscaping weeds etc. The first thing I did was put some plumbers putty around all the screw-on (bypass/wand/etc.) connections and it sealed up great and has run well for 6 years. I only had to replace a rubber connector between the tank and motor < $5.

For the plots, I went on amazon and bought a "boom" kit that covers about 7 feet or the width plus a foot on either side of the RTV. I made a mount ouf of 2x6 that slides over the tailgate. I throw it on, throw the tank in, and put a ratchet strap around them to secure it and spray away. I also made an extension for the on off switch on magnets so I can run it to the cabin of the RTV easier. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HY7NNNS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The kit was like $20 bucks and you could easily make one yourself, but this was a quick jump start and got me out spraying.