Field Sprayer Built From Combine

Field sprayer built from combine 5-3-6 Ray Reams, of Moscow, Idaho, says his home-built spray rig built around a self-leveling Massey-Harris Super 27 hillside combine has saved him a lot of "worry and hurry" at spray time when commercial rigs are not always available. Besides that, the hillside rig makes spraying easier in the steep hills he farms. While the 20 to 25 year-old cutaway combine levels front to back and sideways, the 50-ft. wide spray boom runs at a height level to the ground, supported by discarded motorcycle wheels at either end of the boom. Reams bought the old Massey combine for $50 from a neighbor and cut away everything he didn't need. Front and rear wheels run in a single track, 8 to 9 ft. apart. Rather than use a ground-driven pump, he runs the spray pump off the unloading auger. The only disadvantage of the machine, according to Reams, is its relatively slow speed. "It travels about 6 mph on the highway and I spray at about 3 mph in the field. Power is good enough to work in a plowed field," he adds. Reams' unique rig has been in use for 5 years now and he recently bought another Super 27 to build himself a second rig. He says there are plenty of old hillside combines around that would serve the same purpose in hilly fields.

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