Garden Tractor Converted Into A Mini Spray Rig

Garden Tractor Converted Into A Mini Spray Rig SPRAYING Miscellaneous Jim Rotter Walford Iowa converted his Deere X540 garden tractor into a self-propelled mini spray rig complete with a 5-ft boom a hand nozzle with 20 ft of hose on back and an auxiliary tank on front The hose is stored on a metal bracket between the boom and tank A 12-volt pump that runs off the tractor battery operates the system “I use the boom to spray for dandelions and crabgrass which can be a real problem in our area ” says Rotter “The boom is equipped with flood jet nozzles and rides only about 12 in off the ground which minimizes drift Both tanks hold 17 gal so I can do a lot of spraying before having to refill ” The front-mounted auxiliary tank rests on a pair of wooden blocks bolted to an angle iron frame that quick-taches to another frame mounted on front of the tractor He screwed a 1 1/2-in dia pvc elbow onto one end of the tank that serves as the fill hole He also installed a valve under the fill hole that’s used to gravity feed water through a hose to the tank on back The rear-mounted tank along with the boom and hand wand mounts on an angle iron frame that hooks up to a modified Wheel Horse attachment-mounting bracket on back of the tractor “The modified Wheel Horse attachment allows the sprayer to float so I can go up or down ditches without needing extra weights on front of the tractor ” says Rotter “The auxiliary tank serves as a weight to hold the tractor’s front end down when going up hill To remove the auxiliary tank I take out two small bolts pull the frame off then remove the mounting bracket from the tractor ” He used 3/4-in dia galvanized pipe to build the boom The pump plugs into a cigarette plug that Rotter mounted on back of the tractor and is wired to a toggle switch mounted on the dash Both the pump and spray wand are mounted on a stainless steel plate “I use it on my own 1-acre yard my 2 kids with 3 acres each and on a rental property The hand wand works well to get into hard-to-reach areas The back end floats so it can spray in ditches without gouging the ground I painted both tanks green and yellow and bought Deere decals on the internet “The tractor had only one hydraulic valve on it so I installed another hydraulic circuit on the tractor I also added a quick-connect hydraulic outlet behind the left front wheel that mounts on a machined aluminum block I use the outlet to operate a hydraulic cylinder that I installed on front of the tractor I use the cylinder to operate other attachments such as a snow blade ” he notes Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jim Rotter P O Box 16 Walford Iowa 52351 ph 319 846-2988

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