Crop Sprayer Built From 2 Old Combines

Crop Sprayer Built From 2 Old Combines COMBINES Conversions 17-3-10 "It offers great visibility and lets us cover acres fast. My father and I wish we had built it a long time ago," says Fulton, Mich., farmer Paul Miller about the self-propelled sprayer he and his father Maurice built out of two old combines, a Ford 611 and an Oliver 525. They stripped away everything but the running gear and 4-speed transmission on the Ford combine and mounted the Oliver cab, engine, and platform on it. The engine belt drives the Ford transmission. A 300-gal. spray tank mounts behind the engine. A 25-ft. boom mounts in front. It's supported by the header lift arms off another old self-propelled combine and is raised or lowered by a hydraulic cylinder. The sprayer uses the Oliver's power steering system. "It's a low budget sprayer. We built it two years ago and spent only about $1,000," says Miller. "I had been using an old pull-type sprayer that dad bought 30 years ago. However, it was getting worn out and I didn't want to spend $7,000 for a new commercial sprayer. "The boom covers eight 38-in. rows. It's right in front of me so I can easily see if the nozzles are working. The cab keeps chemicals off me and the air always stays fresh inside because the fan draws air from the top of the cab. The cab also has a heater which comes in handy on cold spring days. "The sprayer's rotary diaphragm pump is powered by a hydraulic motor that's driven by a hydraulic pump off the engine crankshaft. The pump also drives the power steering and the cylinder that raises or lowers the boom. "I really like the power steering but I have to watch it because it steers so easy that if I'm not watching closely I can run over the crop. The Ford combine's steering axle wasn't quite wide enough for my 38-in. rows. To solve the problem I cut the centers out of wide 'mudder' ¢-ton Ford pickup wheels and lathed them down, then welded them inside Chevrolet Corvair car wheels. It added about 4 in. on each side of the axle. If I could do it over I'd use the steering axle from a Gleaner combine because it's wider than the Ford's steering axle." Miller bolted square tubing to the front of the combine frame, then bolted the lift arms to the tubing. He used ¥-in. dia. steel pipe to make the 3-section boom which folds manually. The nozzles are off an old Century sprayer. They hook over the pipe and can be positioned anywhere along the boom. He used a beer keg to make his own foam marker system. Air is supplied to the keg by an air pollution control pump salvaged from an old Ford Escort. The pump is belt-driven off the engine. He teed a ¥-in. dia pipe off the top of the keg and mounted a pair of electric solenoid valves on it to control flow of foam to either end of boom. "The cheapest foam marker I could find on the market cost $600 to $800. I spent only $120 for the two solenoid valves," says Miller. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Paul Miller, 164 R. Dr. So., Fulton, Mich. 49052 (ph 616 729-9252).

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