Pull-Behind Saddle Tanks

Pull-Behind Saddle Tanks CROPS New Techniques 13-5-9 Mounting saddle tanks on a pull-behind trailer looks funny but it makes sense, says Gary Neil, Reinbeck, Iowa, who wanted to get away from the extra labor required to mount and dismount saddle tanks as well as the problems they caused with the performance of his tractor. "My saddle tanks were belly-mounted on a Deere 4520 tractor. I moved them to an old 5-row anhydrous applicator and I use them to spray pre-plant herbicides on corn and beans and also for post-emergence spraying of broad leaves in corn. I also use them for pasture spraying of thistles and for hand gun spraying around fields," says Neil. "One of the things we didn't like about tractor-mounted saddle tanks was that it took two men to mount them and they tied up the tractor when they were on. An-other problem is that in wet ground, the front wheels would sink down when the tanks were full of liquid, slowing the tractor down. It was hard on the tractor engine and clutch, and caused compaction. When the tanks were tractor-mounted I could see all year long where I had driven in the field. Now the weight of the 400 gal. of water is off the tractor and on its own. The trailing rig hooks up to the tractor drawbar and I pull a 25-ft. field cultivator or a 20-ft. disk behind it. A "false" drawbar, made out of 3 by 1-in. steel, runs from the tractor to whatever is towed behind the saddle tank rig. The false drawbar is held rigidly in a frame with two carriage bolts which wear and have to be replaced each season. When spraying post-emergence chemicals, I mount a boom behind the saddle tanks. I use the same lift that raised and lowered the anhydrous injector knives to raise and lower the boom." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gary Neil, Rt. 2, Reinbeck, Iowa 50669 (ph 319 345-6621).

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