Jedi, looks like your ballast box needs more tractor

1860 was my first, great tractor.

How much did the sprayer system cost, I have been looking at stuff to make one and its almost cheaper to buy a pull behind cart sprayer than it is to build one the pump is the major cost next is me trying to use my brain to figure out what nozzles to put in

it's not quite a completely "home built" system.  i started off using a generic FIMCO setup (w/ 25 gallon tank), which came stock with a hand sprayer (wand) (see pics below).  the FIMCO tank was simply set on my carryall.  the pump itself is powered by the 12Vdc accessory outlet below the operator seat; this feature is stock on the BX series.   i added more pressure hose, so my wife could slowly drive the tractor and i would walk around behind the rig and dispense herbicide using the sprayer wand.  i should mention that the area to be treated is just north of an acre.   basically with this setup i had a 25 gallon capacity hand sprayer, and i was trying to treat an acre+ of turfgrass twice a year.   this "hand spray" approach was sorta effective on the weeds but a general pain in the ass, plus the uniformity of application is always in question.  maybe the best feature was that with the handheld wand you can get fairly close to ornamentals and such.

i started looking around for bits and pieces to convert the hand system to a nozzle system.  in principle this means finding a boom assembly that has the coverage desired AND has a flow rate (at a given pressure) which the pump can handle.  note that this conversion is not exactly straightforward because the pump setup used for a hand system (demand type: pressure low turn-on / high turn-off) is not the same as used for a spray system (constant pressure with bleed recirculation).  in my case it worked out ok that i had a pressure turn-on/turn-off pump arrangement, it took some experimentation initially but the system runs at a nice even 30psi during spray operation.  note: too little pressure and you will get sputtering; too much pressure and you will atomize the herbicide-laden liquid into a fine cloud which will blow all over the place.  

my carry-all deck does not come up high enough for the Teejet nozzles, which have a specified 18" height above terrain for proper spray coverage.  i was going to carpenter-up some sort of base for the tank to sit on, which in turn would be placed on the carry-all, but then i got to thinking i could just use the ballast box as the tank carrier.  a pair of carefully cut and mounted scrap 2x4's allow the tank to "seat" in the top of the empty ballast box, and once it's filled with water and herbicide the tank is not going anywhere.

i stumbled around in the sprayer aisle at Tractor Supply for a while and bought some more pressure hose, fittings, and an poly 90 degree shutoff valve.  the pressure output of the tank, instead of going to the hand wand, is carried up to near the operator station, where the control valve is located, and then back to the spray heads.  (note: try to keep the piped "distance" to the spray jets symmetrical, otherwise you get pressure imbalance).  

so, to prepare for spraying, you fill the tank 2/3rds with water, put the herbicide in, and then fill the remaining third.  during all this you run the pressure pump in "recirculate mode", which draws in liquid from the bottom of the tank and pumps it right back into the top of the tank (this is a stock function of the FIMCO pump manifold setup).  after about 10 minutes of recirculating you are ready to roll.  

position the tractor where you want to start, twist the control valve 90 degrees to start herbicide flow, and get moving ASAP.  do not stop the tractor without first turning the control valve off, or you will deposit A LOT of herbicide in one place.  

i want to point out a few things:

1) before your first spray job, it is first necessary to determine how much solution you are applying at a given speed.  this is best done using a tank full of water and a known distance (i measured using GPS).  fill the tank right to the brim, and close the top.  make a run.  using a kitchen measuring cup, refill the tank right to the brim.  now figure out, at a given tractor speed (RPM and range), how much fluid is going out, and therefore the application rate.  the spray head folks, Teejet in this case, provide tables for every one of their nozzles, in terms of flow rate (GPM) vs PSI.  don't forget to multiply times the number of nozzles.  

2) selective herbicides for turfgrass (such as 2,4-D) work by attacking biological aspects of annual and perennial weeds which differ from perennial turfgrass.  however, these very same herbicides can and will absolutely demolish plants that are not weeds -- such as tomatoes or lettuce or roses or myrtle or whatever expensive thing your wife just planted.  so when spraying in a residential environment you have to be extraordinarily careful about where the spray is applied and just as importantly where the wind is carrying it.  for this reason, calm days and "just enough" system pressure are critical aspects.  when i first used my makeshift sprayer i tested coverage in the driveway using straight water, and then used a piece of PVC conduit as a "guide" for my first go around.  this guide would prevent my wife from subsequently killing me for killing all of her flowers.  yes, it looked ghetto as hell but i'm still alive today.  

3) don't spray when it's very hot.  the turfgrass is already under stress during these conditions.  even though the herbicide is "selective" you can still kill huge swaths of turfgrass by applying an otherwise "safe" herbicide when it is 100'F outside.  

4) you need a TON more water to apply fertilizer vs herbicide.  so much more that it makes it impractical for me.  i apply granular fertilizer (using a broadcast spreader) and spray for weeds (using my makeshift setup).  this is the easiest approach.  

ps
here is the FIMCO sprayer i started life with.  5 years in the pump and rest of the bits are still going strong.
http://www.agrisupply.com/gallon-spot-sprayer/p/32996/

also see
http://www.agrisupply.com/sprayers/c/4200010/
and
http://www.agrisupply.com/standard-trailer-sprayer/p/32995/

ar-jedi

I finally have a running tractor again, so today I used it to drag down the ruts I made with my pickup while the floodwaters were still here. A little background on why it was not running: Around March 10th, we had heavy, heavy rains here and got flooded out. Four feet or so in my front yard, and five feet deep in my back yard. I was 5,000 miles away in Europe on vacation while all of this was happening. Just so happens, I had just started again parking the tractor under the elevated storage shed, so it was saved. Even still, it got water just up to the starter and due to where it was parked and nonstop rain around here, I didn't have much of a chance to get it running again. We've had a wonderful past four days here as far as weather goes, so I jumped on the chance to look it over and pull that starter off. I'm so so happy to have it back. I also added another "tractor" to the family. A ZTrak.

 
LOL - I feel your pain. We have a 12ft Weed Wiper. Top speed pulling that thing is about 2mph. 2000 acres goes VERY slow at that speed.






Last summer when my son was home from college that was his job. He said he never wants to see another tractor



 
 

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/midsummer.3.2.html




ar-jedi

Did some field mowing after a heavy rain

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Picked up the last bit of seed for the season.

Put a little 46-0-0 on the 10 acres of grass and pastures around the home place ahead of some rain tonight.

Sweet I need to move to Iowa!!

Been really dry and we planted late, wife said I had to water

I don't recommend this method but it got the job done

we finished planting last week. Then Saturday used the 4020, Deere 510c backhoe and a 4840 to dig out a old foundation from a house in the late 30's early 40's  that was knocked down and burried and now starting to come back to the top spent few hours just hauling stuff from the spot to the edge of the field. the 4020 was like a OVEN with the cab the sun cooked you in that thing!

I went around today and sprayed 2-4-D over the yard again this morning to get the weeds under control. Used deere 455 for that

How well I know

fantastic pic!!!  

ar-jedi

Looks like a 650 and a 757 Z-Track???
I have a 750 tractor and a 777 Z-Track

Correct on the ZTrak, but the tractor is a 670.

Basically the same thing just a little newer My Z-track has over 2000 hours on it. I have a lot of seat time on that machine.

This one has 2,200 hours, but has been rebuilt and serviced by a Deere dealer. The previous owner kept all the receipts and we went through them. I absolutely love it so far.

Cleaned the chicken coop

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Did a bit of mowing today,





then switched to the box blade & worked on a larger turning circle for the access drive onto our property.







A view from up the hill a bit, near the storage building seen above

What model and HP?  That is just about what I'm looking for.

It is a 3038e,  38 hp turbo diesel. The non-turbo version is the 3032e (32 hp).  The "e" series John Deere tractors are "budget friendly" models that lack the bells &whistles of the "r" series models. You don't get cruise control or a deluxe seat, but you do still get position control on the three point hitch.

It has roughly a 60" footprint, so I generally use it with 5' implements.

Nick

Thanks

used my boom pole on my new JD tractor to unload this new Frontier/Woods finish mower I bought today.  Paid $1100 for it, which I think was a darn good deal.  

I have one of those, but it's a GM1060S.

ETA: "S" for side discharge, whereas yours is rear discharge.

That's a steal on a damn good brand! Nice!

 

What do those mowers sell for new?  That one looks brand new.

it was/is brand new.  I called my JD dealer and told him I was looking for a finish mower.  He said you're in luck...we just got one in that was sold to the county on trade.  The county apparently ordered a bush hog and not a finish mower by mistake, so the dealer took it back on some kind of trade before it was even hooked up to a tractor.  Dealer told me it was normally $2000, but that I could have it for $1100.  I couldnt get my credit card out fast enough to buy it that moment.  When I showed up to pick it up, he said he made a mistake on his end of the price.  Said they normally sell them for $3300, but since he told me I could have it for $1100, I could have it.  Slammed that suckka in the back of my truck and drove off before they changed their minds.  Just finished hooking it up and did a test run and it cuts great.  So I guess I got lucky on this one... unless he was blowing smoke up my ass, but either way I'm good with it.  Dam thing is awesome......

You did well.  Tractor house has used models that are 6 years old selling for 1500.

New old stock 2015 models selling for 2500.  Good job.

hooked up the new mower, and let my grand daughter drive the tractor for the first time.  It was a good day....

Sweet deal on that mower!  

Any issues with the rear wheels beating down the grass so it doesn't get cut by the mower?  I want to get a rear mount mower for my Kubota but I am wondering if it would cut good because of the wide ass rear tires

Havent noticed any issues with that happening so far.  

Had the Russian out for some field work

Also got the Deere 4310 a harbor freight quick hitch and then did some landscape raking

Holy poop that soil rich!  Sweet tractor, too!

I am so tempted to get one of those Harbor Freight quick hitches.  I have a Land Pride rotary cutter set for quick hitch that is sort of a pain to hook up the regular way

I also got the adaptor for non spec stuff. Implements went from 10-20 minutes to hook up to around 5. I did have to get larger bushings  too but worth it

The Russian tract I just bend or snap hitch pins with old free implements found in the woods

I have one.  I had to take my grinder and grind off about 1/16th off each rear hook so it would fit my tiller setup.  I also welded a couple of hooks on it so i can use it for whatever I can think of.

come to think of it, i haven't used those hooks yet, lol.

Bushhogging while I have the day off. First cutting of 2016. Strange to think that a few weeks ago, this was covered in chest-high floodwater.

How tough are they?

My main use case would be to speed up switching between the bush hog and box blade on an L3800.

The box blade I use for frequent maintenance on 1/4 mile of fairly steep gravel drive so it takes a pounding.

Would the quick-hitch hold up?

I was going through my game cam and caught this pic.

 

Gonna need a bigger gun

Lol!

Here, we have the elusive blue tractor complete with front end loader.  Don't catch too many of these out in the wild.  



 

Bushhogged

Used the box blade's scarifiers to break ground for a new garden behind the house.



Trying to finish it up with my new tiller, but getting rain nearly every day.

Had some dirty base gravel spread on the driveway and then used the loader and grader blade to smooth it out.  Still need 1-2 more loads but won't get them till next week.  Got 4 dump truck loads today.  

Put on a mid bloom application of Fungicide.