Crop Sprayer Built From Old Combine

Crop sprayer built from old combine COMBINES Conversions 17-1-15 Waseca, Minn., farmer John Klug turned a 1972 International 815 combine into an 80-ft. wide self-propelled sprayer that offers great visibility and lets him cover acres fast. Klug stripped away everything but the engine, rear axle, and cab. He used an old International semi truck frame to build a chassis that supports a 750-gal. tank mounted behind the cab and a 3-section Blumhardt boom in front. He removed both axles and mounted the original front drive axle on back, then mounted large 18.4 by 42 tractor tires on it. He mounted the front steering axle off an old Allis-Chalmers 220 tractor on front and fitted it with 20-in. implement straddle four 30-in. rows. "We needed more capacity and wider booms than our Deere 6000 Hi-Boy sprayer," says Klug, who built the unit with help from sons Tom and Bill. "It had a 300-gal. tank and 60-ft. wide boom. I used this new rig to spray about 1,500 acres on my farm last year and did another several hundred acres of custom spraying. On a good day I can spray 40 or 50 acres per hour at 6 mph. At 20 gallons per acre I can go almost 40 acres without refilling. A bigger tank would be nice but might be too heavy for muddy fields. Mounting the drive axle in back and steering axle in front makes it easier to handle. Weight of the engine and spray tank "Visibility from the cab is excellent. Because the sprayer has the combine's hydrostatic transmission, I can operate at variable speeds for different rates of application. The rear-mounted engine is very accessible for changing oil and for general maintenance. The combine's original gas engine wore out so we replaced it with a used 6-cylinder diesel engine. "A hose leads from the bottom of the spray tank to a fill spout mounted behind the engine. The sprayer's centrifugal spray pump is belt-driven off the engine. The air cleaner is mounted up high on a section of pvc pipe to keep it out of the dust. The boom height can be hydraulically adjusted from ground level up to 4 ft., allowing me to spray broadleaf weeds in soybeans or tall corn." Klug bought the combine from a farmer for less than $600. One problem was that the new steering axle was connected to the front part of the frame at only two points which made the frame unstable and could have caused the ends of the boom to hit the ground. To solve the problem he mounted an old truck coil spring onto the end of each axle between the frame and axle. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Klug, Rt. 2, Box 298, Waseca, Minn. 56093 (ph 507 835-2129).

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