Deere Combine Turned Into Sprayer

Deere Combine Turned into Sprayer COMBINES Conversions 17-3-10 "I converted my 1973 Deere 6600 into a high clearance row crop sprayer by mounting tractor wheels on front and combine drive wheels on back. The extra ground clearance works great for applying postemergence herbicides," says Nile Schumm, Manito, Ill. Schumm stripped the combine to the frame from the grain tank on back, leaving the 329 cu. in. gas engine and variable speed gear drive transmission in its original position. He used a pair of 6-in. I-beams to beef up the frame and mounted a 750-gal. stainless steel tank behind the cab. A belt-driven spray pump mounted next to the tank is driven by the combine's main separator drive. He mounted used 18.4 by 42 rear tractor tires on front and 14.9 by 26 combine drive tires on back. "It gives a low-cost sprayer that I can use for both preplant and postemergence herbicides," says Schumm. "I grow seed corn and sometimes need to apply postemergence herbicides later in the season than I would with conventional corn. I can raise the boom up to 42 in. high. When applying preplant herbicides early in the spring, I put duals on front to reduce soil compaction on my no-till fields. "We can spray at about 9 mph and cover 50 acres in an hour. I used it to spray 2,500 acres last yearwith no problems. One day I sprayed 300 acres in only 10 hours over four fields that were spread quite far apart. "My only expenses were $6,100 for used tires and a new 67-ft. Blumhardt boom. A new spray rig of comparable capacity would cost up to $10,000." Fitting the tractor wheels to the combine was tricky. The combine wheel hubs had an 8-bolt pattern, but the tractor wheels had a 10-bolt pattern. To solve the problem he had Unverferth Mfg., Kalida, Ohio (ph 800 322-6301) beef up and modify the wheels with a matching bolt pattern. Wheel spacing front and back is 120 in., allowing Schumm to straddle three 38-in. rows or four 30-in. rows. He used steel tubing to build a 17-ft. wide center framework to support the 5-section boom. The feederhouse cylinders raise and lower the boom. He used lengths of 3¢-in. and 4-in. dia. steel pipe to build a mast that keeps the boom in line whenever it's raised or lowered. Spring-loaded wings at each end of the boom flex backward if they hit an obstacle. Schumm can manually fold the boom back against the sides of the combine in less than 5 min. Cylinders at each end of the boom tilt the wings upward on hillsides or ditch banks. A chemical inductor tank is mounted next to the spray tank and a clean water tank is mounted on back of the frame. "I use the clean water for washing my hands and also to flush out the spray boom," says Schumm. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Nile Schumm, 6594 Jacobs Road, Manito, Ill. 61546 (ph 309 968-6353).

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