Great Idea for ZTR

I have been toying with mounting a sprayer on my ZTR. I have tried a couple different things, but have not been thrilled with the outcome.
Saw a guy on the road today with a Lazer. He is a one man show with all the latest mowers,. tools, and truck. After looking closer at his mower, I noticed an extra gas tank mounted on each side. He had also mounted an electric pump on top of the extra tanks, and made a PVC holder for a wand sprayer. The tanks were mounted to the side of the regular gas tanks and the sprayer holster was mounted near the height adjustment.
Looked like a good set up!

 

I took a 25 gallon tank and strapped it on to my great dane chariot and fabbed up a boom on the front and viola, liquid apps on the fly. I started by purchasing a a pull behind sprayer from tractor supply store and ripped off the parts that I needed to make a front mount sprayer. Cost me 250 bucks. Has a 12 volt pump with gator clips for your battery, pressure gauge and short boom. I am still playing with different spray nozzles. It works okay for 25msqft or less, then you need to refill. Tru-Green chemlawn has stainless steel tanks welded up and they mount under the mower where the deck usually goes.
Actually, I have a spreader mount from JRCO that I could attatch a cart to of some sort, to hold the whole setup out in front of the mower, reducing the chems I wear. The JRCO spreader is a pretty good unit too.

No pics but when I get it perfected I will post some.

 

The only problem is when you start doing this kind of thing, you are WAY off base on your spreading. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING when it comes to this stuff! How are you going to regulate it? How are you possibly going to calibrate this setup since the ZTR is so jumpy? This could cause you to spread too much which could cost you alot more in product. Or, not spread enough which could cost even more. Or, worse yet, spread too much, causing damage, which will REALLY cost a bunch. Bottom line, is that if you're doing this professionally, know what you're doing.

 

Along with runner here, in "watch what your doing". Just do some test runs. Measure out your ground speed, your coverage etc... make sure you are fitting into your application rates and it should be fine rigging up your own stuff.

I have a pull behind that I want to setup on my ztr and small tractor as well, But I want the boom on the back. I do not like the idea of spraying right in front as I move that way also.

 

I agree w/ Skoo

How do you guys prevent all of the material from spraying in your face. It's a good idea to have a rider but wouldn't it be better to mount behind you??

Just my thought!
Mike
Greenkeepers

 

I built a front mount sprayer for my Walker last year, it works very good. I don't worry much about the spray drift, I wear an approved respirator, rain suit and use low drift nozzles. It isn't any worse than spraying corn fields with a wind blowing the drift onto you.