Trailed sprayer pro cons on spuds!!

puma power

Member
Mixed Farmer
Currently run a 24m self propelled on cereals and spuds. Pros are it’s light at about 6.5t dry. It’s good in corners.
Cons are liquid fert on road and no proper brakes! Not as comfy as my two tractors. With trailed sprayers really moving on been thinking about going back trailed especially with two isobus tractors. Do trailed work well on spuds? Is 30m or 36m better/worse?
 
We changed from self propelled to trailed in 2012 and I never regretted it. We bought an Amazone ux with auto height and auto section control, towed it with a 6910 auto power and felt it was far better than the case sp3000 it replaced. My dad however hated it!! Too much technology and not as manoeuvrable.

We went for a steering axle and 24m and it has performed extremely well. Have changed recently and gone for another Amazone but 4200 litres and stuck to 24 metres, 30 was looked at but didn’t like the idea of wider headlands on potatoes. Now pulled by a puma cvx.
 

puma power

Member
Mixed Farmer
I like Amazone kit. But I think this is probably going to be a second hand machine. The machine I've seen could be 30M or 36M so I'm thinking 30. It should improve work rates but still be manageable in some of our smaller fields.
 

Classichay

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
The moon
Don’t do it, look at a newer sp, trailed sprayers are Ok in a dry year in a wet year your mauling a second set of axles through the myre usually on its axles. Steering can be finicky on them once you start doing this, I think they have their place in a cereal system but bouncing over tater ridges on the first pass isn’t much fun at least with the SP you know where you are in relation to the hole / peak and can give the booms abit more sympathy. Yes you may have a tractor to use when it’s not hitched but the benefits of a dedicated machine can outweigh this
 
We sprayed throughout 2012 with no issues, well no more than anyone else!! Axle steering works well and never had issues slipping into rows, we run 14.9 tyres and if I was wider boom width would go to 16.9 tyres. The main benefit to me was the ability to buy a new, very high specification sprayer with an excellent local dealer for the same price as an ageing,high houred, low spec self propelled with no local dealer backup. Oh and have the comfort of a relatively modern tractor to sit in at 50 kmh down the road.
 
We sprayed throughout 2012 with no issues, well no more than anyone else!! Axle steering works well and never had issues slipping into rows, we run 14.9 tyres and if I was wider boom width would go to 16.9 tyres. The main benefit to me was the ability to buy a new, very high specification sprayer with an excellent local dealer for the same price as an ageing,high houred, low spec self propelled with no local dealer backup. Oh and have the comfort of a relatively modern tractor to sit in at 50 kmh down the road.
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
After running Chafer trailed sprayers for 20yrs, I got a hydro sp in 2015. I spray about 9000acres a year, over half that is potatoes.
It was slower, noisier, more uncomfortable, less reliable, harder to drive and needed much more attention to keep running that the trailed ever did. Far less able in wet taty fields too - bit like a Land Rover - 'maximum traction' means one front wheel and one back!
I sold it after one year and bought a new 4000/24 Chafer Guardian. Better weight transfer and stability than the E4000 I had before the sp, just need a camera looking at the front of one of the sprayer wheels when in beet or early on spraying spuds, because you can't see the wheels from the cab.
Tug is an MF 7618 VT - vario box makes such a difference to the experience - this one replaced an excellent 7480.
Wheels are 14.9r46 on the tractor rear, 12.4r34 on the front, 13.6r48 on the sprayer. This is important - narrower at each end allows a little crabbing to happen without running down more crop - something else I missed when I had an sp.
If spraying spuds on a bit of side slope in a wet time, you can diff lock the tractor, let it crab a bit, and steer the sprayer uphill a bit with the steering axle, and usually stay in the row. With the sp, all the weight ran to the lowest back corner, and it was hells own job keeping the bloody thing uphill without running the front wheel on the next row uphill, made worse by the fact you can't see the wheels on a forward control sp.
Would I go back to an sp? Never say never, but it's unlikely. Too expensive to buy, too time consuming and expensive to run, and less good when the going gets tough.
 

puma power

Member
Mixed Farmer
I just find the self propelled tiring to drive compared to the tractor! Every extra engine is a risk of cost at some point. I just don't want to risk causing damage to the fields.
As you say @Spud in the wet the SP can tend to crab in the beds and I'm sure that's to do with wheel motors not working together. Do you find the extra weight of a trailed combi an issue. Particularly if your dragging the back axle?
Any pics of your setup in the beds?
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
I just find the self propelled tiring to drive compared to the tractor! Every extra engine is a risk of cost at some point. I just don't want to risk causing damage to the fields.
As you say @Spud in the wet the SP can tend to crab in the beds and I'm sure that's to do with wheel motors not working together. Do you find the extra weight of a trailed combi an issue. Particularly if your dragging the back axle?
Any pics of your setup in the beds?

The extra weight isn't an issue for various reasons. My rig weighs about 17t loaded, which is nearly 3t per wheel. Sounds a lot, but big diameter wheels have a long footprint, so it carries well. Most common hydro sp's are on 28 or 32" wheels, which are smaller than my tractor fronts. iirc my sp weighed about 12t loaded, so the same weight per wheel, but much higher ground pressure due to smaller wheels.
I'll be spraying later so I'll get some pics
 

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