Chafer Trailed Sprayer

[principal skinner]

Can anyone tell me about the Guardian sprayers please, looking at/for a 4000lt 24m up to 30m boom.

What does the boom ride like?

How well do they track on headland turns?

Centrifugal pump, easy to prime?

Anything else to look for please?

Finally made the decision to go trailed (been thinking about it for months) after my elderly sp burst a main hyd hose on the road today resulting in 100lts of oil running down the road......... not fun!

 

[Case290]

My friends got one 5yr old now, always moaning about how heavy it is. I jumped in went for a spin booms looked to travel well. Over the moon with my trailed sprayer more gets run down and backing in the corners Is what it is. But for me comfy tractor on minimum revs. Easy on and off.

 

[principal skinner]

My friends got one 5yr old now, always moaning about how heavy it is. I jumped in went for a spin booms looked to travel well. Over the moon with my trailed sprayer more gets run down and backing in the corners Is what it is. But for me comfy tractor on minimum revs. Easy on and off.

What are you running?

 

[Case290]

Amaxone ux3200 special 28m steering axle
I’d buy another but
Would recommend the Hyd jack the standard one I have is heavy
Variable geometry boom height
Joystick wouldn’t be without it
auto on off wouldn’t be without it.

 

[Spud]

Can anyone tell me about the Guardian sprayers please, looking at/for a 4000lt 24m up to 30m boom.

What does the boom ride like?

How well do they track on headland turns?

Centrifugal pump, easy to prime?

Anything else to look for please?

Finally made the decision to go trailed (been thinking about it for months) after my elderly sp burst a main hyd hose on the road today resulting in 100lts of oil running down the road......... not fun!

I'm on my fourth Chafer sprayer, current one a 2016 Guardian and the only one bought new. 1986 T2000 went to upgrade to a steering axle and 3000lt tank. (E3000) E3 went for an E4 when we took some land on further away. E4 went for a 4000/24 SP - which I sold after a year because it was slow, noisy, hopeless in wet taty fields and a pita blowing hydraulic hoses and pump springs.

My Guardian has the F series boom - early ones had the E series boom, which is ok, but not as good as the F.
Its much more stable (MUCH more stable) than my old E4 - but not being able to see the wheels is a pain in beet and taties in early season.
Tank not quite as easy to clean as an E series barrel tank but ok.
All hydraulic drive means no pto - big win there.
In 24yrs of centifrugal pumps, I've replaced one impeller and that was on the then 18yo T2. SP diaphagm pump had surgery twice in one season.
Priming is easy if you keep some water in the clean water tank for the job
Some are plumbed differently, which causes airlocks, particularly with a 3" pump - mine was changed for a 2" and replumbed - it'll empty to the last couple of litres and doesn't air lock.
Parts always available and simple enough to fit.
British
Simple and robust - I always look at machines and imagine how much hassle they will be at 10yo, and how easy are they to live with on a daily basis, or as a new operator. No dramas there.
Teejet 844E controller dead simple and does the job fine
Autosection good when the satellites dont drift
Re tracking - spray dependency on/off worth fitting, it'll track the tractor rear wheels if you dont turn too tight.
My Guardian is on an MF 7618 DVT - its turning circle is at least 3 yards smaller than the SP it replaced.

Theres been a couple of mods in the last 2 yrs re boom suspension - check they've been done.
Change the silly plastic rollers on the breakback cables for stainless steel ones and have no more bother. If you do any amount of stroking the boom past trees and poles, the plastic ones disappear at an alarming rate!

 

[Wheatonrotty]

It was the weight of the chafer that put me off when I was looking 3 years ago. I went Amazone as well and am very happy with it. Ours is a super with comfort pack which basically means you can wash out from the cab, also got a hydraulic stand which works well.

 

[principal skinner]

Thank you. Currently running an old sp as said above, just seems daft to me when a brand new tractor with five years warranty sits in the barn doing nothing and I’m using a 20 year old sp, that’s becoming unreliable, no air con, noisy, uncomfortable, slow on the road (29K) and the integrity of the fibre glass tank is concerning me. Basically my wish list is

4000lt tank, can spray all but one field @ 130lts/ha on one fill and go liquid N

Stainless tank

Stable boom

Tracking @ headland to follow tractor as far as reasonably possible

Hydraulic pump no messing with dirty pto shafts

Simple to use

Fast fill for liquid N

Twin fold boom no wider than 30m in case I want to use solid N

RELIABLE

Last ten years if looked after and bought as a max five year old machine

Good parts backup

Been spraying for 25 years but never with anything but a sp, 5 Batemans and a Sands, currently a Knight. Trailed scares me a bit but I’m sure I will get used to it and I’m blessed with large fields. If I could do every field bar one on a load it will make a huge difference as farming on the edge of a large town the traffic is getting worse and running back for a top up can take an hour from leaving the field to spraying again. 30k won’t get much of a 4000lt sp but it will buy a nice trailed I think

 

[Steevo]

Another Chafer user here. Much as Spud has said.

Boom ride is the best of all I saw when looking at Cereals at the time.

Tracks pretty well on the steering axle. Mine has the widest tyres possible fitted which reduces the turning circle a bit but worth the compromise.

They are heavy, my 4000l is 4t empty. It rides very well and is extremely stable though...you want it on a fair size tractor though. Be careful your tractor has enough oil flow. Oil can get quite warm at times.

As Spud says, clean water tank is handy for priming. It’s pretty much the only reason I use my clean water tank. If you can have a water tank up high that will help too-something I mean to do in time.

 

[Sandy]

Has anyone got the chafer contour boom control on their sprayer?

 

[B R C]

4000 guardian here new style with 28m tri fold F series boom. The new shape tank which reduces the boom protrusion and tri fold means boom is not near tractor cab was one of the big plus points, although might be tricky to find one as recent as that. Overall a good machine, well put together and I'm sure will last 10 years easily probably more like 20 for us. Easy on and off, relatively simple plumbing. Pain in the a**e if fill tank is low or pulling out of underground tank - had to change that! Auto section good, contour system not so good, slow to respond and damping not good enough, rarely use it.
Shame we had to have three boxes as had it on NH before Fendt arrived, isobus would be better, even so nice comfortable tractor beats sp cab any day, travels extremely well. I think we are just about to have the boom mod so hopefully that will improve that side of things. Tracking good, tank gauge float occasionally gets stuck if you fill tank right up. Oil has got hot a couple of times, have just had load sensing put on which hopefully will help.
Would buy again, best thing is large tank(1200 before) can spray all sp barley, beans, oats with one tank and wheat with 2/3 tanks, share with neighbour before you think I'm slightly over sprayered!
@principal skinner welcome to come and see it working, near Whipsnade.

 

[warksfarmer]

Low water rates days are numbered. The chemical manufacturers are increasing the rates the label says. Agronomists are increasing it on the recs and in the field you clearly get better coverage from higher volumes and slower forward speeds. I’d match your sprayer around 200l water rate to your fields trying to ensure you can spray every field in one pass thus reducing running around tramlines with three axles and heavier weights.

A pass with an empty trailed setup between November and March will be in place all year. So keep those passes to a minimum.

A Sentry is generally the same price if not a bit cheaper than the more popular Guardian so have the extra tank capacity to use when conditions allow.

 

[Hereward]

I switched from a SP to a trailed a couple of years ago.

My SP was very basic no suspension, very rough ride in the cab, air con hadn't worked for years and I only had a basic GPS for guidance.

In the shed was a tractor with autosteer, air con, front and cab suspension a roomy and comfy cab, fast on the road. It's not a hard decision.

Trailed is on and off in literally two minutes.

For me it was Chafer or Knight, we make good sprayers so important to support British manufacturers imo.

 

[Brisel]

Has anyone got the chafer contour boom control on their sprayer?

Yes. At anything over 24m it's essential.

It's not in the same league as the Horsch system though.

 

[warksfarmer]

Has anyone got the chafer contour boom control on their sprayer?

Yes on 36m. It’s ok and as good as Norac UC5 but not in Horsch’s league.

 

[Brisel]

Can anyone tell me about the Guardian sprayers please, looking at/for a 4000lt 24m up to 30m boom.

What does the boom ride like?

How well do they track on headland turns?

Centrifugal pump, easy to prime?

Anything else to look for please?

Finally made the decision to go trailed (been thinking about it for months) after my elderly sp burst a main hyd hose on the road today resulting in 100lts of oil running down the road......... not fun!

I don't have a Guardian but there's little different to the Sentry, just a lower spec.

I have a 6000 litre Sentry with 26m booms.

Hydraulic pump - why did I mess around with PTO shafts for so many years???? It does need good flow from the tractor. Load sensing power beyond is best.
Steering does track well but it will never be as good as a 4 wheel steered SP. Get over it!
Centrifugal pumps do need priming. Just have your tanks higher than the pump & add a 8mm bleed line back to the tank to help. Keep something in your rinse tank to help prime it too.
No major weaknesses. Unlike most of the competition, it was designed with liquid fertiliser in mind so is engineered accordingly. Steel booms do get metal fatigue eventually. Keep the rear tilt mechanism shimmed up or you'll have boom yaw. Most of the boom hinges are bushed so can be refurbed.​

 

[B R C]

Did 280ac yesterday with 16 mile round trip on road used 96l diesel so near on 3ac per l not sure how this compares to sp? 28m 4000l

 

[warksfarmer]

Did 280ac yesterday with 16 mile round trip on road used 96l diesel so near on 3ac per l not sure how this compares to sp? 28m 4000l

Are you sure that’s right? Fendt and Puma CVX both average 12-14l/hour on a 6000l 36m Sentry. Spot rate 60ac/hour. Average work rate including filling and travelling 25ac/hour. They are on tick over when filling and spraying so it’s only the travelling bit when they rev up.
Our old Bateman averaged 14l/hour from memory I think .......

 

[Chae1]

Are you sure that’s right? Fendt and Puma CVX both average 12-14l/hour on a 6000l 36m Sentry. Spot rate 60ac/hour. Average work rate including filling and travelling 25ac/hour. They are on tick over when filling and spraying so it’s only the travelling bit when they rev up.
Our old Bateman averaged 14l/hour from memory I think .......

Do you do a lot of travelling?

25ac/hours pretty poor average. I can knock out 200 acres in 8 hours with my fastrac, 24m 2000l tank 150l/ha 10k. I've to wait a bit for water too.

Only 4 fields though.

 

[B R C]

280 ac Four fields all same crop/spray , three pretty close to fill point so a fairly efficient day.

 

[jon9000]

Surely work rates depend on litres to hectare. Field size and distance. Also complexity of the mix