Trailed sprayer , what's good , what's bad

[Surgery]

Can anyone help out with their thoughts , had enough of our mounted sprayer due to the amount of water it holds , not enough , and the time spent putting it on off etc.

What would be the trailed sprayer to go for. 24m rate flow etc with a budget of 10-12
grand and what should we look for if there is some about , weak points etc

 

[TomB]

Chafer.

All the usual sprayer bits to look at, straight booms, rust/welding etc. Run a e4000 and its great. It was £16000 2 years ago. Some thing a bit smaller might suit you and be on budget. Personally I would stick with uk made makes as they share common off the shelf parts. Some of the European sprayers will be main dealer only parts.

 

[SRRC]

Have a look here http://ky-4779-bp.shopfactory.com/contents/en-uk/d399.html
He's got some very good refurbished trailed units

 

[RAF]

Gem multi trak 2600 , cracking sprayer

 

[Rob Holmes]

Avoid tracking draw bars like the plague!

 

[Roy Stokes]

Forum member Steevo has, or did have a very nice Bargam Fox in your budget and not too far away

 

[Gone Shooting]

Farmgem Diamond 3000 - great sprayer,quick to unhitch etc but on my banks it will boss the tractor around esp when turning - jacknife when damp !! Old sprayer was an old Gem (blue tank red booms) and was as RAF posts a cracking sprayer. When I change will prob go front and rear mounted , reduce to 120litres/ha and cover as much ground. If fields are fairly flat and largeish trailed would be fine and cover a big acreage - I can make a right mess trying to reverse uphill into a corner sometimes - 14.9 rowcrops and a heavier tractor would deff help (mf 6180 at present).

 

[Albert]

@Rob Holmes out of interest what troubles have you had with tracking drawbars?

 

[RAF]

@Rob Holmes why ??

 

[Rob Holmes]

I can only comment on the experiences with our 2001 Knight,

• Firstly, it doesn't track the tractor wheeling as well as a steering axle would
• When loaded or empty, it travels 'ok' on the road, but when part full it fishtails like crazy... Even dangerously
• The friction plates which reduce sway need tightening regularly and I've found they really need changing every year
• I've had the cross shaft, which the tractor lower links attach to, break, luckily it was in the field, this is also a common problem with them

 

[yorkie]

gem+knight 3000lt,24 m,when full concertina when cornering in sharp corners and reversing,pushed tractor in corners and on hills when wet,in spuds when wet would jump a row if one side took more pulling,after a while you couldn't get transport pin in gem when full

 

[Badshot]

Berthoud racer with tracking drawbar is a good sprayer, dpa pump was more accurate than any rate controller, basic but very capable sprayer. The only downside was the induction hopper didn't seem to suck stuff in very well and you had to get it all in before the sprayer was half full.

 

[Steevo]

Forum member Steevo has, or did have a very nice Bargam Fox in your budget and not too far away

Thank you for the kind comments.

Sprayer is indeed still for sale - link to Classifieds here. http://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/3000l-24m-bargam-fox-sprayer.21534/

Still in regular use until new machine arrives, welcome to see it working. Been very pleased with it and far from expensive to run.

I can only comment on the experiences with our 2001 Knight,

• Firstly, it doesn't track the tractor wheeling as well as a steering axle would
• When loaded or empty, it travels 'ok' on the road, but when part full it fishtails like crazy... Even dangerously
• The friction plates which reduce sway need tightening regularly and I've found they really need changing every year
• I've had the cross shaft, which the tractor lower links attach to, break, luckily it was in the field, this is also a common problem with them

I'll admit tracking drawbars aren't as good as steering axles...but there's less to go wrong, and they are a lot cheaper to buy in the first place. On a new sprayer upgrading to a steering axle model is the best part of £10k.

Never found fishtailing to be a problem, nor the friction plates. Ours have the same once since new, and they just get tightened a little more every year or so when you can feel the slop.

 

[Roy Stokes]

Yes, extremely tidy and bang on budget, what more could anyone want or expect!

 

[Robigus]

Chafer or maybe Knight

 

[Surgery]

I can only comment on the experiences with our 2001 Knight,

• Firstly, it doesn't track the tractor wheeling as well as a steering axle would
• When loaded or empty, it travels 'ok' on the road, but when part full it fishtails like crazy... Even dangerously
• The friction plates which reduce sway need tightening regularly and I've found they really need changing every year
• I've had the cross shaft, which the tractor lower links attach to, break, luckily it was in the field, this is also a common problem with them

so I take that means a knight sprayer is off the list , what would you have next , seems so many makes about now. likes the look of an oldish chaffer or landquip due to the boom strength , got a berthold at the moment , good sprayer but the booms wear out on them

 

[bigg6480]

We have a 2002 knight eu that has been spot on. It has rams on the tracking drawbar so it good you can lock it on the road. If you don't turn sharp it tracs very nicely. Nice sweping turns. It is starting to get old now but it has done a lot of work over 12000ac a year. But will be here are a year or 2 yet. We will chance it for another knight. Knight eu's are about for your money.

 

[jh.]

I use a 1999 case/gem ts3000 with tracking drawbar. I haven't seen anything newer that I think would suit us better. I spray some fairly steep fields and I'm convinced a steering axle with hook drawbar would have been on its ribs by now. There are a few places I switch the drawbar off and accept a bit more damage . I just think a headstock to lower arms will push down on one side and lift the other but with more stability than the hook.

A heavier tractor definitely helps. Pushing the sprayer up a hill side can drag the lighter tractors backend downhill . I also run about 500kg on the nose as it stops the front end running wide on turns.

Not the easiest thing to reverse up a tramline and slower in field corners but I wouldn't want to go back to a mounted now. 2 minutes and its kicked off and I'm able to do other jobs

 

[Fergieman]

I use a 1999 case/gem ts3000 with tracking drawbar. I haven't seen anything newer that I think would suit us better. I spray some fairly steep fields and I'm convinced a steering axle with hook drawbar would have been on its ribs by now. There are a few places I switch the drawbar off and accept a bit more damage . I just think a headstock to lower arms will push down on one side and lift the other but with more stability than the hook.

A heavier tractor definitely helps. Pushing the sprayer up a hill side can drag the lighter tractors backend downhill . I also run about 500kg on the nose as it stops the front end running wide on turns.

Not the easiest thing to reverse up a tramline and slower in field corners but I wouldn't want to go back to a mounted now. 2 minutes and its kicked off and I'm able to do other jobs

Same here but with a Case/Gem TS2600. Havn't seen much newer with as low a centre of gravity for the hills.

 

[Daniel]

I can only comment on the experiences with our 2001 Knight,

• Firstly, it doesn't track the tractor wheeling as well as a steering axle would
• When loaded or empty, it travels 'ok' on the road, but when part full it fishtails like crazy... Even dangerously
• The friction plates which reduce sway need tightening regularly and I've found they really need changing every year
• I've had the cross shaft, which the tractor lower links attach to, break, luckily it was in the field, this is also a common problem with them

Has your knight got a passive tracking drawbar, I.e. It's a closed circuit system that follows the tractor regardless? We had that on our old one. The JD we have now uses constant pumping from a spool to pressurise the steering rams according to a sensor position in relation to the tractor. It means by flicking a switch you can lock the sprayer straight for transport, and with practice you can steer the sprayer on another toggle switch manually when backing into corners etc.

There have still been plenty of times I wished for that tidy Amazone front and rear mounted setup. But hooking it up would be slow and it's harder to wash out etc etc.