Today I was at my land to look over my crops and make some plans. Also had bought a new fitting to replace the one that (I thought) was leaking on my FIMCO POS Sprayer. After a few minutes of inspection....I found the problem was just as shown above. THE WHOLE FREAKING TREADED MOLDED INTO THE TANK IS BROKEN. Obviously a defective tank. #$%^&*()#$%^&* that chit really pisses me off. No fix to this chit. I wonder if FIMCO POS will honer their warranty. Gonna call them tommorow. I have not sprayed two tanks out of this sprayer....and did so with both tanks leaking herbicides all over the ground. Pretty discusted right now.
I would not have even tried to fix the sprayer......except that Northern Tool sent me an email saying they were going to be late in shipping my new sprayer. More disappointment. Have I mentioned that I am pissed?......and I am not pretty when I am mad. Grrrrrrrr.
Before I even used this POS sprayer.....I mounted it to this plywood base so that it would protect and stabilize (and fit) the bed of my UTV. What a waste of time. FIMCO....I hope you monitor these sites. YOU SUCK!
Got to my land today and saw the rain total was 4.5" over the last week. Good growing conditions for my clover and rye plots. Wish I could order some in July.
Got the new Master Mfg. 50 Gallon UTV sprayer home yesterday and mostly assembled yesterday afternoon. Today I did some calibrations and did a shakedown with a tank of water. Had to adjust my nozzle pattern a bit......and I am not certain the nozzles spray as uniform of a band as desired. Seems to be heavier at the edges with some lighter areas between. I put down about 12 gallons / acre at 4 MPH....similar to my old POSFIMCO(S). I can use a few different spray widths from about 5 feet to 22 feet depending on nozzles selected and the orientation of same.
I had to weight the pickup hose as it would not completely empty the tank depending on the orientation of the hose. They should have the means to attach that pickup hose in the tank. I found an old deep wall 1/2" socket that I never use.....I was able to friction fit the socket over the hose end.....and it's now weighted down in the tank and it rests in the sump. Now when the tank is empty....only a few OZ remain in the sump. Very Niiice. And the drain is of good construction and easily accessible. Even can be replaced as it's a fitting assembly installed onto the tank. Refreshing. I also like the boom mounting and the self contained skid mount and easy to grasp lifting handles to make loading and unloading a breeze. It's made to go over the tailgate so you can leave your tailgate up when operating. I have the toolbox mounted in my ranger.....so I installed the unit partly on my tailgate to test it out. I wired the sprayer so I can use it in my Ranger as well as my Honda Pioneer......where it will be used most of the time. (I keep the Ranger mostly for "fun"). But could use it if the Deer Flys or heat is an issue. The cab on the Ranger is super nice that way with HVAC and more. The Honda Pioneer is dedicated to food plotting at Deertopia. Now if I can just improve on the spray pattern a bit.
It's hands-down better quality than the POSFLIMCO that did not last two trips into the field. BELOW. I gotta call them to see if they will replace the busted tank. I had even made a decent plywood base to prevent such mayhem. Maybe then I can give it away. It's useless as it is now.
That looks like a nice sprayer Wonder why the center doesn't spray as well as the right side when it looks like it feeds from the left. Any chance a screen is partially blocked. I know probably a dumb question but you never know...
That looks like a nice sprayer Wonder why the center doesn't spray as well as the right side when it looks like it feeds from the left. Any chance a screen is partially blocked. I know probably a dumb question but you never know...
The pics are deceiving. One shows me draining the tank. I think the output from one side to the other is in fact very equal.......what the problem is......is that it has both heavy and thin spots in both of the nozzles. Thus there seems to be some "banding" of the spray amounts on both sides. I may call them tomorrow to see what they say. But I do need to check the filter / screens first.
No sign of the sweet clover? I wonder if it never germinated last year? I also wonder if scarified seed still some endurance to pop this year, or if it's shot after a season?
No sign of the sweet clover? I wonder if it never germinated last year? I also wonder if scarified seed still some endurance to pop this year, or if it's shot after a season?
Yep.....I'm wondering too. Strange stuff. Someone said that I wont see the YSC until next year. ?? (I think that was on the Sweet Clover thread a few days ago).
To follow up on my new sprayer review...........So I decided to take apart one of the boomless nozzles and inspect how it works a bit. Pretty simple design actually. Did a little reading on the spray pattern for these nozzles on Amazon (where they are sold under the Valley label). They are part poly and part brass design.....to prevent wear and provide long service life. Makes sense.
Seems that this company owns a number of related companies that make pressure pumps, nozzles, tanks and more for the Ag industry. Seems to have a solid reputation with their customers. After putzing a bit.....I put some water in the tank and again sprayed. Kinda nice where you can see your results on the blacktop near my home. I still get some irregular pattern out of those tips as shown by the pic above but when I look back where I have traveled across the blacktop....the pattern seems OK. I read where some guy did a little filing to make his tips more uniform.....but that was just one guy out of many other good reports. (you can research "anything" on the inter webs). I don't think I want to putz around with altering spray tips with a file.
Made a call to Master to inquire if anything can easily be done to make the spray pattern a bit more uniform......and the person on the other end of the line told me that is kinda the way they work with broadcast nozzles (big droplets) and when your moving and with field and crop irregularities etc it would be fine. I'm satisfied that it will work as it should at this time.....and the proof will be when applying some herbicides. I do like the features this unit provides. Maybe if it quits raining around here I can put this to work.
One other note......you can see in the picture that you have two nozzle choices with this unit. Change to precision spray tips by rotating the assembly 180 degrees and presto you have the fan type tips. (but reduce the area sprayed to about six feet wide). This may be quite useful where I want to operate my drill after nuking some clover strips. (see blue tips shown below). Three of those precision fan tips provide about a 5 to 6 foot precise pattern (depending on the height of the short boom) and less chance for drift. They also offer a ten foot folding boom with all fan type tips. Other tip sizes and patterns can be purchased to tweak to your needs.
Mowed my yard at Deertopia today. It takes me about an hour to mow the acre size building site and main trails we drive on....using my 76" flail mower. Then I sprayed all my buildings and our outhouse with Talstar. Also broadcast sprayed Talstar throughout that acre building site in an effort to reduce mosquitos, spiders, and deer flies. Had some left so I drove to my deer stands and sprayed the bottom side of those stands to prevent wasps and insect infestations. Time will tell how effective this is. Usually I gotta battle a couple of hives each year. The new Master Brand UTV sprayer passed it's maiden voyage. Appreciate how nicely it works. Fits into my Honda Pioneer like it was made for it.
Then I spent some time rearranging my shed to get the implements situated for easier use on the most used implements. My tiller and stump grinder seldom get used these days......so they are buried a bit deeper in the mix. I got most implements in the shed on rolling dollies of some sort or another.....which makes storage and hooking up allot easier. My drill has a fairly HD baggage truck for a base. With my PAT'S EZ Change lower links and a hydraulic top link......I can change implements quite quickly and easily.
I found that truck at a garage sale.....and it was a professional built cart by Nutting Caster out of Fairbault MN. They made lots of carts for industrial use - even railroad baggage carts back in the day. I think I paid $50 or so for it. Truthfully I do not know the rating on the caster wheels.....but I imagine they could be 1000 lbs each(?). I think my drill empty weighs @ about 1200 lbs. It rolls nice.....but I gotta keep the floor swept.
I am really happy with the upgrades to my machines over time. I made a decision about 7 years ago.....that if I was going to do this food plot gig into my "old age" I was going to own good equipment with a cabbed tractor and HVAC. The drill, sprayer and flail mower are now the most important implements I have...tho I suppose my grapple is not far behind. I've maintained that good quality implements are kinda like money in the bank. May not appreciate real fast.....but they dont go down in value very much either. I really enjoy operating good 'chinery.....and how quickly I can accomplish the work with the right stuff. More time for golf. ;).
Your organization and attention to detail is impressive. Im the anti-foggy. My shops are hodgepodge of stuff leaning against the sides and my idea of calibrating a sprayer is when you run out that’s how much it uses. I could learn much from you!
