It's a Good Ol' Boy!

Last summer, we were blessed with finding a highboy sprayer from a neighbor that we were able to purchase.  It was in pretty rough condition and in bad need of attention, but with the window of time for spraying being limited, they did what they had to do to get the thing to work through the season.  (Believe me, it took a lot of patience... both on the part of the frustrated farmers and the frustrated farmers' wives!)  They eventually got the crop sprayed and was able to put the highboy away for the season, but during some of the down time of late Fall and Winter, Josh and Loren were able to do some work on it here and there, and little by little they got it working smoothly.  Here's the process:

Here are a few of the best "before" pictures I have.  For those of you who don't know, a highboy is a specific kind of sprayer that has thin tires and tall "arms" that raise the spraying nozzles above the corn so a farmer can spray tall corn without running over it or knocking it down.  This picture, obviously, was taken last year when the corn was tall and Josh was in the middle of spraying season.

Telling by the date on the picture, Josh started overhauling it in December.  Notice the rear tires and the tank are off.  (Look back at the picture above and you'll notice there is a white tank towards the back of the sprayer.)  Also notice that the sprayer booms are gone, as well as all the hoses (plumbing) that carry the chemicals to the booms.

The first order of business was to move the booms from the rear to the front.  Its really up to the farmer's preference whether the booms are in the front or in the back.  And since Josh preferred the front, claiming that its easier to maneuver and keep an eye on making sure every nozzle is working, up to the front they went!  Also, this model of highboy is made by a company called Hagie; they are known for sprayers with front booms (their motto is "Up Front"), so Josh restored it to its original way.

And yet another before....

And another...

And finally the last one.  Looks pretty tough, doesn't it?
(You may be thinking that its a little much with the "before" pictures, but since the primary purpose of this blog is preserve our memories, I wanted to get in all the shots!)

After moving the booms and a little prep work, it was time for a paint job!

Looks nice, doesn't it?  Notice the date; our December had such above average temperature that Josh was able to paint it in the middle of winter!  We won't see that again.... or will we?!

Still a lot of work to go though...

Jump ahead five months....

Josh and Loren did quite a bit of work on this sprayer.  Besides the paint job, they were able to find a stainless steel tank to replace the dilapidated one.  They also added rear tire weights (unused ones from our small chore tractor) and re-plumbed the entire outfit with new hoses, fittings and nozzles.  Josh also redid the entire electrical system and created a new control board from a recycled monitor box from an old planter.  Lastly, they replaced the seat: their skid steer never did have the correct fitting seat in it.  So they ordered a new seat (which went in the skid steer) and took that old seat and put it on the highboy (which, with a little modification, worked perfectly!)  There are many, many odd and ends jobs they did, too many to mention here, but if you want more detail you can always ask them!

Here's  Josh working on the plumbing.  He and Loren had to figure up all the fittings to run the hoses from the tank to each of the 13 drop nozzles in the front.

After all the parts were painted, replaced and/or modified, it was time for a wash!  You know kids... they were all about the water running down the driveway and didn't miss a minute of the action!  Here's Josh washing out the rust and chemical residue from the tank.  (And yes, I was very protective of not letting the kids touch the possibly chemical-tainted water!)

See the icky water running out of the drain hole?  We wash that out first so it doesn't run through the hoses and sprayer mechanisms when its time to do the actual spraying.

It took a while...

...and made a nice little stream for the kids to observe and jump over.  (Look at Sarah, she's mid-air!)  They tried their hardest to get me to let them play in it, but like I said... it could have been tainted.

After all is done, its time for a ride!  Ladies first!

Sarah's long face is because when she sat in the seat, she got her bottom wet from the water left in the seat from the wash.  She did have fun, though!

And then Caleb...

...who wasted absolutely no time in taking over!  He's a pretty good driver for only a little lad of 5!  He took a little bit of a longer ride and I think he drove the whole time.  In about 15 years (or less), he'll be the one using it in the field!

With some time, effort and deep thought, we now have a sprayer that will hopefully last us many, many years!  And if we don't use it, we are parade ready!  This sprayer is a 1960 and, being overhauled, is just the thing that Iowa parades like!  SO.... keep an eye out for us in a parade near you!