War on Weeds

Weeds are my nemesis. Left unattended, they'll overrun a guy's place. With last year being such a wet summer around Worland, the weeds really showed their ugly face. No more. Part of the problem of tending to them on our little place back home is getting enough chemical on them with the little time we've got. Problem solved. She's yet to be put into action, but our new Binford 2000 spray unit is ready for battle. 

I thought if we had something with some volume, pressure, and reach, then when I'm back home for my 24 hours of leave, Dad and I can really cover some ground. I'm hopeful. 

When the idea came to me last fall I started to keep a watchful eye on some online auction sites. Musser Brothers out of Cody/Billings is always a good resource. This old pickup skid unit, which would've originally had fold-up wings, came to my attention in October just south of Lavian MT. Picked her up for a song. 

So White Horse and I jetted up there during one of our few snow storms this winter. Fun ride. 

Eventually we stuck it in Dave's shop for a little winter project. 

Then we called Warne Chemical out of Rapid City SD and Arron got us all fixed up. 

The Honda GX 200 and centrifugal pump were both new, and the hose and reel we got were slightly used. Warne really did us a good job. 

About the only thing wrong with the tank was a rotted out fitting up front.

We just took an 1 1/2" rubber expansion plug. 

And made light work of it. 

Then we went to fabbing. I come across a wandering Western Welding Academy grad and put him to work. Dillon proved to be a good hand. Thanks for the help, pard. 

This was a budget project. We used all the old iron off of the unit we could, and the rest we dug out of Ernie's scrap iron pile. 

It was fun to put old brackets to use in new ways. 

Plumbing was the interesting part. Definitely had to plan our work before we worked our plan. 

It really came together nicely, though. 

We did, however, have to change out the 400' of 3/8" hose for 300' of 1/2" hose. Dad warned me that there wouldn't be enough pressure at the end of 400'. To my credit, the pump was sized for it. But in the end, he was right. Shorter length and bigger diameter creates less friction and gives good pressure and volume at the gun. 

Changing the design of what this skid was originally intended for, we welded on some cradle points so we could load and unload it with the farmhand. 

Or our bale bed. 

  I'm pleased with the end product. The engine runs super smooth. The hose reel has an electric wind-up. And the pressure and reach of the spray should make light work of things. 

Bring it. 

It's never too early to be thinking about spring. White Horse will probably not be our truck of choice. But with this unit being self contained, we can carry it around on anything. Spray set ups like this are also desirable around ranches because they can dub as fire fighting units. Whatever cause arises, we're ready. Watch out weeds!