# The Zero Turn Spray Build



## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

I hate towing things with my zero turn mower. I really don't even like towing with my truck. Who knows why. But with 30k sq feet of sod, I want to be able to do some spraying now, with the eventual move to spraying almost exclusively.

So.......building a spray system for my zero turn mower is in order......


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

The Alpha 1 attempt:

4 nozzle boom on back and tank mount on front. 15 gallon tank, which was fairly inexpensive.


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

Results on the Alpha 1 test were pretty mediocre. The boom in the rear is hard to visualize and deal with the width. Gonna move the boom to the front.


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

Alpha 2 boom:


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

Alpha 2 boom test: much easier to drive and deal with. But the width is still a bit much. 4 nozzles are likely taxing my pump anyways. Will modify to 3 nozzles.


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

Alpha 3 boom....this has 3 nozzles.


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

Alpha 3 boom test:

This is the ticket. The width is manageable, the pump seems to keep up. I basically put a foot between tire marks on opposing passes, and i get a smidge of overlap, which is desirable.


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

Alpha 3 nozzles.....I calced out the mower speed (set on trim, open throttle, full power), and decided to try using XRC1105 nozzles, with the regulator at 50psi. My back yard is 75x125, aka 9375 sq feet. So my expectation was that I would use 9 gallons or so.

Nozzle test: sprayed the back yard with water only. Used about 7.5 gallons. So I'm close, but still need some tweaking. Gonna order some XRC1106s and see what those do. Also, with even the slightest breeze, I do get some misting blowoff. So I may need to think about doing a different nozzle design.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

jmille9936 said:


> Alpha 3 nozzles.....I calced out the mower speed (set on trim, open throttle, full power), and decided to try using XRC1105 nozzles, with the regulator at 50psi. My back yard is 75x125, aka 9375 sq feet. So my expectation was that I would use 9 gallons or so.
> 
> Nozzle test: sprayed the back yard with water only. Used about 7.5 gallons. So I'm close, but still need some tweaking. Gonna order some XRC1106s and see what those do. Also, with even the slightest breeze, I do get some misting blowoff. So I may need to think about doing a different nozzle design.


Go lower pressure too. 50 psi on XRC's is guaranteed to be misting things you don't want misted in front of you. Try the standard turbo teejets or twinjets. I liked the boom mounted in the rear, if you're constantly spraying your front tires, it tends to build up and over-apply in stripes that turn brownish before recovering. You could mount a guide/dummy boom up front to help keep the rig lined up.


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

MasterMech said:


> jmille9936 said:
> 
> 
> > Alpha 3 nozzles.....I calced out the mower speed (set on trim, open throttle, full power), and decided to try using XRC1105 nozzles, with the regulator at 50psi. My back yard is 75x125, aka 9375 sq feet. So my expectation was that I would use 9 gallons or so.
> ...


Thanks for those tips.........The narrow boom is probably easier to manage in the rear, than the wide one, so I may try it again. Very easy swap, as I made some mounts that use HD neodem magnets. I'll try lowering the pressure and going to a higher flow nozzle. With my mower speed, I'll need to go to a 06 or 08 nozzle to achieve 1gal per 1000sqft with 30-40 psi.


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## Thejarrod (Aug 5, 2018)

A rig similar to this is in my long term plans. Thanks for sharing ! 
Did you consider mounting the tank in the rear? 
Does the mower handle poorly with the weight up there?


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

Thejarrod said:


> A rig similar to this is in my long term plans. Thanks for sharing !
> Did you consider mounting the tank in the rear?
> Does the mower handle poorly with the weight up there?


Tank in the rear is a bad call for my mower. I've put the bagger on before, and forgot to add the ballast to the front, and it was a nightmare to drive. 15gallons of water would be about 120lbs, so I think it would be quite tippy.

I can certainly feel the weight on the mower, when added to the front. I have a Toro Time Master 5000, which is a residential grade mower. I'll probably wear the hydros out fast with this rig.


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

Nice setup. I personally like the boom in the front of the machine. Gives you the ability to get into tight areas with ease.


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## ScottieBones (Apr 2, 2020)

jmille9936 said:


> Alpha 3 nozzles.....I calced out the mower speed (set on trim, open throttle, full power), and decided to try using XRC1105 nozzles, with the regulator at 50psi. My back yard is 75x125, aka 9375 sq feet. So my expectation was that I would use 9 gallons or so.
> 
> Nozzle test: sprayed the back yard with water only. Used about 7.5 gallons. So I'm close, but still need some tweaking. Gonna order some XRC1106s and see what those do. Also, with even the slightest breeze, I do get some misting blowoff. So I may need to think about doing a different nozzle design.


What sort of products are you applying? XRCs are good for foliar applied products due to finer droplets which mean more drift. 95% of what i do is soil applied, so I use teejet AIC nozzles (coarse droplets, little drift). The turbo teejet nozzles are supposed to be a good in between all-around option.


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## jmille9936 (May 13, 2020)

ScottieBones said:


> jmille9936 said:
> 
> 
> > Alpha 3 nozzles.....I calced out the mower speed (set on trim, open throttle, full power), and decided to try using XRC1105 nozzles, with the regulator at 50psi. My back yard is 75x125, aka 9375 sq feet. So my expectation was that I would use 9 gallons or so.
> ...


My goal would be to move to mostly spray for everything. With the size of my yard, that's the most economical. BUT, my first spray application will be Celsius and Certentity, as I did not put PreM on my yard this spring, and I'm losing the spot spray battle. I'll probably PreM this fall, thru granular, just because I'm more familiar with that right now.

I've ordered some AICs and Turbo Teejets for the next test.


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## ScottieBones (Apr 2, 2020)

@jmille9936 👍


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