Back in the beginning of the year, John Deere announced the availability of new lightweight carbon fiber booms that are designed to help minimize crop and soil impact. While the new carbon fiber sprayer booms offer many benefits just based on their construction and design, operators should consider best practices to get the most out of them when working in the field.
Below are some helpful tips producers should consider as they adjust their sprayer booms for 4 series sprayers.
Before Getting Started
Before you start any procedure, you should first read up on safety information, understand safety signals, and familiarize yourself with the operator’s manual. Once this has been done, you will want to gather one 24-mm crow’s foot wrench and a torque wrench that fits it. You will also want a fish scale, a measuring device, two 30-mm wrenches, and two 24-mm wrenches.
As you prep to take the field, it should be noted that the carbon fiber boom is designed to have a slight curvature in the inner and outer sections. The breakaway section should not follow the upward curvature of the inner boom.
The carbon fiber booms have the following components (these are important to know ahead of making adjustments):
- Inner boom
- Outer 1 boom
- Outer 2 boom (30-meter models)
- Breakaway
- T1 rope
- T2 rope
- T3 rope
- T6 rope
- T7 rope
Adjusting the Sprayer Boom
To get started, you should slightly fold up the outer wing. This will loosen the tension on the T6 and T7 link. Next, undo the jam nuts on the T3 link using the 24-mm wrenches. Turn the turnbuckle until you hit 55 Nm. The torque tool will click when tightened at the correct torque. Next, retighten the jam nuts and fully unfold the boom.
If your outer wing is not roughly parallel to the ground, it may be necessary to add or remove shims.
To do this, you should first fold in the outer wing and then loosen the inner wing stops using your 30-mm wrenches. Then, add or remove shims as needed and retighten the stops before unfolding the boom. The boom should be slightly below parallel to allow the T6 and T7 rope to raise the boom to parallel when tensioned.
Next, you should find the center of the T7 rope by measuring the distance between the anchor point and the outer fold cylinder (mark the center point). Anchor the fish scale to the center point of the rope and pull down until it displaces 25 mm. Then, adjust the clevis att he inner-wing compression post as needed.
After all is said and done, check to see if the boom is now parallel to the ground. If not, go back through and repeat the necessary steps until desired results are achieved.
John Deere has released a video on this process as well, which can be viewed below:
If you have any questions on John Deere sprayers or sprayer booms, contact your local John Deere dealer for more information.
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