Travels with Terry:Equipment Ideas

Two tasks in one pass
At the North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill., Dan Dinelli, CGCS, and foreman/mechanic Juan Villareal mounted a backpack sprayer to a Series IV Toro greensmower, so biological control chemicals could be applied immediately after mowing a green.

First, they discarded the gasoline tank from above and behind the engine and attached a used gas tank and bracket to the engine. Dinelli and Villareal acquired two battery-operated sprayers – one holding 1.32 gallons and one holding 4 gallons. They mounted one sprayer onto a plastic battery tray, which features a -inch-thick plywood floor for reinforcement. They bolted the tray onto the original gas tank bracket. They mounted an on-off toggle switch, positioned for fingertip control, near the mower handles. Next, they positioned the sprayer hose vertically with clamps and a 1-inch metal L bracket bolted to the frame.

The sprayer nozzle applies chemicals behind the mower’s large drum roller in exactly the same width.

The plastic battery tray cost $16; the 12-volt DC toggle switch cost $9; the Flow Pro sprayer model 417 (1.32 gallon) cost $70; model 421 (4 gallon) cost $130. All the hardware was in stock at the club. It took about three hours to install.

Extend the bed
At the Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury, Minn., equipment manager Chad Braun and Dave Kazmierczak, CGCS, added an extension to the front of a Toro Workman dump body to keep materials from spilling over the sides onto the mechanicals and radiator. Materials used to make the extension were:

• Eight feet of 1 ½-inch-by-2-inch-by--inch steel tubing for the stake pocket mounts;
• 12 feet of 1 ½-inch-by--inch angle iron for the frame (they used steel from an old dump bed frame);
• 67 inches of -inch sheet steel cut 11-inches wide; and
• Four ¼-inch-by-1-inch bolts and locknuts to secure it to the dump box.

Installing the bolts and locknuts to the dump box is optional because it’s already secured by the stake pockets.

The materials cost about $130, and it took three hours to build. GCI