Personally, I'm not a fan. I have not ran one, but I have been a passenger. I think they have some real interesting engineering and started with a clean sheet of paper rather than copying what was on the market, but I think they have one fatal flaw. Spray booms absolutely positively must be on the back of the machine! There is no safe way to apply an insecticide if it's blowing back across your machine.

I see them as a better windrower than a sprayer, but only because of the spray boom issue.

 

Thanks olblue for taking the time to reply to this post. At least someone has replied to my first post.

Your initial response is one that is quite typical when asking the uninitiated about the Nitro front mounted sprayers. The front mount is portrayed by many as a negative for the very reason that you mentioned. The front mounted boom however is a great positive for many aspects of the sprayer.

The first plus is the obvious one which is visibility. With the positioning of the boom at the front you have a complete view of every nozzle to monitor blocks as well as run the boom closer to the target. The steering also means that the boom responds instantly to the change in direction rather than the delay or the initial opposite movement seen with rear mounts. Having the boom at the front and the tank rear mounted means that they are an extremely well balanced machine front to rear, with the ideal 50/50 weight split. This when coupled with their relatively light weight means that they have excellent power to weight ratio as well as good flotation and lighter compaction. Never underestimate the fatigue factor either. These machines a very easy to drive with no twisting to see only half the boom at the best with a rear mount......

You get a better job with the spray being applied in front of the wheels and no wheel tracking in dusty conditions with roundup. The Nitro also has far greater under frame clearance than most rear mounted sprayers at 72 inch. When you think how this compares with the others and the ideal sprayer height of 20 inch there is a long way for the spray to get up to get on the machine.

Top quality paint and fittings also means that any chemical that gets on the machine (and lets face it ALL sprayers get chemical on them regardless of front or rear mount ) is not an issue. Two pack epoxy paint and all 316 stainless hardware means that they will outlast most machines on the market. We have some that are still running well with 12,000 + hours on the clock.

The cab is a pressurized John Deere 9000 series header cab and has charcoal filter as standard with air intakes at the top of the cab along way from the boom. There is no issue with chemical in the cab.

The most interesting fact with the nitro is that in Western Aust there has not yet been a customer who has bought a Nitro, who has then traded onto a rear mounted SP after owning a Nitro, they all stay in the nitro for the above mentioned reasons. This is generally a good indication that they are a good machine.

Jono

 

I certainly won't argue with the points you make about front mount booms.
I wish all sprayers (all farm equipment for that matter) had stainless bolts. I'm tired of touching up zinc plated bolts that are rusting. I don't find the JD paint too bad. It is better on the plastic than on the metal, but it seems to stand up well to getting product spilled on it.
I like the weight distribution of the Nitro. I know our Deere is light on the front end and that's why hills are an issue with them. Putting a weight bracket is a crutch and speaks to a flaw in the design. I know the 4720 weighs more on the front axle than the 00/10, but I can't remember how much off hand.
The Nitro appears to be a well constructed machine. Just look at them and you can tell there has been some genuine thought put into the design.
My only issue with the Nitro is the chemical coming back across the machine. I'm uncomfortable with the thought of changing a tire after spraying Lorsban or some other insecticide with a front mounted boom. Frankly, I'm uncomfortable changing between the small and large tires on our sprayer just because I know there is residue on them from when I travel on the headlands.

Regardless of sprayer configuration, I respect the products that we use on our crops. There certainly isn't an issue to the end consumer, but when the product is in it's concentrated form, that's when it's most hazardous.

+1 for an excellent flame free discussion on sprayers.

 

Just thought that i would attempt to post some pics of Nitro Swathing.

Both Macdon and Honeybee.

Honeybee swathing Canola and the Macdon swathing lentils. The lentils were crap and they were running two 30' swaths into one.

Jono

 

Try some more

Right on the deck here - plenty of dirt over the cutter bar

Canola rows

Jono

 

We used to have hagies but the booms are junk. We have had Nitros for quite some time and they are a good sprayer. Another good feature about them is the nozzles are behind the boom, so if you hit something, it will hit the metal instead of breaking the nozzle. We also use them for detasseling and they work well.

 

We've got a couple Nitro's in our area and I think they look like a very well built machine with alot of nice features but I think they could use a better suspension on the boom.

 

Quote:
the Miller Nitro as one of the top two sellers in our market.


Gold Acres and Nitro are the most popular arnt they?

I often see both in the Monthly Farm trader (Farms and Farm Machinary) they are everywere.

 

Being able to spray AND swath with it makes it worth its own weight in gold as far as im concerned!

 

Brickwalker,

over here would be John Deere and Nitro 1 and 2. Case 3 and Rogator 4 with goldacres around 5.

Jono

 

Hello to all.

I am new to these forums so please be gentle. ha ha

I was wondering what trouble people have had with their Nitro machines. What had prematurely worn out or failed in your experience.

Now please i don't want to hear about how the bloke next doors friend had heaps of trouble and reckon their a pile of junk etc but i would love to hear genuine problems that people have encountered with their machines.

Thanks for your time and i look forward to participating in a flame free thread.

Cheers

Trav.

 

we had a nitro 225 for 1300 hrs. The machine had good power and the visability was nice but the boom had a lot of issues that needed to be addressed. For one thing the boom had no horizontal self leveling to it. the outer boom pivots were always cracking and with the sprayer always running trough the product we had alot of corrision problems with bushings and nuts and bolts and hydraulic fittings. Had a few problems with the radiator mounts too, they were always breaking. The ride was not as nice as some of the others too. The worst part about the whole experience was that there was no dealer network so if we needed parts it would take 3 to 5 days for parts and up to 2 to 3 for a service tech to respond.

 

Millers never made a 225 model - I assume you might have run a 275??

how long ago did you run it?

Jono

 

No comments, Jono?????

Quote: and with the sprayer always running trough the product we had alot of corrision problems with bushings and nuts and bolts and hydraulic fittings. .


Nah, no such thing as the product getting on the sprayer.

Been putting out some liquid fertilizer with rather high winds (10-15 mph). It's blowing all over the sprayer I run with rear mounted boom!!

 

We had the Nitro in 1998 to 2002. It may have been a 275 but I think it was a 225, the early days of NITRO the models were based on horsepower, not for sure that was a long time ago, but anyway. Product on the sprayer is really bad when you are spraying the old PROWL. If you ever ran a front mount boom and a rear mounted boom you know there is no comparison. There is no sprayer imune to getting product on it!

 

If you had it in 1998, I would guess it was a 200. 1998 was the original model year for that series of machines.

As for product on the machine, the rear boom guys running at 5 feet get more on thier machine than my front boom at 30 inches, especially when the wind blows. And you can't climb into a Rogator without wiping the boom with your shirt.

 

Quote: The worst part about the whole experience was that there was no dealer network so if we needed parts it would take 3 to 5 days for parts and up to 2 to 3 for a service tech to respond.

Millers dealer network has improved a lot lately. There are far more dealers now then there were even just a year ago. But I do know what you mean. A few years ago there was almost no tech support.

 

I am looking at a new 4275 or perhaps up to 4315 for a little more jam. I went to the tradeshow in saskatoon last week and checked the miller out. It is a very slick machine, 72" clearence allows the average guy to walk right underneath for inspection or repairs,(hopefully not). The 1600 gallon tank + 120ft. boom option is awesome, 400 acres per fill in pre-seed burndown when time is tight works for me, and you still keep your 50/50 weight distribution. I like that you can swath with it also, my pet peeve on the farm is equipment that is used for 2 weekes, like a swather and then it sits for a long time.

My situation is that I have a $15,000 payment on my swather and am budgeting $20,000 payment on a high clearence sprayer, but what kind of sprayer will that get me. 400 or 750 gallon spra-coupe which will not be fast enough in the spring. I can get into a new miller for the same payment (over 10 years) and get way more sprayer and maximize my 36ft honeybee grainbelt that I use on my combine for 6 days a year.

My 2 cents

 

The real trick with any front mount boom sprayer is to be diligent about washing your machine. I try to do a good job, but I still can't get into the pins and pivot points. You can really see the corrosive effects of Gramaxone (paraquat) moreover than any other chemical that I've seen. I try to coat my boom pins down with anti-seize before every spraying season and that seems to help. I also have a pressure washer on the truck for rinsing the machine, but it seems that a heated pressure washer is key to get all of the chemical off.

 

Realistically what is the turn around time to go from a sprayer to swather or vice-verca, and I'm going to assume there is some type of adapter needed to hook either a macdon or honeybee to it? what will that cost? I am just wondering if it is the kind of thing a guy can switch back and forth in a few hours if I need to?

 

Jono , I assume your a sale's man and therefore I like to ask you.
I 'm shopping around for another sprayer and I was passenger in a nitro 275hp 1600ga 120boom. the cab is nice , lots of power, nice boom upfront but !!
stepladder at back was chemical on
boom was digging in dirt (no self leveling boom) on oneven dirt.
new machine $350000 ??????????? yak
two questions : can I buy direct and when is selfleveling boom a option??

Kurt

 

Yeah he might have a new job by now as he started this thread back in 2007

 

Ran a 2275 for about 300 hrs,had a horrible rough ride and no boom suspension. We had trouble keeping the booms together,broke both outside sections off,broke the main support rod holding the boom in the air 3 times,broke both lift cylinders,severely crack the main arms coming off the machine to the booms. Worked great aslong as there wasnt a single bump in the field.

 

Sounds to me like more of an operator issue than one with the machine

 

My ride was in a machine that hat the raven glide (no wheels) in it Nitro was going 6mph and hit little ditch (slough) both left and right boom hit dirt (boomheight 20 inch) next passes we were going 8 and 10mph with same result and operator let booms down manualy.
This could happen because of the raven system but my 2004 spx would do better without any raven or norac !!! no bs.

Kurt.

 

Kurt, I know exactly what your talking about. The way my sprayer was set up when it came was real good for flat ground, didn't work at all for me. I had to go in and reset sensitivity settings on the boom lift, I also reset the hydraulic speed on the lift. It will handle really ugly rolling hills, drainage runways at about 15 MPH on it's own now, when I'm driving faster through some of these challenging conditions I still have to start a lift manually before the depression.
There's really no excuse why there set up this poorly from the dealers, but I think in my case it is a lack of experience with how everything should work. Set up man will be doing a better job on all the new ones they are selling now, real good guy, just didn't know any better at the time.

 

Saw a nitro at the local dealer a while back.It was in getting new booms put on.Looked like a fairly new machine.I asked why new booms ? Or was it a new machine they were getting set up ? Turns out the owner operator was there and told me that the hooks on the front that hold the sprayer or swather on ,broke off and he ran over the boom while spraying at 30Km/h........ Made a big mess !!!!!
Mal.

 

I know the machine and the operator this machine would have to be at least 4 years old. Any machine that old in our area could have 5K+ hrs on it. The machine was second hand when the current owner got it so you can see how things like this happen.