Custom-Built Deere Sprayer Kid’s Bed

Custom-Built Deere Sprayer Kid’s Bed Tim Seifert built a John Deere sprayer bed for his grandson, Harrison. “We made it a model 322 22H,” Tim said, explaining that the model represents Harrison’s birthday. Before the sprayer came a John Deere tractor bed for Tim’s grandson, Hudson. Next, it was Harrison’s turn. “When he turned two, my daughter-in-law Cathryn and son Wes wanted me to make Harrison a bed.” When asked if he wanted a tractor bed, he said, “No.” However, when Tim broached the idea of a John Deere sprayer bed, he got two thumbs up. The reason for this soon became clear.  “Cathryn said he likes levers and to pull stuff and turn a steering wheel. At that point, I had to start thinking about how to incorporate it.” Thinking about all those gauges, Tim said, “I was lucky enough to find some old Kubota junk parts and started cutting some loose, the steering wheel, ignition switch, and dash out of it. I got a couple of other levers he could turn off and down. I used any kind of gizmos I could find,” Tim added, noting that Sievers in Auburn helped him out with the junk Kubota. Next, he found some levers that represented the 3-pt. and one like the gear shift. Harrison was most enthralled with the levers he thought would operate the boom. “He wants to move levers all around,” Tim added. This was a winter project that Tim and his wife, Roxie, started in March. “I put the controls in, then found some wire spools to use for the wheels and cut the spools apart,” Tim says. “I used the ends for the wheels and painted them. Then I got puck lights in different styles.” These were perfect because he said, “You can push, and they get bright and dim, so it’s like a night light for him. I got them after talking to a friend. He also had these GPS globes that they don’t use anymore. He had one that someone had destroyed. I put it on top to make it look like it had GPS.” After adding decals to the wood base, Tim created his own radiator, painting it black and then adding Harrison’s name. The final icing on the cake was the muffler. “I got PVC pipe and an elbow to make a muffler up the side.” When he created the sprayer bed, Tim didn’t have any plans.  “The more I worked on it, the more ideas came to mind. I had a picture of a John Deere sprayer I was trying to mock up. The challenge, in the end, was to get it in the room. It ended up being 80 in. long and 55 in. wide. It’s a full-size bed, basically. On the end, I made bookshelves to put things in.” What made it all worthwhile for Tim was when Wes sent him a picture of Harrison falling asleep on the very first night in the bed, with his hand on the steering wheel. “He wanted to keep spraying all night long,” Tim said. This was a joint effort between Tim and Roxie. She helped with painting and ideas. “She was the brains of it,” Tim said. “I had no plans; the only thing I had was the dimensions of the bed. I just used bits and pieces, plywood, wire spools and found pieces in a junkyard to make it all work.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tim Seifert (rtsfarms@royell.org).

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