Hi, looking for opinions on best tow behind spreaders, would be used for spreading lime, fertilizer, and grass seed. Looking at and old cyclone spreader right now, but have not seen it, would prefer something with real gears, no plastic.
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Fertilizer/seed spreader
- Thread starter jgoodine
- Start date
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Joel,
I had a plastic gear one 15 years ago, lasted about 2 years. I remembered looking for metal gears to replace the plastic ones. There are metal gears that are available, but the cost was more than the spreader was worth.
I purchased an Agri –Fab in 2001 with metal gears, I have never had a problem with the gears. The shaft bushing for the mixer shaft wore out last year. This is hard to keep lubricated and corrosion is an issue when using fertilizers and salts. I use it at least twice per year and go through about 150-200 lbs each use.
Jim
I had a plastic gear one 15 years ago, lasted about 2 years. I remembered looking for metal gears to replace the plastic ones. There are metal gears that are available, but the cost was more than the spreader was worth.
I purchased an Agri –Fab in 2001 with metal gears, I have never had a problem with the gears. The shaft bushing for the mixer shaft wore out last year. This is hard to keep lubricated and corrosion is an issue when using fertilizers and salts. I use it at least twice per year and go through about 150-200 lbs each use.
Jim
sblunier
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- Steve Blunier "Mr. Plow" (Central IL)
http://earthway.com/product/2170t-commercial-tow-broadcast-spreader.ashx
I have had excellent results with my Earthway. Usually use Menards or Farm & Fleet fertlizer, set on 12, and go. 5+ years, ~100#, 3x-4x/year, at 5 mph without a single hick-up!
I have had excellent results with my Earthway. Usually use Menards or Farm & Fleet fertlizer, set on 12, and go. 5+ years, ~100#, 3x-4x/year, at 5 mph without a single hick-up!
I have a Brinley that looks just like the Earthway, have had it for about 4 years now and still holding together. Bought it at a steal from the orange big box - had some parts missing and I have modified the delivery handle some but works great.
I've rented a tow behind Agri-Fab spreader from my local hardware store several times that I've spread fertilizer. The spreader model is never on the bags of fertilizer for spreading rates that I get, but I set the rate low and go over everything twice at 90 degree angles. Takes a while to cover everything twice on my 2+ acres. Never had any problems with the spreaders and I'm sure they go over a LOT more acres than most spreaders.
Little secret SON & I learned about plastic gears 20 yrs ago.... is they are TOUGH if made out of the right material. A glass filled Delrin makes an excellent molded gear that will actually wear out several steel gears in harsh abrasive environments. Even sintered metal which is extremely abrasive, the plastic gear out-lasts the metal gears. Plus they don't corrode like a metal part would. Corrosion will catch up with most metal parts on spreaders, even stainless steel parts.
Little secret SON & I learned about plastic gears 20 yrs ago.... is they are TOUGH if made out of the right material. A glass filled Delrin makes an excellent molded gear that will actually wear out several steel gears in harsh abrasive environments. Even sintered metal which is extremely abrasive, the plastic gear out-lasts the metal gears. Plus they don't corrode like a metal part would. Corrosion will catch up with most metal parts on spreaders, even stainless steel parts.
kide
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- Gerry Ide
Dennis: Ref the plastic gears - I hope so... I just replaced the wheels and mating overrunning sprag gears on my 42" Agri-Fab sweeper. The built in gears in the rim of the wheels are now plastic, the originals were what looked like diecast aluminum. I'll throw in a big + for Agri-Fab, their online site worked good, the prices for parts weren't too steep and the shipping from Rantoul Illinois was quick. Rebuilt the 6 year old sweeper for about a third of a new one.. I did figure out that sweeping mulched leaves, while it saves a lot of time over unmulched is hard on a sweeper if you overload it to the point of needing two men and a boy to dump it..
I'm sure this spreader is full of plastic like everything else in this day and time but it works OK. I know it's the wrong color for this forum but I had just missed a Cub Cadet spreader on CL and found this one when I was in need. Plus I don't mind JD things as long as they remain behind my cubs.
This is a pic from 2012. I just finished spreading 320 lbs of lime on half of the garden which is something we have to have here in the Carolinas. I plan to do the other half soon after I get the mulched leaves applied then turn in all in/under.
This is a pic from 2012. I just finished spreading 320 lbs of lime on half of the garden which is something we have to have here in the Carolinas. I plan to do the other half soon after I get the mulched leaves applied then turn in all in/under.
GERRY - My old Parker sweeper had cast iron internal gear teeth on the front wheels, and sintered teeth on the little drive pinions. I took the wheels off every year or two and greased them. In order to get the sweeper to sweep leaves I had to put some weight on the drive wheels. A piece of 3 inch channel iron with a 100+pound steel block improved it's performance tremendously.
It finally suffered terminal problems, the thin tubing that made up the rear frame to hold up the basket and casters broke in two. Too thin to weld, too complex to replace with something home-made. Still had the original brushes, drive wheels, etc.
It really did a nice job on sweeping grass clippings & leaves, but it was a L-O-T of work sweeping leaves. One fall, year or two after we moved here SON & I swept leaves SIX weekends in a row in the fall. He pulled the sweeper w/129, I pulled the cart w/72. Three sweeper's full made one cart full, Some places SON would have the sweeper full in 40-50 feet. SON spent a LOT of time waiting on his Dad to unload. If we didn't mulch the leaves the sweeper filled up in less than 20 feet some places.
Next time I get to Rantoul, IL for Half Century of Progress, I'll have to look for Agri-Fab's plant.
The glass filled Delrin gear that is the main spur gear that drives an RC-10-GT Associated R/C race truck runs against the either sintered pinion gear on the clutch bell, or a hardened cut gear welded to the clutch bell. After 8 or 9 years of racing, we were still using the plastic gear that came with the kit. The clutch bell over-heated once the first day or so we raced it and melted two gear teeth a little, but it was still good to race with. Associated made two different tooth count gears, 70 & 72 IIRC, we did buy the other size to make gearing changes, but always used the stock gear that came with the kit when needing that range of gears. We had clutch bells for that truck from 12 teeth to 18 teeth.
It finally suffered terminal problems, the thin tubing that made up the rear frame to hold up the basket and casters broke in two. Too thin to weld, too complex to replace with something home-made. Still had the original brushes, drive wheels, etc.
It really did a nice job on sweeping grass clippings & leaves, but it was a L-O-T of work sweeping leaves. One fall, year or two after we moved here SON & I swept leaves SIX weekends in a row in the fall. He pulled the sweeper w/129, I pulled the cart w/72. Three sweeper's full made one cart full, Some places SON would have the sweeper full in 40-50 feet. SON spent a LOT of time waiting on his Dad to unload. If we didn't mulch the leaves the sweeper filled up in less than 20 feet some places.
Next time I get to Rantoul, IL for Half Century of Progress, I'll have to look for Agri-Fab's plant.
The glass filled Delrin gear that is the main spur gear that drives an RC-10-GT Associated R/C race truck runs against the either sintered pinion gear on the clutch bell, or a hardened cut gear welded to the clutch bell. After 8 or 9 years of racing, we were still using the plastic gear that came with the kit. The clutch bell over-heated once the first day or so we raced it and melted two gear teeth a little, but it was still good to race with. Associated made two different tooth count gears, 70 & 72 IIRC, we did buy the other size to make gearing changes, but always used the stock gear that came with the kit when needing that range of gears. We had clutch bells for that truck from 12 teeth to 18 teeth.
Speaking of spreaders, on February 28, 2010 Charlie posted several pics of a mounted spreader made by Adam Briar...these can be viewed from the vault (Feb 27, 2010). Maybe someone would be willing to repost them here...I've long thought Adam's was a VERY cool setup. He mentioned in a later post a gearbox and motor from a 19.2 volt cordless drill was wired to the tractor so it could be switched on to run the spreader.
Steve S., thanks for the heads up on Adam's Fertilizer/Salt Spreader. Here's a link:
Adam's Fertilizer/Salt Spreader
Adam's Fertilizer/Salt Spreader
