Pull Behind Broadcast Spreader for Seed, Fertilizer, Salt and Ice Melt, 130 lb Hopper Capacity with Universal Hitch and 12 Ft Spread Width

BOTTOM LINE: A basic, relatively easy-to-put together pull behind broadcast spreader (made in the USA!). It easily holds the stated weight of whatever you're putting on your lawn, (though 130lbs will fill the hopper right to the very brim!). My tractor pulled it across flat lawns, some bumpy spots and a few low-graded side hills with no problems whatsoever. The fit & finish were very good, although there were a couple of tiny spots where the paint was scuffed. (But this is a fairly inexpensive basic lawn tool, not a pricey hotrod, so a flawless flashy paint job was not high on my priority list.) Speaking of which... some online photos make the frame color sort of look like a metallic copper orange. It's not. It's just plain orange, a little on the reddish side. THOUGHTS: I tried to save money and bought a pull behind broadcast spreader years ago thru Sportsman's Guide. It lasted exactly three uses before falling apart! I got exactly what I paid for. *SIGH* I was a little nervous about buying this Agri-Fab unit as I've read a few bad reviews from owners here and elsewhere. The majority of reviews, however, were positive - plus I still have an Agri-Fab aerating drop spreader that's well over 15yrs old and still holding up. The 45-0463 unit came well packaged in a fairly sturdy box. It was a LOT lighter than I thought it would be. The thing is tightly packed and will take a few minutes to unload. Do yourself a favor and have a large, clutter-free workspace to put this thing together in if you can! Make certain all the listed parts are there first, and read the entire assembly instruction booklet *before* starting. The instructions aren't as detailed as I would've preferred, but I was able to figure it out. (There's also an online video from Agri-Fab, to help make the job easier for those who are less mechanically inclined.) I took my time and was able to tinker it together in less than two hours. A basic socket set will greatly speed the assembly process! Above all: BE PATIENT! A lot of the issues other customers reported would seem to be more from rushing thru things without proper preparation or not following the instructions properly, IMHO. (Like NOT tightening all the hardware until you're instructed to do so!) If something is missing, call Agri-Fab. I had one bolt missing from the vacuum-sealed parts bag. Thankfully I was able to find a suitable replacement in my misc nut & bolts stash. The assembled unit looks pretty nice, hooks up easily and pulled with zero problems. (A hitch pin w/cotter securing pin comes with the spreader.) The adjustable discharge control unit is a very basic "set it & forget it" affair. I found that a setting right around 4 to 5 did a nicet job of spreading the recommended amount of product. I have a little over nine acres and first put down insecticide to keep fleas & ticks off our dog for the summer, then laid down a good coat of weed & feed right around the house to green up a few thin spots and wipe out the encroaching dandelions. Both products spread nicely; both the fine powdery insecticide AND the coarse grainy weed & feed - with no clumping or binding of the gear box, even with a full (heaping) load on the weed & feed. BTW... the gearbox is enclosed in a heavy black plastic housing, but the housing is held together, clamshell style, with three cotter-style pins for quick easy disassembly & cleaning/lubrication. It should also make replacement of any worn gear drive parts a breeze as well. Be aware that the broadcast spinner works whether going forward or backwards (it just changes direction), but that did not present any functionality issues when I did. Also, if you come to a stop and don't close the trap door beneath the hopper, whatever's in there will continue to trickle (or pour, depending on the setting) onto the spinner plate - potentially giving you an unintentionally huge overdose of chemical when you take off again, if you aren't paying attention. And some commonsense advice: rinse off your spreader after *every* use! That'll go a long way towards making it last a lot longer, plus the painted parts won't rust/corrode/deteriorate as quickly. No, this Agri-Fab model 45-05463 isn't the world's greatest spreader but for the price it seems to be a solid bargain. In fact, my only real gripe is that the accessories that Agri-Fab sells for this unit, (hopper cover, grate kit & deflector shield), should've been included with it. Oh well. One last thing: the unit is light enough to lift and hang up out of the way on a nail or hook on the wall of your storage shed or garage at the end of the season. Nice.

I purchased this to spread rock salt (dry) on an 800' driveway and it worked well. The unit itself was fairly easy to assemble and went together in less than an hour. The gears are cast aluminum and not lubricated out of the box. I used lithium car chassis grease during assembly and they turned without any binding (I actually lubed all parts where a shaft contacted a bushing to improve movement/rotation). The shell (two pieces) covering the gears is made of plastic and is held together with three clips that are intentionally "removable" in order to keep the gears cleaned and lubed. The tubular steel frame that the wheel/gear assembly attaches to and holds the hopper is pretty strong. The hopper itself is made of very durable plastic. I placed 100 pounds of rock salt (the kind purchased at Home Depot or Lowes) and the unit held perfectly while spreading (pulled SLOWELY behind an ATV). If assembled/adjusted per instructions, the drop chute handle works well spreading salt at a position between 5 and 6. The agitator in the hopper is really just a large retaining pin that rotates with the vertical shaft, but it seemed to do the job of loosening the salt. Normal bumps on the ground help the salt to settle down the hopper--a couple of times I "tapped" the ATV throttle to jerk the hopper which also helped settle the salt down into the chute. As the hopper became empty (less weight) the drive wheel would slip on the ice--a little back and forth movement cured this. I have not tried sand, but as other reviewers have mentioned the sand must be dry (maybe mixing with salt will help dropping). If maintained this unit should last for years. Good price and easy to use (beats walking up and down spreading by hand). BTW, I tried to find a hard hopper cover, but the company only sold a clear, soft vinyl part. I ordered one, but was disappointed. Even for the $20 price tag it was cheaply made and wouldn't properly fit over the hopper ( I returned it). Unless you can fabricate a clear plexi-glass cover you might just as well put a clear bag over the hopper and secure it with a bungee cord.

I bought this spreader to seed and fertilize 10 acres. 2400 lbs fertilizer and 150 lbs grass seed. It did everything I needed. Was easy enough to assemble and held together well. My pasture is pretty rough but there was no issue with tipping or spilling. I loaded it over 100 lbs at a time with fertilizer and set it on 5 to get a rate of around 300 lbs per acre. The seed was trickier and you will need to experiment with each type of seed. Over all I am pleased with the spreader. I cleaned it after use, two days later, and corrosion was already settling in. There are alignment issues with the shaft the spreader plate is on but the didn’t impact operation. One of the tires got a flat, maybe sand spurs, but maybe not. It would be good if the wheels came off easily. I may “improve” certain things that would make it easier to fix it or just buy a new one when it does. For the price I would buy another one if I needed it.

I found the Assembly instuctions and Componet designations with numbers, letters and figures to be very helpful and easy to follow. I particular like the steel bevel gears that operate so smoothly, They are so much better the gear wheel with holes on my last Agri-Fab spreader. I have recently used it to soread fertilizer and grass seed. Everything worked very well,

We have a 20 acre farm and about 5 acres of it needs to be receded for our small herd of cattle. Looking forward to using this. It seems to be well built. We will be attaching it to our ATV and it seems like it will be super stable. I love that it has a high storage capacity for a big bag of seed. Once assembled it's really not that heavy and easy to move around. It was a little bit complicated to put together. Just take your time, it took about 45 minutes. But once it's together it's super stable and a good value for your money. We didn't have any missing parts. And I think this is going to fit right into our need at the farm perfectly.

Commercial grade gear box doesn't work from factory and missing spring pin. Labels crooked and falling off. If you like putting together an erector set this one is for you. Put it together and after finding out that the gear box didn't work. It would not work on my Kawasaki prairie ATV because the flow handle was to long or to far forward and was hitting the muffler and fenders of the ATV. DON'T recommend this. Just cant believe the poor workmanship and lack of quality control to enable this to spreader to hit the market with all the defects. Spoke with manufacturer customer service and they said they were sending a new gear box replacement and tracking. That was 3 days ago and no tracking or shipping details that was promised. Update 3 days later;;; I fixed the gear by purchasing my own spring pin because I still haven't heard back from the manufacturer. Forgot to mention the drive pin would not line up until I removed the two metal washers per pictures It would not work on my ATV as mentioned above so I hooked it to my mower. I had to get off the mower to engage the flow control and jump on quick while product was draining out the bottom onto the spinner and ground. It flipped over twice going on the side of a 20 degree bank when filled up past halfway with lime. The tires are to narrow for this application and to high of a center of gravity. The hitch pin used in the hopper to hod the spacers and spin at the discharge came off on its own. I just can't make this up. It is a unreal and disappointing experience. I'm taking it apart and sending it back which will be a good experience. Sorry for the negativity but there is nothing positive to say about this spreader. Use it on flat ground and hope for the best. Good luck.

I bought this after a neighbor recommended it for keeping my long driveway and garden paths in shape now that I’m retired. Hooking it to my lawn tractor took more fiddling than I expected, and I had to check the connection twice before heading out. On a Saturday morning, I spread fertilizer across the back lawn. The coverage looked uneven, so I made extra passes and used more product than I planned. The 130-pound hopper holds a helpful amount, but a large capacity doesn’t solve inconsistent spreading. I also found the claimed 12-foot width hard to achieve evenly in my yard. It does the basic job, though I had hoped for a less fussy afternoon.

Even bought this after a long debugging session when my brain was fried and my lawn looked patchy. I hitch it to a small riding mower and it pulls fine, even on a slight slope. The hopper holds more than my old spreader so i finish the front and back in one go, which is nice on hot days. I tossed in fertilizer and the spread pattern looked pretty even. The downside. The flow control lever feels a bit stiff and plasticky. With gloves on it’s awkward to adjust on the move, so I ended up stopping more than I wanted. For salt on the driveway it works well though, saved me a reallly sore shoulder from using a walk-behind.

Molto ben fatto .. solido e capiente...

I just ordered this and used it yesterday. Assembly took about 45 min and the directions were straight forward. Like others have said don't tighten everything until its all together as it makes alignment of parts easier. I loaded it with 100lbs of granular fertilizer at once and had no issues. I kept the spread rate a little light and covered everything twice in different directions for an even spread. Like all broadcast spreaders it favours one side the way the product hits the spreader wheel. In all I covered a out 2 1/2 acres and had no problems at all. I didn't have any of the negative issues that so many other reviews list. No wheel skidding, tipping, missing parts, difficult assembly, etc. I was extremely impressed with the performance and would highly recommend this product.

Equipment itself is excellent quality. Only disappointment was 10 mins after it was delivered I had an email from Amazon offering the same item at more or less 50% less than I’d just paid

Hallo zusammen, heute habe ich meine Wiesen eingesät bzw. nachgesät. hat wunderbar geklappt. Auch der Zusammenbau war kinderleicht. Beschreibung absolut ok.

Funciona a la perfección y esparce muy bien el producto. No es muy robusto, pero mientras no se le “sobrecargue” y se le dé el mantenimiento adecuado te servirá mucho para jardines muy grandes. Una cancha de futbol sin problemas. Buena compra.