rusted fertilizer spreader

[Mark Connaughton]

Hello again.

Lesson learned! Don't buy cheap metal fertilizer spreader unless you're going to handwash it every time you use it. Had to spread a lot of lime this year in granular form and this together with ordinary fertilizer and wet conditions and laziness has resulted in lots of rust damage. To add to the problem, the second half of the pto shaft wont release -quick release button apparently seized and one of the arms of the spinner has snapped. I started to dismantle and clean all rust. Two gallons of WD 40 used already -hardware store thinks I'm drinking the stuff! How do I get the centre unit off to replace the broken spinner? All help gratefully acknowledged. Incidentally, its Italian - Eurospin 500; had one of their cars in early 80s -great engine -body disintegrated before my eyes.

Many thanks.

Mark Connaughton

 

[schmism]

theres a saying that goes something like an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

(or something along those lines)

 

[sixdogs]

Buy a new spreader and forget trying to clean it. It's a cheap lesson in life. Save the PTO shaft in case you bend one on the next unit.
I blow mine dry after each use, then wash, blow dry and spray with a diesel fuel/oil mix within minutes of use and even after all that I can see some problems starting. That's just the way these things are.

 

[WTA]

That's what I do on all my equipment too. Especially the spreader and my haybine. I hose it off after each use then spray down all the moving or unpainted parts with diesel fuel and oil mixed. I usually mix in ATF though because it's cheaper. The cheapest walmart stuff I can get.

 

[lawn_king]

I wash down my spreader after use and coat the entire unit with fluid film.

 

[Todd_C]

Last Fall, I saw a rusted PTO spreader at the local trash dump. The paint was in new condition except for the acutal spreader wheel which was rusted and a 2" diameter rust hole in the spreader hopper. I never thought much about it. Fast forward two weeks (Father's turn to take trash) when I returned home from work to see the spreader from the landfill setting in front of his garage. My father is retired and he loves to work with metal. He had several pieces of galvanized sheets of metal and he formed it to the bottom contour of the spreader. He secured the new metal and he made a new spreader wheel out of an old steel saw blade. He had about 10 hours in the repair. He repainted the unit and he has some left over bedliner coating that he coated on the inside of the spreader. The darned things works great and it was free other than his labor.

 

[Mark Connaughton]

Todd_C. - I can see where the hours of labour come from. In my case, its such a waste as it is simply undoing the effect of my neglect in the first place and unlike your father I didn't get my spreader in the dump.

 

[Rara Avis]

Hello again.

Lesson learned! Don't buy cheap metal fertilizer spreader unless you're going to handwash it every time you use it. Had to spread a lot of lime this year in granular form and this together with ordinary fertilizer and wet conditions and laziness has resulted in lots of rust damage. To add to the problem, the second half of the pto shaft wont release -quick release button apparently seized and one of the arms of the spinner has snapped. I started to dismantle and clean all rust. Two gallons of WD 40 used already -hardware store thinks I'm drinking the stuff! How do I get the centre unit off to replace the broken spinner? All help gratefully acknowledged. Incidentally, its Italian - Eurospin 500; had one of their cars in early 80s -great engine -body disintegrated before my eyes.

Many thanks.

Mark Connaughton

Most LIME suppliers will RENT you a unit to dispense LARGE quantities of lime...CHEAP at half the price...and no clean up...

 

[Timbow]

After 9 years my fertilizer spreader rusted through in the bottom of the hopper. Short on time, I duct taped over the hole. The following year I reapplied the duct tape. I looked at new spreaders and did not want to fork over $500 and since I retired now have extra time so I removed the hopper from the spreader and am in the process of welding a new bottom onto the spreader. I was thinking of painting the spreader with a bed liner type of paint. What are your thoughts on the various do-it yourself bed liner products on the market?

 

[kebo]

One of the guys in my club works for the USFS and they had an old spreader they had let get rusted up and were gonna scrap it. He got it and took it down to the hunt club. The rust had eaten through a lot of the round plate that the four blades (that throw out the seed) were bolted to. I took it home and was able to repair it. The agitator was all froze up so I couldn't get it off to disassemble and get the round plate off. The two plates that adjust the seed rate were also froze up.

I wound up having to take a hacksaw and cut the vertical shaft from the gearbox, just below where it goes up into the cone of the hopper. I was able to get everything apart then and replace the round plate with a piece of 1/4" thick aluminum of the same diameter. Got it all back together, but I did have to weld the gear box shaft back together. It works great now. We had to buy a new PTO shaft for it (USFS kept the original one) but it was still a good deal for us. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any pictures of that refurb. job.

I have instructed all those guys at the cabin to rinse all the fertilizer off of it after they use it and rub it down really good with diesel fuel or used motor oil. Also, we pour some down in between the two plates that adjust the seed rate to keep them from freezing up.