I have had the Frontier MS1105G manure spreader for about two years now. It cost me just under $2800 new. It is ground-driven and has a plastic-lined bottom with galvanized side walls. Its been stored outside about 25% of the time, and I see no signs of rust or weathering.
The reason I got the ground-driven spreader is that I use the same tractor to load and spread, so there is a lot of connect/disconnect activity when spreading, so I didn't want to have to mess with the PTO each time. I bought a Flexpoint 3PH receiver attachment (
http://www.summitfab.com), and use a hitch without the ball to connect to the spreader. This allows me to raise & lower the 3PT hitch in order to make connecting to a loaded spreader much faster & easier.
When we first used it I realized that a spring that keeps a set of gears meshed was not working right. It turned out to be broken, so the JD dealer shipped me a replacement spring (no cost) and I replaced it pretty easily. No problems since then. I do try to grease it up and oil the chains before each heavy use. We compost the manure and spread seasonally, rather than on a daily or weekly basis.
I don't think I'd want one much bigger since we want to be able to move it around the barn by hand when necessary. Ours is 36" wide inside, but they sell one that is 48" wide. Still, when spreading it seems like I'd rather have one 10 times its size - just to reduce the number of trips to and from the manure compost pile. It has done us very well so far.
Here are the specs:
Inside box dimensions: 36"x97"
Overall dimensions: 58"x13'4"
Diameter of Beater: 17.5"
Weight w/ tires: 790 lbs
Capacity - old rating: 50 bushels
Capacity - struck level: 35 cubic feet
Tongue weight loaded: 422 lbs
Tire size: 7.60 x 15