King Kutter spreader; decreasing the “spread”

[leonz]

leonz---
Years back I bought a big (BIG) Vicon spreader, put 2500 lbs of fertilizer in, opened the drop gate wide and started at 540PTO with no feathering in. I think I shot fertilizer to the next county and put a nice coating up against some buildings. Note to self: don't do that again.

Good morning sixdogs,


YEE HAAA, I bet you were shocked when that happened, I sure was the first time I used the vicon spreader pop rented to spread fertilizer.

The huge torque value created by the 540 RPM reduction gearing through the cam arm that wags the pendulum tube is massive and the fertilizer tube increases the velocity of the material being cast out.

When pop rented the towed ground driven Vicon spreader from Agway back in 1968 that I used to spread fertilizer on the big lawn we had at the home place we did not have a truck at the time and I used our new IHC Cub Low Boy to tow the spreader home from town with 6-7 bags of fertilizer in the hopper and I think did this two times in one day to bring the fertilizer to the home place and spread it on the lawn.

The Vicon spreader was a dream to use and I had to be careful not to spread the fertilizer on the road frontage and in the creek when I fertilized the lawn that summer.

Leon

 

[KeithT]

It is the poly hopper. Here is a pic of it on my prior tractor.

 

[leonz]

Kieth, could I pester you to remove the bag and take a picture of both sides of the spreader near the back?

If you have had this problem since the beginning of ownership its either an adjustment issue/missing shield or
a defect of some kind as these machines were designed to prevent this kind of mess that you have to deal with.

Leon

 

[airbiscuit]

Instead of cutting the distributor vanes, why not make some shorter ones out of angle iron as an experiment?

 

[leonz]

Hello Kieth, my other question is this; do you operate the spreader fully elevated
like this when spreading the No. 8 limestone and rock salt?

The pendulum should not be any higher than the centerline of the rear axle.
It will work ok with the spreader near the ground level.

 

[LouNY]

Looking at the picture you have posted and reading through this thread all I could recommend would be to pinch down on the discharge opening, throttle the tractor down to under half throttle or even a bit less. If part of the issue is needing more throttle to climb the slope just spread going downhill.
If using one of the tractors that has a linked throttle disconnect that and set your hand throttle, get that engine speed down around 1200-1400 rpm the spread width should be grater reduced also lowering the spreader closer to the ground should reduce the effective spreading width.

 

[KeithT]

Kieth, could I pester you to remove the bag and take a picture of both sides of the spreader near the back?

If you have had this problem since the beginning of ownership its either an adjustment issue/missing shield or
a defect of some kind as these machines were designed to prevent this kind of mess that you have to deal with.

Leon

 

[KeithT]

Hello Kieth, my other question is this; do you operate the spreader fully elevated
like this when spreading the No. 8 limestone and rock salt?

The pendulum should not be any higher than the centerline of the rear axle.
It will work ok with the spreader near the ground level.

Not fully elevated, but it’s a good idea to go even lower than I normally go

 

[KeithT]

View attachment 842574

Instead of cutting the distributor vanes, why not make some shorter ones out of angle iron as an experiment?

Great idea! I’ll try this

 

[KeithT]

Looking at the picture you have posted and reading through this thread all I could recommend would be to pinch down on the discharge opening, throttle the tractor down to under half throttle or even a bit less. If part of the issue is needing more throttle to climb the slope just spread going downhill.
If using one of the tractors that has a linked throttle disconnect that and set your hand throttle, get that engine speed down around 1200-1400 rpm the spread width should be grater reduced also lowering the spreader closer to the ground should reduce the effective spreading width.

Those are good suggestions, I do always spread going downhill, sometimes I will throttle the tractor down to just idle and allow it to coast down the hill. Just using my brakes to slow it. But that gets real sketchy when it’s slick.