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.

 

[slowzuki]

I have seen people fiberglass the inside so when it rots the fiberglass remains.

 

[Shooter45]

Guess when I go to get a spreader I should opt for the plastic hopper so I don't have to worry about rust?

 

[Mace Canute]

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

That should be a wake up call as to useless WD-40 is.

 

[Timbow]

I do not have experience with the plastic poly spreaders. I imagine they too will require cleaning, oiling of the metal parts and storage under cover. My spreader was used once a year for food plots, hosed down and then left out in the elements for 12 years. I washed and sprayed it down with wd40 and it rusted out after 12 years. I suppose if I had cleaned, oiled it with diesel and stored the spreader under cover I might not be restoring the spreader. At one point I slapped on a quart of Rustoleum. I am researching painting the restored spreader with an an epoxy based material such as Xtreme liner less the rubber material or some UV protection. I would like to find a hard protective covering.

 

[strum456]

After every use, power wash and coat with old engine oil. Ours is about 20 years old with very little rust.

 

[Dead Horse]

used engine oil is very useful for a lot of things around a farm.........

as an example, I have been running it as bar oil in my chain saws for many years, with zero noticeable negative effects. If flows just fine and some of my chains are 12 years old. I cut an average of 25 cord of wood a year.

It also disabuses carpenter ants of the notion that my wood shed sills wil taste good, or make a nice home.

And I use it as a general purpose lube on exposed surfaces like spreaders, disk harrow, plow blades and all sorts of otherwise ugly things I don't want to see rust on.

The stuff is gold! and free........

 

[Timbow]

The broadcast hopper will be back from the welding shop next week. What type of paint should I use?

 

[mphymel]

I know this is an old thread, but these thing wont stop rusting anytime soon...
I had one of those "The Hollow" spreaders i got used in 2009. Used once a year for food plots. I'd hose it down every year and it lasted 8 years. Wish I'd have thought to spray it down like y'all all suggested.

Finally, something happened and we wrecked that spinner plate. It broke off the hub that it was welded to. In the process of breaking it all down, I ended up having to rip the agitator through the segmented orifice at the bottom, since the bottom was pretty much rotten anyway.

I had to cut the agitator axially with an angle grinder only deep enough so as not to score the shaft, then was able to get it off by driving a chisel through the cut to crack it loose.

The hub had a small roll pin inside a big roll pin. After some how beating that out, I was able to beat that down the shaft using punches.

The gear box is off now, ordered a new shaft (we twisted the original like a noodle on a Cosmo hopper after this one failed). I'd need to make or repair that spinner disk, and make a new bottom plate, and replace one of those gates.

I can tell you that we found an old Cosmo in the weeds at the hunting camp. That thing must have been there for 10 years, nothing was seized. After mine got wrecked, we grabbed that thing, used my pto shaft and finished planting. The weird thing is that on the last plot, something happened and that gear box just locked up, and we wrapped the shaft up like spaghetti on a fork. It even killed the 40 HP tractor engine. We took the shaft off, the gearbox still spun free, not much runout, no noise, spins smooth. I can figure out what happened.

Sad part is I will probably use that new shaft on that thing again this year, as my old one is not ready yet and that cosmo is still up there ready to work and wasn't ever even washed from last year.
I have a mind to cut down a bushhog pto shaft to use on that unit up at the camp and spare my new shaft in case it does that again. Anyone got any ideas what could have happened to cause that lockup?

If anyone is looking at getting a spreader, I'd recommend that Cosmo over "The Hollow" it is far better built.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Old thread but I am working on a project now that is relevant.

I am refurbishing an old Herd 750 spreader my dad had in the shed. Didn't know it was in there. Lots of surface rust but the box, running gear, etc...was fine. Pop used a pair of vice grips to set the seed gate opening. The bolt and clamp that held the seed gate in place was gone. I purchased the seed gate gauge for $35 shipped.

I am now in the process of rust proofing the spreader with Por 15. I will put 3 coats of it on the spreader and then come back with a coat of white paint. I figure I will have around $150 in refurbishing the spreader.

The quality of this Herd spreader is exceptional. A used 750 on Ebay is priced at 1K. New they are around $1600. I figure for my time and effort money well spent.

 

[TractorGuy]

Incidentally, its Italian - Eurospin 500; had one of their cars in early 80s -great engine -body disintegrated before my eyes.

There's your problem. I swear the Italian steel must be made with salt water. We had a couple of Fiats and they would rust from the inside out.