Sander/spreader

[GreatWhitehunter]

Is anyone using a sander/spreader on their tractor? I have a very steep driveway and went from using my atv with plow and sander to my tractor. I'm not looking to spend a fortune but I know from experiance I want on with an auger in the hopper. I plan on mounting it on my trailer hitch that is mounter on my 3pt hitch. Any comments by folks already using one would be great.

Matt

 

[LBrown59]

Is anyone using a sander/spreader on their tractor? I have a very steep driveway and went from using my atv with plow and sander to my tractor. I'm not looking to spend a fortune but I know from experiance I want on with an auger in the hopper. I plan on mounting it on my trailer hitch that is mounter on my 3pt hitch. Any comments by folks already using one would be great.

Matt

bump.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

bump.

You felt the need to bump a post that was posted 6.5 hours ago Keep working on your post count

Matt, I am sure there are other units out there but my experience with 3pt spreaders is with one of the cheap orange junk units you can get at TSC and with Vicon's. The Vicon spreader will last you forever and not toss any sand on you or your tractor. It only tosses fertilizer and sand where you want it. But they are not cheap. I have two of them I bought used, one is a small unit (500 pounds) and would most likely be what size you are looking for. The other is a 1 ton capacity and is great if you want to spread a large area without having to fill up often.

 

[dirtworksequip]

GreatWhite, what conditions are you experiencing that you need the sander?
What type material is your drive? Asphalt,concrete or stone?

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

What does bump mean?

Matt

 

[Robert_in_NY]

What does bump mean?

Matt

Some people "bump" their own threads back to the front page if there is a lot of posting going on and their thread gets pushed back to the 2nd page. You don't bump a thread posted by someone else 6 hours ago and on the front page still unless you are trying to build your post count for some stupid reason

 

[Farmwithjunk]

What does bump mean?

Matt

You "bump" a post to bring it back to the top of the list of recent post's when they slip down the list from inactivity.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Bill, I can't find Vicon's website. I know it is a messed up system the parent company uses but Google and Yahoo have come up short. Do you happen to have it bookmarked?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Bill, I can't find Vicon's website. I know it is a messed up system the parent company uses but Google and Yahoo have come up short. Do you happen to have it bookmarked?

Power Farming - Vicon - Tractors and Farm Machinery - One name covers it all

This is the only thing I have on them Robert

 

[canoetrpr]

Probably a silly question but will a 3pt seed/fertilizer spreader handle the spreading of sand or salt?

Robert - what was your experience with the TSC ones? I've seen them up here at different places. I think they are made by some Italian company that makes them for all kinds of places.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The Vicons are built very well and will easily hold up to sand. I was trying to find their website though as I was curious about something. The Vicon has a large throat with a heavy duty agitatior. As long as the sand isn't frozen it should spread thru the Vicon without problem.

The TSC spreaders require a lot of maintance and even then they are of poor quality. If all you used was sand you might get by better. I used it to spread fertilizer and it is very hard to clean the spreader so it doesn't rust up solid. You have to use a lot of oil and coat everything well to try and keep it from coroding. The other problem is it will throw the material you are spreading on the tractor as well as the ground which means you have more to clean up.

For limited use the TSC spreaders will work fine. If you are going to use this any amount and plan to for a long time the Vicon is the way to go.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Power Farming - Vicon - Tractors and Farm Machinery - One name covers it all

This is the only thing I have on them Robert

I went to one of the European discussion boards that I chat on and asked them as I know there was one and here is the link http://www.kvernelandgroup.com/welcome

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

I was looking at the buyers brand specifically for sand/salt. The hopper's made from plastic it's covered and has an auger inside to prevent clogging. Fisher also makes a reciever mounted unit but it's almost $1500. I've found a few used ones on CR but all ice and snow we've been getting there selling faster than I can contact the sellers. My real question was how well they work. I have one for my atv without an auger but it only works for salt. It sometimes clogs up with just the sand.

Matt T.

 

[hwp]

I have a small Buyers unit on my F2400 (as seen on my avatar)- actually meant to be a receiver mounted unit on a SUV. I use it to spread both salt and sand, but the sand has to be very dry. I keep a few tubs of sand next to my furnace to dry. It takes a couple of weeks to get the sand dry enough to flow through the spreader. I also use the spreader to spread kiln dried sand on my lawns in the fall after I have aerated them to help break up the clay. The bigger units will handle wetter sand.

 

[Deerlope]

I ran into this same problem last year trying to spread salted sand. It clogs very easily and I did not want the hassle of trying to dry it. I looked off and on the maybe 2 weeks on the internet for a drop sander and could not find one that I thought would handle wet sand. I have been lucky most of my life that if I could think of something and I had the tools and equipment that I could build it.So that is exactly what I did. This unit hangs on the tailgate of my Kubota RTV 900 and works great. Until I get a hyrdaulic motor to power it I will continue to power it using a 12 volt starter motor off a B&S 8 HP engine. This unit is a drop sander and I use it to sand the wheel tracks only. I did not want a slinger that would spread sand everywhere but where I needed it.

 

[mapmaker]

My Driveway is 380' long and raises 70' feet in elevation it has to be sanded after each storm. I bought an old cone type fertilizer spreader that runs off the 3pth. I then built some wooden deflectors to deflect the sand and salt down onto the driveway. It is not a perfect solution, I find if the sand is too wet it does have trouble feeding. When it clogs I have to shut the sander off and use a push stick to get it flowing again. It still beats having to sand by hand. I have also found that for me the thin layer of sand that is put down by the spreader gives you better traction than a heavy layer put down by hand. I am still looking for ways to modify the spreader to improve the feeding.

 

[DMF]

I was glad to see this topic this morning. My driveway is 1500' long and is all up-hill. Today when I backed out of my garage my truck started sliding sideways down the driveway; not good.
I called a couple of dealers yesterday about 3ph spreader for spreading sand, salt, seed and fertilizer. He said the cone-type spreaders would spread dry bagged sand (way too much $), straight salt and seed and fertilzer. He said the cone gets too clogged if the sand is wet even if it's mixed with salt.
He said the only way to do it all was to get a Herd spreader. Of course, the Herd spreader is almost 3 times the amount as the cone type he has.
To make things even harder to decide, the local contractor (who I swear charged $80 to sand/salt our driveway in the past) said that he'll do it for $30. To buy the Herd spreader would take almost 50 visits to pay it off plus the cost of sand/salt... What to do?

 

[LBrown59]

I was glad to see this topic this morning.
* My driveway is 1500' long and is all up-hill.

Today when I backed out of my garage my truck started sliding sideways down the driveway; not good.
I called a couple of dealers yesterday about 3ph spreader for spreading sand, salt, seed and fertilizer. He said the cone-type spreaders would spread dry bagged sand (way too much $), straight salt and seed and fertilzer. He said the cone gets too clogged if the sand is wet even if it's mixed with salt.
He said the only way to do it all was to get a Herd spreader. Of course, the Herd spreader is almost 3 times the amount as the cone type he has.
To make things even harder to decide, the local contractor (who I swear charged $80 to sand/salt our driveway in the past) said that he'll do it for $30. To buy the Herd spreader would take almost 50 visits to pay it off plus the cost of sand/salt... What to do?

*R U sure it's not 1500' down hill ?

I keep a 20 gallon garbage can of sand in the pole barn.
Keeps it from getting wet and freezing.
Problem is it's hard to shovel out of the can into a bucket when I just need a bucket or 2 of sand.
So I been thinking build a sand box with two 4x4 skids under it that will hold the same amount of sand.
Put a tailgate on the front of it that works like a dump trucks tailgate.
Put small chains on the tail gate so you can control how far it can open.
Pick the box up with my bucket forks and chain each end of it to each end of the bucket so the box wont slide off the forks when curling the bucket forward to dump or spread the sand salt etc as you drive down the driveway.
== L B ==

 

[DMF]

*R U sure it's not 1500' down hill ?

== L B ==

Depends on which way you look at it; up-hill from the road and downhill from the house...

Interesting solution to the problem... Thanks!

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I don't have any pictures, but a simple description should suffice. Get an "EZ Flow" type lime/fertilizer spreader. (pull type drop spreader) They'll do a fabulous job with sand, salt, lime, fertilizer, ect. They only cover what they pass over and DON'T throw sand and salt into grass. They're fairly easy to come by used (at auctions or used farm implement dealers) They were made by several "short line" companies (EZ Flow, New Idea, ect) and most main line AG equipment brands (Deere, IH, ect)

Their low loading height makes them a snap to fill. Pull type hitch and wheel drive means you can pull them with ANYTHING (Right on down to the wifes car) Most have a covered hopper design. (a lid) You don't have to worry about the salt getting wet and caking like an open hopper spreader