What do you mean you can't turn it down enough for lawn maintenance?
Spread pattern width? Or the gate?
Spread pattern can be changed by slowing the engine down.
The gate is adjustable.
So, I'm lost......
I moved this to the GT section. Ronnie, if you want, I will copy the first post and put it back in the "Wanted" section. Just say so if you do.
I wanted to discuss spreaders anyway, but I didn't because I was trying to keep the chatting to minimum. Now it doesn't matter.
So, here we go. For you guys interested, here are some tips.
On big AG spreaders, everything is adjustable. Not so on these small units. You can correct it, but sometimes it takes some fab work. On the larger unit's like the one listed from Northern Tool, it may be built with adjustment, but I doubt it.
Fan speed:
The only real thing fan speed controls is how wide a pattern it throws. Now, if you run it too fast, the material can just bounce off of it, or get thrown hard to one side. If running a PTO driven unit, you can change your engine RPM, but when spreading, find a good RPM and set the spreader up for that speed. Don't change RPM even if you change ground speed, if anything, just reach back and shut the gate some. No matter what the rate, it will still broadcast the same pattern, just with less material hitting the fan.
With the ground driven units, you have to try to maintain a constant ground speed, or you won't get even coverage. I DO NOT recommend a ground driven fan unit. But that's just me.
Unit's with an electric fan, are touchy. The problem is, with small seed like grass seeds, or clover, alfalfa... (hay seeds) they tend to do fine. But when you go to something really heavy, like lime, sulfur, or other fertilizers, the electric fan gets pulled down under the load. So, you can put grass in it and it will spread, say 30', but with lime it will only cast it 15'. You have to really adjust things to get an even spread.
Chute/Gate/Discharge:
The little gate, or the area where the material falls out onto the fan should be adjustable. By that I mean, either the fan position or the gate/chute itself. Some small seeds need to feed into the outer edge of the fan, whereas the heavier stuff needs to feed further to the inside of the fan. (May have gotten that backwards, I can't remember off the top of my head.) Reason is, that because of their weight, some things tend to fly off the fan faster, thus spreading hard to one side. Uneven coverage. You may have to adjust the fan forward, backward, or to one side of the other to get an even coverage. You may have to make a chute between the discharge point and the fan so you can direct the material to the section of the fan it needs to hit. Some unit's have adjustments built in for that. The Cyclone brand spreader does. ( Google "PTO driven Cyclone Spreaders" to see pics.)
What I do, is buy extra material. Then I set up the spreader on say a driveway. I sweep the area really good, then put some material in and turn it on. Let is run just a min or so, then shut it off. Then look to see where it spread. Longer you run it, the more obvious it is where it's spreading heavier. If you have a ground driven fan unit..... that setup is a little harder. You can drive down the driveway, or lay plastic out.... We used to use a piece of pole barn steel. Just laid it out on the ground and drove over it. Wasn't perfect, but worked. Back to the beginning; I get extra material, but you can sweep up what you spread and use it. You just can't always get it all.
Some say this isn't worth the work. If you have a small yard, it may not be. BUT, if you plan to spread the same fertilizer year after year, it's worth it. Putting down extra material is a waste of money. Not getting an even spread is worse. My burn some of the yard, and starve other areas. It really is worth it. If you switch between seed and fertilizer, take a picture or record your settings, then you can readjust it when go to that particular material.
I've spread with Big A's, fertilizer buggies, PTO and electric fan Cyclone spreaders and ground driven fan styles.... Every time I used one I took the time to set it up. My person favorite for a yard or small area was the PTO driven Cyclone. It had fan position adjustment slides, and an agitator gate. (Some brands only have an agitator in the bottom, but the Cyclone has an agitating gate so the material keeps flowing.) With the PTO driven fan, the spread width was always the same. If I had to get in a tight area and needed to slow down, all I had to do was reach back and shut the gate some.
All in all, if you get a new one, it should come with a material chart that gives gate setting and speed, corresponding to material output. It may be in pounds per square foot, or acre... but you can convert. 43,560 sq ft in an acre for those who don't know.
Hope this was informative, and not just a waste of time.
