Agri-Fab Pull Behind Broadcast Spreader for Seed, Fertilizer, Salt and Ice Melt, 130 lb Hopper Capacity with Universal Hitch and 12 Ft Spread Width

Bought this tow behind spreader for my husband and then read the other reviews and became worried. I told him about all the complaints and that maybe we should just return it. He said that he wanted to check it out first and see for himself. He put it together and it took about 2 hours. He said the directions were clear and easy to follow but you need to read! All the parts were there and fit correctly. Solid construction, good quality and worked as expected! Very pleased and highly recommend. Easily cut his fertilizing time in half if not more.

Overall good quality and value for the price. I was surprised on the level of assembly required for the spreader. Lots of pieces with pretty vague instructions. But the spreader works great

BOTTOM LINE: A basic, relatively easy-to-put together pull behind broadcast spreader (made in the USA!). It easily holds the stated weight of whatever you're putting on your lawn, (though 130lbs will fill the hopper right to the very brim!). My tractor pulled it across flat lawns, some bumpy spots and a few low-graded side hills with no problems whatsoever. The fit & finish were very good, although there were a couple of tiny spots where the paint was scuffed. (But this is a fairly inexpensive basic lawn tool, not a pricey hotrod, so a flawless flashy paint job was not high on my priority list.) Speaking of which... some online photos make the frame color sort of look like a metallic copper orange. It's not. It's just plain orange, a little on the reddish side. THOUGHTS: I tried to save money and bought a pull behind broadcast spreader years ago thru Sportsman's Guide. It lasted exactly three uses before falling apart! I got exactly what I paid for. *SIGH* I was a little nervous about buying this Agri-Fab unit as I've read a few bad reviews from owners here and elsewhere. The majority of reviews, however, were positive - plus I still have an Agri-Fab aerating drop spreader that's well over 15yrs old and still holding up. The 45-0463 unit came well packaged in a fairly sturdy box. It was a LOT lighter than I thought it would be. The thing is tightly packed and will take a few minutes to unload. Do yourself a favor and have a large, clutter-free workspace to put this thing together in if you can! Make certain all the listed parts are there first, and read the entire assembly instruction booklet *before* starting. The instructions aren't as detailed as I would've preferred, but I was able to figure it out. (There's also an online video from Agri-Fab, to help make the job easier for those who are less mechanically inclined.) I took my time and was able to tinker it together in less than two hours. A basic socket set will greatly speed the assembly process! Above all: BE PATIENT! A lot of the issues other customers reported would seem to be more from rushing thru things without proper preparation or not following the instructions properly, IMHO. (Like NOT tightening all the hardware until you're instructed to do so!) If something is missing, call Agri-Fab. I had one bolt missing from the vacuum-sealed parts bag. Thankfully I was able to find a suitable replacement in my misc nut & bolts stash. The assembled unit looks pretty nice, hooks up easily and pulled with zero problems. (A hitch pin w/cotter securing pin comes with the spreader.) The adjustable discharge control unit is a very basic "set it & forget it" affair. I found that a setting right around 4 to 5 did a nicet job of spreading the recommended amount of product. I have a little over nine acres and first put down insecticide to keep fleas & ticks off our dog for the summer, then laid down a good coat of weed & feed right around the house to green up a few thin spots and wipe out the encroaching dandelions. Both products spread nicely; both the fine powdery insecticide AND the coarse grainy weed & feed - with no clumping or binding of the gear box, even with a full (heaping) load on the weed & feed. BTW... the gearbox is enclosed in a heavy black plastic housing, but the housing is held together, clamshell style, with three cotter-style pins for quick easy disassembly & cleaning/lubrication. It should also make replacement of any worn gear drive parts a breeze as well. Be aware that the broadcast spinner works whether going forward or backwards (it just changes direction), but that did not present any functionality issues when I did. Also, if you come to a stop and don't close the trap door beneath the hopper, whatever's in there will continue to trickle (or pour, depending on the setting) onto the spinner plate - potentially giving you an unintentionally huge overdose of chemical when you take off again, if you aren't paying attention. And some commonsense advice: rinse off your spreader after *every* use! That'll go a long way towards making it last a lot longer, plus the painted parts won't rust/corrode/deteriorate as quickly. No, this Agri-Fab model 45-05463 isn't the world's greatest spreader but for the price it seems to be a solid bargain. In fact, my only real gripe is that the accessories that Agri-Fab sells for this unit, (hopper cover, grate kit & deflector shield), should've been included with it. Oh well. One last thing: the unit is light enough to lift and hang up out of the way on a nail or hook on the wall of your storage shed or garage at the end of the season. Nice.

Nice, sturdy, functional spreader. Took a while to assemble but worth it.

It seemed fine after I assembled it (which was easy to do) except the spring clip that is used as an agitator near the hopper gate looked like there is know way it would stay in place so I made a mental note to safety wire the clip to prevent it from coming out but said I will use it once then fix it. 20 minutes after using it the spring clip was missing and I had also purchased the screen (which is a flimsy ripoff that should have come with the unit) to prevent clots from jamming up the hopper gate and easier on the agitator. I spent an hour looking in my 1 acre yd and did not find it so I figured my tractor tire would some day. The gate lever locking wing nut assembly is plastic (maybe nylon) never the less it makes you fear tightening too tight as to break it and I imagine they put the stupid engineer from the agitator on this design to insure lost or broken parts and yes i have dumped my load twice even though I have tightened the wing nut to its max so I drive constantly looking back to insure it does not slip. The gate lever pops out of the dentent (closed) position when hitting a bump. I have a Kubota BX2370 tractor and the hopper hitch is to high for this size tractor thus it leaves media in the hopper because it travels tilted down when near empty. The gate lever is too far away from tractor but I manage to strain leaning back as far I as can to shut gate off& on. I am going to attach a permanent clamp probably a C-clamp on the Gate lever, I added a cotter key in place of the agitator, I am going to rigged an extension arm to the gate lever and find a long hitch pin using pipe will shim up the hopper to travel level. So far this has saved me know time vs my hand spreader and I have been using foul profanity loudly scaring my wife back into the house. This is not going to beat meat unless the gearbox fails like others then I will shoot it. The plus is I will make it work and I will end up being satisfied because most of the design is great to me but a moron (yes you product engineer and Director of Test Engineering) who ok'd this into production almost like it never went to a test lab you can visually see the defects without using it. I have the Agri Fab Lawn Sweeper it works great, the Plug Aerator works great love both of these and are ruggedly built and the Dethatcher kind of cheap but beats raking.

Sure it takes time to put together but it works great.

The spreader has fairly sturdy parts. Of note, the broadcast mechanism has metal gears and a solid axle. Assembly is fairly simple and straight forward and would have been easy and painless had Agri-Fab correctly assembled the axle and drive gear assembly at the factory. They/Amazon shipped the factory assembled parts incorrectly assembled. A call to Agri-Fab revealed they knew some of the spreaders had assembly issues and they promptly offered to send new expendable parts so the unit could be disassembled and reassembled by the customer. It took a week to receive the new parts--only to discover the wrong parts had been shipped. Another call to Agri-Fab and the response that they were familiar with the parts problem and would happily ship the correct parts. It took four days to receive the spreader and almost three additional weeks to receive the right parts. Upon receipt of the correct parts, the required repair and reassembly took 20 minutes. Customer service reps were friendly and helpful. That said, attention to detail/quality control were less than acceptable. Several points to note about the spreader and operations. First. Hitch height can be an issue. The hitch bar/tow bar needs to be approximately 14.5 inches from the ground at the tractor attachment point so the spreader barrel exit point distributes all fertilizer etc. to the broadcast disc. Hitch attachment points less than 14.5 inches from the ground will result in the spreader bowl not disgorging all fertilizer--instead leaving a fair amount in the spreader bowl. This adversely effects use of all product and results in uneven distribution of product on declining slopes. Second. The release handle is too short to easily reach and turn on/off while driving a Craftsman garden tractor. It is short by approximately 9 inches. It can be remedied with a 12 to15" by 1/2" by 3/16" piece of steel and several drilled holes into the existing too short handle. Absent such a remedy, one must stop the tractor and turn around 90 degrees in the seat to open or shut off the product flow--resulting in burned spots from over fertilization. Third. Agri-Fab says they do not offer suggested settings for various manufacturers products and there appears to be no reference table available. They suggest the buyer conduct his/her own test and through trial and error develop their own appropriate settings. And indeed, the way Agri-Fab has fabricated the sliding product "door" that may be best. The instructions tell you to line up the door at the halfway open point with the "adjustment nut" at "5". There is no registration mark on either the unit floor or the door. My experience has been that with the door adjusted as per Agri-Fab use .5 to 1 for most granular Scotts lawn products. Fourth. Agri-Fab does not offer hitch height adapters to insure the tow bar is parallel with the ground, that all product can be/is used and to avoid missing areas on downhill slopes. This point is worth considering if you are uncomfortable having to fabricate you own adaptor to raise hitch height approximately 9 to 10 inches. This is the right kind of spreader for large areas, but its effective use on large "lawns" as opposed to fields and meadows may be compromised by the second, third and fourth issues above.

So, guess what? I got this broadcast spreader, and let me tell you, it's a game-changer! Assembly was a breeze, only took me about 45 minutes. The directions were super clear, which is always a plus. Pro tip: don't tighten everything until you've put it all together – makes life way easier when aligning the parts. I decided to go all out and loaded it with a whopping 100lbs of granular fertilizer in one go. And you know what? It handled it like a champ! I played it safe by keeping the spread rate on the lighter side and went over everything twice, switching up directions for that perfect, even coverage. Now, here's the thing – just like all broadcast spreaders, it tends to favor one side a bit due to how the product hits the spreader wheel. But honestly, that's just a minor detail considering the stellar performance. I covered around 2 1/2 acres without a single hiccup.And get this – none of those issues that other folks mentioned in their reviews? Nope, didn't face any of them. No skidding, no tipping, no missing parts, no tricky assembly – none of that drama. I was seriously blown away by how well this spreader worked. If you're in the market for one, I'd say go for it without a second thought! Highly recommend this bad boy.

Molto ben fatto .. solido e capiente...

I just ordered this and used it yesterday. Assembly took about 45 min and the directions were straight forward. Like others have said don't tighten everything until its all together as it makes alignment of parts easier. I loaded it with 100lbs of granular fertilizer at once and had no issues. I kept the spread rate a little light and covered everything twice in different directions for an even spread. Like all broadcast spreaders it favours one side the way the product hits the spreader wheel. In all I covered a out 2 1/2 acres and had no problems at all. I didn't have any of the negative issues that so many other reviews list. No wheel skidding, tipping, missing parts, difficult assembly, etc. I was extremely impressed with the performance and would highly recommend this product.

Equipment itself is excellent quality. Only disappointment was 10 mins after it was delivered I had an email from Amazon offering the same item at more or less 50% less than I’d just paid

Hallo zusammen, heute habe ich meine Wiesen eingesät bzw. nachgesät. hat wunderbar geklappt. Auch der Zusammenbau war kinderleicht. Beschreibung absolut ok.

Funciona a la perfección y esparce muy bien el producto. No es muy robusto, pero mientras no se le “sobrecargue” y se le dé el mantenimiento adecuado te servirá mucho para jardines muy grandes. Una cancha de futbol sin problemas. Buena compra.