Agri-Fab 45-0288 175 lb. Tow-Behind Lawn & Garden Drop Spreader for Seed,Fertilizer, Salt, Ice Melt; Designed to Pull Behind Lawn & Garden Tractors

I've owned this lawn spreader for over a decade now, and it has served me well despite some signs of wear and tear like cracking tires. I appreciate the plastic parts, as they withstand the corrosiveness of lime and fertilizer much better than metal. Maintaining it by washing, drying, and coating metal parts with WD40 after each use has helped prolong its lifespan. The slimed tires have been a bonus since day one. I have a beautiful landscape with varying terrains, from grassy meadows to wooded areas. While the spreader handles most areas well, some aggressive spots require adjustments in material distribution for better traction and stability. Occasionally, items getting caught can hinder the spinner's function, especially on challenging terrain. The aging unit shows signs of paint flaking, and I've had to reapply slime this year, signaling a need for refurbishment.Despite minor issues like paint wear and occasional blockages, this spreader has been a cost-effective investment at just $15 per year. I plan to enhance it with an edge guard and explore seat activation for the next unit to improve functionality. Remember not to over-tighten the plastic components to prevent cracking.

Assembly instructions OK but make sure you do a parts count first and then follow instructions exactly- tightening nuts too soon may make it difficult to fit other pieces later. I came up short one hopper brace, probably because the shipping box was flimsy and the part just slipped out. Operates just fine, though on/off handle can be difficult to reach, and if you start the flow before putting your tractor in motion it will dump excess whatever it is you're spreading in one place, which might kill the grass. So it's a bit of a contortion act. Hopper will not empty completely if hitch position is low because material will slide toward the front of the hopper and not reach the dispensing slot. I have contacted the vendor about getting a replacement brace, we'll see how that goes. All that being said, it can put down more in an hour than a smaller spreader can do in a day. I can also use it to salt my driveway in winter, so that's double-duty for me.

The Agri-Fab 45-0288 175-pound max tow behind drop spreader is an excellent addition to my lawn and garden assets. You can easily attach the drop spreader to a zero turn, ATV, or lawn tractor/mower with a tow bracket and cut your lawn while fertilizing or over seeding with grass simultaneously. Using my Kubota zero turn, I am unable to reach the flow control arm, however, using an ATV or lawn tractor I was able open and close the drop spreader. In addition to enabling me to maintain my one-acre lot of Kentucky blue grass and fescue mix, I’ve used the drop spreader to spread fertilizer and perennial rye, Kentucky blue, and Kentucky 31 grass seed mix for two of my neighbors. I am not sure if the drop spreader can hold 175 pounds of granular fertilizer as I only used 100 pounds and that nearly maxed the hopper’s capacity to the brim. The assembly instructions were simple and straight forward. It is important to note that that during the installation steps, my instructions stated that in order to initially calibrate the opening of the spreader on both sides, you are required to measure the two ferrules to one-half-inch. I recommend to simply move the flow control arm back to the off position and then screw the rod into the ferrule at the bottom of the hopper at both ends into the rod aligns with the hole in the end of the low control arm. I counted threads to try and ensure both ferrules were the same thread count, but also ensured the flow plate was closed against the hopper’s backstops. Once this was done, the flow control arm and flow plate were calibrated to the flow rate setting of my choice. Moreover, if the flow control arm does not stay in place or can easily move, simply loosen the self-locking nut or remove it and tighten the first self-locking note installed a bit tighter until the flow control arm is snug at any flow rate setting. Reinstall the backup self-locking nut and you are good to go. Some reviewers stated they used a bungee cord to hold it in place when all that is needed is a bit more torque on the first nut to give the flow control arm more resistance. For most applications involving fertilizer or grass seed, the 1 or 2 flow rate setting works just fine. You will always have to according to your task make adjustments to suit your particular drop rate. The Agri-fab 175-pound drop spreader works great and enables me to fertilize or over seed without worrying about fertilizer being broadcasted on my driveway. Maintain your 3 mph and according to my neighbor’s view of spreading seed, the hopper and flow plate opens and drops those babies right where you want it. Since our properties are right next to each other, I used the drop spreader particularly on our properties boundary lines as I have my luscious Kentucky Blue grass rocking at 3.5 inches height and we didn’t want any cross contamination from that pretty perennial rye, Kentucky Blue, and Kentucky 31 tall fescue hardy mix he was throwing down on his yard. It is imperative to pay attention to ensuring the flow control arm is completely closed and the flow control plate is closed tightly against the hopper’s backstops and adjust the ferrules on both sides until you can insert them into the bracket holes and you should have a well calibrated drop spreader to handle many of your lawn and garden needs.

BEST SPREEDER ON THE MARKET--TOOK AWHILE TO ASSEMBLE, BUT WORTH IT.

I, like so many other reviewers, had the issue where the gears would stick or bind, causing the tire to stop rotating. Assembly was a nightmare because the only thing that comes pre-assembled is the main gear, axle, and drive shaft. Everything else has to be done by the buyer. Unfortunately, after troubleshooting for two hours and reassembling the entire thing three times, I noticed at the very end that the main drive was assembled incorrectly. That means that the only thing that the factory assembled themselves, they did it incorrectly. The first issue I noticed was that the wide black spacer for one side of the tires did not fit at all. I needed another half an inch or more of space to fit the spacer. But without the spacer, the second tire did fit the assembly, so we put the tire on without the spacer. Unfortunately, the gear would get stuck every once in a while while rotating. If I used it in this manner, it would lead to the issues that other reviewers are seeing, where the retaining piece of plastic would break or melt if it got stuck while going 4 mph on a tractor. That's when I noticed that in the picture, the drive wheel was on the opposite side of where I mounted it, so I had to turn the drive shaft 180 degrees. This change corrected the first issue I had run into, and now I could get that wide black spacer on both wheels. However, when I tightened the bolts on the frame, the axel leading to the auger became crooked, binding the axle in the frame. This was the enlightening moment. If the wheels were on the first way I mounted it, the axle leading up to the auger was off-center by half an inch and it caused too much friction in the frame and stopped the wheels from turning once in a while. But if I rotated the whole drive shaft to match the tires to the assembly picture, then the axel would be offset even more, by an entire inch, and the tire would not rotate at all. That's when I noticed that the gear was on the wrong side of the pre-assembled drive shaft. In the picture, both the drive wheel and the axel are on the same side, and the gear is on the opposite side. The proper assembly at the factory would allow the axel to be aligned straight in the center of the frame and auger, but with the gear that's half an inch wide sitting on the wrong side, the axel will always be off-center no matter which way you orient the drive shaft to the frame. The gear is held in by a tension pin, and even at the factory they only drove it through the shaft about 20 percent of the way. The pin is stuck in there and I couldn't get it to budge with a plier, so I can see why they gave up on pushing it through at the factory. At this point, I didn't want to bother trying to hammer out the friction pin to move the gear to the other side of the drive shaft, so I initiated a return.

Agra fab, wake up and smell the coffee. The fertilizer spreader works perfectly for dropping salt in snowy climates. You have to cut out every third tooth, because salt crystals are a little larger. But after that, you have a secondary use for your machine. F y I i've been through ten spreaders of different kinds and sorts, and this is the only one that works for dropping salt on my driveway. Ps clean and oil it really good at the end of the year otherwise it'll rust.

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 I just received my Agrifab 130-pound tow-behind spreader and there is a flaw in the parts packages. Part L is a spacer for the wheels--probably the single simplest "construction" of the entire package. The spacer is metal and is supposed to be 5/8" interior diameter to fit on the 5/8" axle, but it isn't. There is no possibility for the L spacers (2 of them) to actually fit on the axle. AGRIFAB, ARE YOU LISTENING? Everything else was actually perfect. I was prepped because so many reviews warned about how tricky and difficult the assembly was. It actually wasn't, although one must go step by step pretty carefully. But YOU SENT THE WRONG SPACERS, AGRIFAB. These L spacers are for a smaller diameter axle - got it? I haven't used it yet at all. It seems pretty sturdy, even though it isn't fully assembled yet. I will have to go to my hardware store with the faulty spacers and find something that might work. Shouldn't be too hard, maybe just a nut of 5/8" diameter the same width as the faulty L spacers. Fortunately, I'm doing this in mid-winter and not for a project I must get done tomorrow. THIS IS A STUPID PACKAGING ERROR. AGRIFAB, YOU NEED TO CORRECT THIS. Everything else in the packaging was perfect UPDATE: I was able to obtain spacers from my hardware store that worked. But then I learned ALL ABOUT the angry folks who complain of a wheel dragging and not turning, nothing really working after assembly, BECAUSE IT'S JUST AS EASY TO ATTACH THE HOPPER WRONG AS IT IS RIGHT. When you are supposed to attach the hopper (Step 8) to all the cross braces, for the 130-lb. unit you have to use the holes that are "highest" on the support tubes (parts 5 and 6). It's just as easy to attach the hopper to the other, lower holes, but then the hopper and impeller can't work at all because they are too LOW and block the impeller movement, which locks up the wheel as well. You also can't make the control bracket that opens and closes the hopper feeder work at all. I kept going back, step by step, undoing and redoing things until I actually looked at the support braces and saw additional holes higher up. Decided to try THAT, and it wasn't too terribly hard to move the hopper, actually. As soon as I had the hopper attached at the higher holes, everything fell right into place. But it is waaayyyy too easy to do it wrong, and the instructions do not make clear at all that you must choose the higher holes for the 130-lb. hopper. It's there, but only if you really look for it--not brought to your attention in any way. So, AGRIFAB ARE YOU LISTENING? GIVE PEOPLE A CLUE!!!!! POINT OUT FOR THE 130-LB. HOPPER THAT THE BOLTS MUST GO THROUGH THE HIGHER/UPPER HOLES IN THE SUPPORT TUBES. YOU WILL HAVE A LOT FEWER RETURNS AND UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS IF YOU PROVIDE THE CORRECT SPACERS AND A WARNING AND DIRECTIONS ABOUT WHICH HOLES TO USE. My unit looks and feels like it will work the way it's supposed to. It's sturdy, simply, and free-moving. And because I put it together myself, I can fix it if something is needed. Hope this is helpful to people who have the "wheel lock" problem.