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

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.

After pushing my manual spreader at 63 years of age I decided there has to be a better way. Thank you Agra fab. My unit arrived two days ahead of schedule. Using it tomorrow before the rains come this weekend. Now putting down fertilizer can be fun again at my age.Update: Had a few issues with this spreader. My buddy who put it together had the calabration set wrong. I put 15,000 sq feet of fertilizer in the hopper. It was all gone after two paths down my lawn. It was set at 4 but the hopper wasn’t set up right. After he fixed that I tried again. The lever for turning it on or off doesn’t stay towards the onSection. It moves my itself closer to off causing less coverage. Will purchase a bungee cord to secure better and recheck tightness on bolts.I’m not sure now if I like this model. Guess I’ll know if my lawn burns up or I get missed streaking.

Takes a little bit of attention to assemble. You will need sockets and a crescent wrench. For home garden use and lawn. Attached to a Husqvarna Riding long mower. Perfect. Never dumped the trailer once. Low profile and good stability. We have a 1/2 acre in grass and we put down 100lbs of seed. 80lbs of fertilizer and 20lbs of fire ant.It distributed the products no issue. If you can have a grandchild or second set of hands to help assemble, all the better. Store indoors if possible as the metal is not powder coated. The price is right for home use. Anything bigger upgrade!

Works good.

So, I've been through 3 of these...#1I put it together with no issue, went to put some seed in it and noticed a big crack in the plastic tub, took it apart, shipped it back#2I put it together, got to the last step and the bar that controls the shut off/flow control will not fit correctly....i'm not sure why, so i call the company and they have me take measurements and compare them to the parts list that they have, everything is correct so they have me take a few pictures of the problem and email them to them, 2 days pass as i eagerly await a phone call from Agri-Fab telling me what i'm doing wrong. On day 2 i call and ask for the woman i spoke with about 48 hours ago, she gets on the phone and asks me if she can call me right back, which she does....the next day, she tells me that two of the brackets were installed up side down at the factory and that she could send me the rivets and new brackets to change them out, i tell her that i don't have a riveter so she offers to send me screws, which show up two days later. After researching rivets, and about 20 minutes of attempting to remove the factory rivets, i realize that i do not have the proper tools to make this adjustment and tear down the entire thing, pack it up and send it back....#3So far So good! i unpacked everything, put it together in record time and everything seems to be working well, i like the spreader its is very heavy duty and i anticipate a long life.So i'm giving 4 stars for my frustration with the ordering process and the company's laziness in responding back to me, my first spreader was ordered on April 15, 2016 and i finally have a functional spreader on May 23, 2016, a little ridiculous, but worth it in the end i guessUpdate 07-07-16, i finally had a chance to use my new number 3 spreader, as soon as it was filled, it began to leak the material even though the shut off was on, and when i started to use it, one side released at a significantly higher rate than the other, I spoke to argifab who offered no assistance to me, Luckily Amazon was nice enough to accept the spreader back because i had the original packaging. I will never buy from Agrifab again. I'm also changing my rating to a 1 star.

One side not distributing fertilizer evenly as the other.