Agri-Fab 45-0530-131, 85 lb. Tow Broadcast Spreader,Black/Orange

First was damage, 2nd almost damage on the same place and missing parts. Product works well, but is very poorly package. All parts are thrown in. We recomend it because it works good with my ride lawn mower. Just be patient with installation and instructions.

Put together and when I filled it with product the lever that releases the product on the bottom would not move. The wire is too fragile to open and shut the release door. Took all the product out and set the door, then the product fell through. Spreader is not a good buy. Would not recommend purchasing it!!!

Quality components in an effective design. I purchased this to spread from behind my zero turn mower. It fits the bill perfectly. The rubber tubed wheels appear more sturdy than plastic. Installation was sort of a pain, but the instructions are accurate. Assemblers will need two 7/16" ratchet drivers, or one and a 7/16" wrench. Also need needle nose pliers to spread the cotter pins. I needed needle nose vice grips to hold the tire tube inflation valve in place to air up the tires. Seems like good value for the price.

First I’m a mechanic of thirty plus years. I found putting this spreader together to be challenging but not hard. It maybe hard for people that are not experienced on building things. Second the way that the spreader chute is designed is garbage. It’s molded plastic that doesn’t fit quite right and with the cheap cable adjuster you will find yourself going under the spreader on your knees to close the chute or make adjustments. The last thing I want to mention is the drive gear set up. The differential mechanism requires a lot of energy to rotate. This causes the one drive wheel to sometimes not spin. When working on a driveway covered in snow or ice this is problematic. To the spreaders credit this did improve with use. This is why I gave this three stars. It does function but there is no adjusting the chute. If it lasts a year I’ll be happy. I will buy a more expensive one next time. You get what you pay for

This spreader was $120 and has a lot plastic parts. I recommend this spreader for yards between a half an acre to 1 acre. Yards smaller than a half an acre get a push spreader, for yards larger 1 acre spend $300 or more to get a better quality spreader. The assembly was tedious. The controller was not shipped with spreader. I called Agri-Fab and they shipped me the missing part. I have zero turn mower and accessing the controller is difficult due to the distance between the controller on the spreader and the seating position on the zero turn. I only use a spreader about 3 to 4 times a year so I think this inexpensive spreader should last a long time. For reference I used a Scott's drop push spreader before I purchased this spreader. The Scott's spreader finally gave out after 7 years. The Scott's spreader also had a lot of plastic parts like this spreader. Now I don't have push the spreader around the yard and tow the spreader behind my zero mower but there are a couple areas in my yard where this spreader won't work due to limited access. My zero can access but not the spreader. I'll have to purchase a $20 hand spreader for those small areas. I'll give an update after 1 year of use.

Price was right, assembly wasn't awful, though the it was clear from the get go that the feeder control was WEAK. What was not obvious was how bad the gearbox was. The drive from my garage to my field is three minutes tops, though it is a bit bumpy (the field is bumpier, it's a field after all). Before I actually got to the field the gearbox housing fell off. Sadly, I did not notice that since I was struggling to open the bottom feeder to allow seeds out. The ad claims this thing will work with 85 lbs of material. That may be true if the feed port is opened before putting material in the hopper, but I had about 2 lbs seeds (just a bit from a 5lb bag) mixed with about 10 lbs of sand. The feed control would not open the port. I fussed with it until seeds could come out and took off rolling. Sadly, without the gearbox housing, the gears didn't touch and the spreader didn't spread anything. Realizing there was a problem, I hand sowed the seeds around my plot then dragged the damn thing back to the garage. On the way back I found he housing. After bit more fussing around with the damned thing, I got the weak (OMG WEAK) housing reattached and was able to demonstrate that the spreader would spin. Sadly, that was while the hopper was EMPTY. Once a bit more seed and a bit more sand was in the hopper the gear just ground and the spreader didn't spin. Once again, I hand sowed the seeds and sand. In a last ditch bout of optimism, I put the remainder of the 5lb bag of seeds in the hopper, without sand, and tried it again. The damned thing couldn't even work with that little weight. Buying this thing was a mistake.

Assembly of the spreader was fairly straight forward, however the 'parts package' was short 3 of 4 on one of the items. This item (tube plug) wasn't necessary to finish the assembly - so I continued to completion to see if there were any other problems. There weren't. A short phone call to Agri-Fab support and was pleasantly surprised to receive the missing parts a few days later. The spreader worked as advertised. So, good product with great support.

Assembly instructions poor. One of the bolt installations requires you to bend close to the breaking point, the spinner plastic piece. Mine also had a crack in the bottom of the tub. Irritating but not enough to disassemble, repack and return. Also, the wire mechanism is very wimpy and barely closes and opens the little plastic door. The molded plastic is too tight for it to slide easily. Overall, this will work for a once or twice a year use, but it is a real piece of junk when it comes to the actual build quality. Would not purchase again.

This has been operating well.

poor quality especially for over $200. plus parts are missing from the gear assembly says it will hold 85 lbs it might but with regular use the spreader will fall apart.

Did not include hitch plates to bolt to end of draw bar. Feed adjustment poor quality and accuracy. No info on spreadersettings for specific materials

This was a reconditioned product, supposedly good as new. Very hard to assemble. Once put together it become obvious the lever that adjusts the spreader was poor quality and stripped, no doubt the reason it was returned in the first place. Mail office would not accept for shipping.

The cable on the feed adjuster is too long , causing bends in cable that make it work too tightly and bend at control lever . Cable should be about 6" shorter and should be lubed when assembled . Other than that it went together OK .