Wheel-Powered Manure Spreaders

John Kenny · Oct 20, 2014

Hi, I was curious about wheel-powered manure spreaders and how
they measure up to a PTO driven system. I am thinking about
getting a cub-manure spreader for my Super A which looks like it
can hold about two or three bucket loads. How quickly will it put it
down? I have 150' beds in my field. 1 pass? 2 passes? more than
that? Thanks so much!

johnald · Oct 20, 2014

I have found the pto driven spreaders to be much better. With pto you have much more flexibility with how thickly you spread the manure or you can sit stationary and pile it. Ground drives will slip if you fill it to high. I have a 9ft. long mill creek spreader. Hold three bucket loads and would take about 4 passes on 150ft. rows to empty if I was going at an average ground speed with a ground drive spreader. With the pto I can dump it all on one row if I wanted to or cover 6 rows if I wanted to.

showcrop · Oct 20, 2014

I believe that I am familiar with the "cub" spreader. Most of the ground driven models have adjustable apron chain speed so that you could set it to unload quite quickly if desired. I don't recall if the cub has that adjustment. I have never used a ground drive myself but everyone that I saw in use was loaded with all it would hold. Of course the apron chains are most likely to break when fully loaded and unloading by hand is no picnic.

Dieseltech · Oct 20, 2014

Dad broke the web years ago on the ground drive New Idea, he was so mad he used the loader tractor to roll the spreader over. He was NOT going to unload it by hand!

Traditional Farmer · Oct 20, 2014

Cub Spreaders are small but they work great if they're in reasonably good shape,far better spreader than the junky Mini Spreaders being sold new these days.They'd be just right for your Super A especially if you're spreading wet manure.The rate of spread is adjusted by the left handle on the front of the spreader the farther you pull the handle down the more its spreads as pulling the handle down increases the speed of the drag chain as it drops the roller down farther on the wheel cam.Keep it greased good too.Behind a small tractor I'd much rather have a ground driven IH or New Idea spreader than one that runs off the PTO

notjustair · Oct 20, 2014

I've always just had ground driven. I always end up piling most and composting it anyway. I like ground drive for as much as I use it. It means I can hook it to an old tractor without live pto and it isn't a pain in the rear. I enjoy using an old tractor for that as lost as it isn't too windy.

gene bender · Oct 20, 2014

That will work just fine for your 150ft beds

Mike (WA) · Oct 20, 2014

Non-live PTO on your Super A kills the deal on a PTO powered spreader- You're starting under full load (can't "clear it out", like a baler), and you'll bust something, sure as heck. I've always used ground drives, and they work just fine.

johnald · Oct 20, 2014

I run my pto powered spreader behind a 130 all the time. Live pto isn't really a problem like it would be with a bush hog. I never knew about variable speed ground drives. I still like the option of sitting stationary and piling out of the spreader.

oldtanker · Oct 20, 2014

I use a JD 33 PTO spreader behind an M Farmall without live PTO every year cleaning up manure packs. Non live PTO and haven't broken anything yet.

Rick

mkirsch · Oct 20, 2014

Not having live PTO is no big deal. Millions of loads of manure have been spread with letter series Farmalls, Ford N-series, old Cases, Allises, Olivers, Deeres...

I used to run a load out with the Super M every other day in the summer. Big spreader, way bigger than the tractor should be pulling.

One key is don't pile it up against the beaters.

showcrop · Oct 20, 2014

(quoted from post at 05:52:24 10/20/14) Non-live PTO on your Super A kills the deal on a PTO powered spreader- You're starting under full load (can't "clear it out", like a baler), and you'll bust something, sure as heck. I've always used ground drives, and they work just fine.

Spreaders pretty much never "start" with a load against the beaters you always have to go a little way before the manure gets pulled against the beaters and will start to fly.

Leroy · Oct 20, 2014

The spreader sold for the Farmal Cub was a Model 100 spreader and had 16" tires and is about 40-50 bushel size. And good one is a thousand bucks.

JRSutton · Oct 20, 2014

I'd guess one good pass with a smaller spreader like that, but I couldn't say for sure.

We use older ground driven spreaders which are probably twice the capacity, and we usually get at least 300 feet or so with them. Really depends on how it's flying so to speak.

Dick L · Oct 20, 2014

This be an IH 100 spreader.

I would say two passes or more with the lever set all the way down if loaded like I load the spreader. The amount can be set to where you could make many passes.

Dick L · Oct 20, 2014

Here is a shot of the adjusting levers of the IH 100 spreader. I have a 200 also. they look the same except for size.

ss55 · Oct 20, 2014

Before tractors and PTO drives were invented, all manure spreaders were horse drawn and ground driven. To me PTO drive was a big improvement, but both worked.

How quickly you can empty the spreader may depend on the size of the load and how solid it is. You may need an extra pass with the beaters disengaged to completely empty the spreader.

Bret4207 · Oct 21, 2014

I use both. The PTO is handier for piling of course but otherwise they aren't a lot different. if the GD is slipping, either you did something wrong loading or there's something bound up in the spreader drive.

Dick L · Oct 21, 2014

Your right about sliding the wheels being caused by something being bound up.

Last week I had emptied the spreader and was coming back across the field to the barn when it made a clump noise and the tires stopped turning. Pushed the levers up and parked it beside the shed to repair what ever broke. I decided to remove the shield fenders to see what happened. Before starting that I took the torch to burn off all the plastic bailer twine. There is where I found my problem. One of the flopping twines on the bottom beater caught the spinning spreader and stopped the whole thing. Plastic twine is strong stuff. Once the twine was burned off the spreader was fine.

John Kenny · Oct 21, 2014

Thanks for all the generous responses. I've used a New Idea behind a TN65 for years but am leaving the property where I rent the tractor. I would only have my SuperA to use for unloading compost unless I bought another tractor. SO it sounds that according to the advice here I shouldn't run a PTO driven spreader on the back of the SA but go with the ground-driven. THANKS! any more advice is welcome

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