Hi and thank you for replying How often do you use your spreader ? Do you put manure in it every day and dump it every day ?? Do you put manure in it but only dump it once full ? My old spreader was much smaller and was usually full at the end of each day. This spreader one days worth of manure only fills it about 1/4. You mentioned picking the speed of the spreader ( I am guessing you mean the adjustable beater speed n not how fast you drive ??) what notch is neeeded for regular manure ? I live in North Fl so frozen manure isn't usually a problem. I don't have an handy men etc. so I need to keep this from breaking down as much as possible. I'm guessing getting it fixed will be a bit difficult. It seems everything is original so I guess they must hold up. Mine does also have a jack welded to it. I do worry about all those gears and chains 🙈 There is a gear box I have to find and fill ?! LOL oh dear. !! I did learn about the tires and mine are definitely on backwards. I'll have to look into finding someone swap them around. Since I don't have a trailer that large ... will have to work on that .. Again thank you for your help

If you are loading horse manure with lots of bedding mixed in and it is under roof so the rain is not soaking it and compacting it and you are down south so it is not freezing solid, you should be able to fill it for several days before you unload it. Eventually the wet manure setting in it will rot the floor. Painting the floor with waste oil or diesel fuel and parking it in the sun to soak in preserves the floor.

I can't give you any advice on the speed setting since a PTO spreader works very differently.

So paint the floor and inside walls with waste oil or diesel fuel ......this is a more efficient method that protective paint ?? Wouldn't waster motor oil or diesel fuel be an fire hazard?? It is completely under a roof with only wall not enclosed. But the unit is a always from there. I checked the specs on my Kubota 500. It is rated to pull 1200 pounds. It also has four wheel n two wheel drive : has high , reverse , and liow ,,, it also willl allow me to look the differential in.....I'm reallyyyy hoping it will be okay !!! So far it has but I've no where loaded iit full. If necessary I do have a large dodge 3500. :) Any idea of ideas for protecting the chain . Slats and gears ??? Thank you so much

The oil soaks into the wood. I've never worried about fire. Paint will just flake off. You might try deck oil or thompson's water seal if it makes you more comfortable.
Kubota 500...ATV? Whoa!!!! The tongue weight could be a serious problem. When my spreader is full to the brim...3 stalls...it puts a lot of load on the tractor drawbar. Best you use the pickup, rather than break the rear axle or frame of the ATV. Just my opinon,...The ATV guys can give you better info on that.

Another thought. Don't spread the manure very thick or it will kill the grass. So I would set it at a slow floor speed, and drive further to spread it, rather than a fast floor chain speed which would empty the spreader faster but put it on the ground thicker.

There is no setting for floor speed. That would be dictated by the speed you drive the until pulling the spreader. The speed level if for spinners and beaters. I've talked to a few people and no one is quite sure why though we guess it has to do how wide out it probably throws the pattern. In the past what I've done is throw a cup of grass seed in with every few manure bucket loads. Sometimes I'll also use lime. Being in such a sandy soil makes grass harder to grow and even harder to sustain.

Ground drive should not have a gear box, only the PTO models. For your other question how much does the manure settle and pack down if it sets for a few days? if it does not settle and pack wating will not make buch difference. Only thing will be it getting too heavy for your outfit to pull. Power + traction. I think you need a smaller spreader or something bigger to pul it

Hi and thank you The manure is not compacting super tight I don't think. Since I'm able to spread it across a larger area of the box and pack it down to get it to fit. It does look that it might be getting jammed tween the chain apron and the wall. Since I've only been able to dump it at night since I've gotten it , I might not be rolling the apron enough times around the box to get it all out. I can't see it until I get it back to the barn. I will see more on that this weekend. The spreader in kept pretty much out of the weather. It's under a large porch of my barn

There are several notches on the wheel of the arm that locks the beaters and paddles. These notches control the " speed " of which the beaters n paddles turn (??) where do I want these set ?? I could understand the chain apron needing control for what's on it ( less drag ) but I don't understand the beater n paddle speed. I tend to think you're right I need a smaller spreader but can't afford one. I was supper lucky to find this / it's super how it actually cuts the manure n hay up before throwing it. My old one only had paddles on just slung it. Worked okayish. Needed rain or moving to remove the manure puds. With this machine it's way more effective with the "pods "

There should be no speed adjustment on beater or wide spred paddles, only on the web that carrys the load to the beaters, If you cannot see how it is cleaning out carry a good flash light with you to check at different times.

There is definitely an arm that not only turns the spinner/beaters / paddles ( which ever you want to call them) on and off but it also has eight notches into which you can set the lever. The other lever has only an on and off notch. This lever locks or unlocks the apron. Of course the speed of the apron is controlled by how fast you pull it.

The speed of the apron is controled by yhe ratchet on the rear axle in if one tooth at a time or 3 teeth or 5 teeth and that is set by the multiple notches on the lever. DO not use untill you get it put together before you are looking for a different spreader. Yes apron speed will change by how fast you pull it and also beater speed but to cordinate speeds for unloading it is from the ratchet on the wheel, Even some of the older PTO powered spreaders used that ratchet on the wheel to power the web while the PTO only powered the beaters. And then the only speed adjustment on the beaters was how fast you ran the engine on the tractor.