This is our first year with bulk salt and we have two hopper spreaders. One Smith electric and one Henderson which is hydraulic. The electric spreader has an on/off switch. The only way to regulate the amount of material applied is to adjust the gate or the speed of the vehicle. Fairly straight forward. The first five or six trips out we have definetly found ourselves at the bottom of the learning curve.
The electric spreader has few adjustments. Basically I can just close the gate on the back and be more careful about turning the spreader on/off when going back over areas. This spreader is on a 1 ton GMC dump. It's fairly manuerverable and fits into tight spaces. The spread pattern is more narrow and does a decent job. The salt does seem to accumulate a little going around corners making a trail. Either I need to close the gate more or increase the size of the spinner so that salt doesn't fall down the corner of the chute and pour onto the ground, which is what I suspect.
The Henderson hydraulic spreader is more challenging to use. I turn on the PTO which is run off of the transmission. So I have a hydraulic open/off valve and then separate auger/spinner speed controls. I also can adjust the gate for quantity of material.
What I've found is that we're definetly over applying when using this larger truck and hydraulic spreader. We've been running the spreader at the adjustments recommended by the previous owner.
My question is this (sorry for the long post), how do I balance the proportion best between the gate opening and auger speed. If the auger is slowed down and gate left where it is, will this provide the same result as slowing the auger and leaving the gate setting where it is? TWhich one do I adjust down? Or do I do both? I know ultimately this a is trial and error type experience, but if anyone can better define which controller is better for certain applications, that would be helpful.
The spinner speed is generally left wide open, but we'll turn it down a little when in confined areas since the spinner will fling salt 20' to 30' on either side of the truck.
The electric spreader has few adjustments. Basically I can just close the gate on the back and be more careful about turning the spreader on/off when going back over areas. This spreader is on a 1 ton GMC dump. It's fairly manuerverable and fits into tight spaces. The spread pattern is more narrow and does a decent job. The salt does seem to accumulate a little going around corners making a trail. Either I need to close the gate more or increase the size of the spinner so that salt doesn't fall down the corner of the chute and pour onto the ground, which is what I suspect.
The Henderson hydraulic spreader is more challenging to use. I turn on the PTO which is run off of the transmission. So I have a hydraulic open/off valve and then separate auger/spinner speed controls. I also can adjust the gate for quantity of material.
What I've found is that we're definetly over applying when using this larger truck and hydraulic spreader. We've been running the spreader at the adjustments recommended by the previous owner.
My question is this (sorry for the long post), how do I balance the proportion best between the gate opening and auger speed. If the auger is slowed down and gate left where it is, will this provide the same result as slowing the auger and leaving the gate setting where it is? TWhich one do I adjust down? Or do I do both? I know ultimately this a is trial and error type experience, but if anyone can better define which controller is better for certain applications, that would be helpful.
The spinner speed is generally left wide open, but we'll turn it down a little when in confined areas since the spinner will fling salt 20' to 30' on either side of the truck.