# tailgate salters



## Eager Beaver (Jul 27, 2000)

Looking into purchasing a tailgate salter for my 1997 F150 however it is a lease truck. Get rid of it in April and going to buy a real truck however need a salter for some small accounts. When installing a salter with the tailgate that swings open for access where does it bolt on? I don't need any more holes in this thing than I already have? I understand they make a receiver style. Has anyone used one and how well do they work? Any recomendations on makes or models? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## nsmilligan (Dec 21, 1999)

*tailgate spreaders*

I bought a Fisher 1000 a couple of years ago. Built a mount that slides in my receiver hitch.( They have their own now)
They changed the model number but a receiver hitch mount is availible. It has spread over 20 tons of salt, no problems
Weights less than 150 pounds ( I can mount and unmount myself in less than a minute) NO holes in the leased truck!
I use bagged DRY salt only, Sand can work if it's really DRY
Bill


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## diggerman (May 19, 2001)

I have two a buyers and a western stainless we use the Buyers more but the salt has a tendency to flow through the auger even when it is not on,so it must either be loaded on site or used not far from the shop.It spreads well but seems to be a picky eater,like was already said any substance used has to be dry.Sand is just a headache waiting to happen so we only use bag salt.Whatever you buy for a salter look at how the feed area is constructed and see that its not going to jam and that it is closeable, a plastic hoper seems to last longer and be lighter.Also look at the motor to be sure your comfortable with how it looks as far as location and attachment to the spinner. Our salters hook over the tail gate and sit on the bumper with a piece of rubber behind them so they don't scratch the tail gate, then we bind them down. There is a better way out there,but we just don't use them as much as our bigger sanders but if you only have some small lots, they serve their purpose.Kept clean and serviced after EACH and EVERY use most salters will last long enough to get you into something bigger.


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## PINEISLAND1 (Dec 21, 1999)

Diggerman-

Could you give some specifics as to what needs to be done after each day of salting to keep it working smooth? 

Thanks!


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## diggerman (May 19, 2001)

Nothing special,just make sure it gets washed,even though the hopper is usually stainless or plastic not much of most spreading parts are, so they rust and because they are moving bare spot are created giving the salt free access to the steel. Also it seems like most of them have motors which are in the worst spots for taking salty run off, so if their are greese point grease them. Also always check the wiring to make sure that it is in good shape so you don't have any shorts,primarily check your ground if it is grounded at the spreader and not at the battery. Oh one last thing I am always finding spreader lids from other quys spreader on the road make sure the tie down are stiil good.


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## Eager Beaver (Jul 27, 2000)

Thanks guys for all your information. I am already pushing this truck with a 7.5 foot western plow but have until April to get rid of it. I have seen the receiver style salters and will watch for all your warning issues before purchasing one. Thanks Again Eager beaver


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## cat320 (Aug 25, 2000)

Last season I bought a Fisher speed casterII and it does both sand and salt .You can either mount under chassie with a classIV hitch or the other option is to drill and bolt thru bed.I did the reciver hitch for one i didn't want to drill my bed and the other was i upgraded to a class IV plus i have the whole bed for use.It holds ten cubic feet just right for a small lot or long drivways.


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## jrblawncare (Jan 9, 2000)

Hey all,has anyone seen or used LESCO spreaders...I'm looking for some opinions on them..THANKS


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## Eager Beaver (Jul 27, 2000)

I have been comparing the SnowEase, the Western and the Lesco brands myself. I would be intrested in any information on these models if there is any feedback of current owners. From what I have gathered SnowEase and Western are made by the same company but differant colors yellow?vs Red. I have also looked at the Lesco and wondered about their products. Any opinions???


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## jaclawn (May 6, 2000)

*Not a Lesco but,*

I have a Trynex. It is identical to the Lesco, only different colors. Lesco has them manafactured by Trynex.

Do a search on Trynex, and you will find some info that I wrote last season about them.

Any other questions, please ask.


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## n y snow pros (Jan 3, 2000)

*rusty spreaders*

What ever tailgate spreader you finally decide to go with you should look into using Magic as the inevitable rust problem will always be possible.One of the benifits of this product is that it eats rust,therefore increasing the life expectancy of your equipment.Those of us who have sanders know all to well what 1 season of spreding salt can do to a sander,but with Magic you eliminated the rust problem.


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## iowastorm (Aug 20, 2000)

We use a Trynex on one of our pickups and we have spread both sand and salt out of it. My comments on the thing is that it is very easy to overload it; half full overloaded it and we constantly had to dig thru it. The other thing it that material kept running out of it. Trynex finally made a replacement baffle for it for dry material, but it didn't completely solve the problem. Therefore, last year, we constantly had to reload the thing and could never run between jobsites with material in it because of leakage. Anybody else had these troubles????


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## Alan (Mar 2, 2000)

We've got TrynEx and it has been so-so at best. No problems with salt leaking out but can't use granulated calcium chloride it it unsell we load it at the site. What we did have trouble with was the foolish touchpad control box. It would start spreading all by itself and if you didn't happen to be looking at it you could waste a lot of material. They gave us a new box, same style, within two storms it was bad as well. Gave us a second but we never used it again that season. The secodn one went out not too far into last winter and they balked at doing anythign about it because "parts only carry a 90 day warranty". Never mind that you don't use the thing in the summer! In the meantime they came out with a new design on the cntrol box, real switches and a potentiometer to control speed, good old fashioned technology which WORKS!! I had to buy one so I could use the spreader, then I went ballistic at the dealers and they finally got in gear and got the upgraded contol for me under warranty. Other problem sounds like yours, overloading. Come to find out there was too much grease in the gearbox and when it was cold the thing would not start, just sit there and go into overload mode, complete with flashing lights. There was a repair "kit" for the problem, kit consisted of a drill bit, several screws, a squeeze tube of silicone sealant and a tongue depressor. You drilled out the rivets holding the cover on, scooped out half the grease with the tongue depressor, gooped it with silicone and screwed the cover back on. Kinda hokey but that cured the problem with it not starting. We added the vibrator to prevent bridging and now it's a pretty decent unit.

[Edited by Alan on 09-14-2000 at 01:09 AM]


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## iowastorm (Aug 20, 2000)

Alan,

Glad you fixed the 'problems' but sorry you had to go thru all that b.xxxx! We're not even going to waste any more time and manpower w/ that thing; just trade it in for a nice v bed sander. It drives me nuts thinking about how poor the thing worked last winter - while one guy drove, another guy had to shovel or dump material into it and how it leaked too. When you spend money for equipment like that, you shouldn't have to use quirky fixes and go thru control units like that; it should work, period. Anyway, it was too bad, because when it did work it spread material pretty well.


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