# Questions on under tailgate spreader



## Wilburn Parks (May 16, 2001)

I have just bought a Warren under tailgate spreader mounted on 5 yd. dump on F650 Ford and have a few questions as I have always used V-box spreader before. I know all valves are different but I thought maybe I could get a good starting point as where to set for the auger valve for the proper rate of salt to spread? The spinner valve shouldn't be a problem as that I can adjust for width the first time I use it. So my questions are 1.Aprox. setting for auger valve?(or do I just have to play with it?) 2.Do you block tailgate open?(seems mine is heavy do'nt know if salt will push tailgate open with bed down?) 3.Do you ride around in lots if possible with dump up? 4.Being my spinner is on drivers side does it spread more to drivers side or even across back? 5.Does anyone know of A good paint or something like epoxy to paint dump bed with? My book that came with spreader tells how to calculate but I don't have any salt to test out system yet. Thanks for any answers. Wilburn


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## SnoJob67 (Sep 3, 2001)

Wilburn-

I have a Swenson undertailgate spreader. I'm sure each brand is different as far as settings go. Your auger will likely be set much closer to the minimum settings than the higher settings. 

Mine is an ex-city truck and it had a line painted at the "3" setting (third from lowest). Last season I ignored that mark (thought the setting was too low) and I confirmed that I wasted material. 

The salt should be enough weight to open your tailgate and fill the hopper. 

"Do you ride around, if possible with the dump up?" -- Not unless you want an insurance claim for damaging drive thru canopies, electric wires, etc. Be careful, you will invariably forget that bed is raised at some point! 

Your spinner will send salt equidistant from the center of the spinner. The material will spread evenly. However, the center of your spread pattern will be offset about 3 foot to the left because the spinner is offset to the driver side.

Paint? How about something that goes nicely with rust??? 
Good luck, you are going to love your new setup!


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## Alan (Mar 2, 2000)

I have a Flink (I think that's the name) spreader. There is a slide which allows the spinner to be moved relative to where the salt drops on it. Set to one extreme it throws mostly to the left, depositing material on the centerline of a road. Set to the other extreme it spreads behind the truck. Without having it here to look at I can't remember which way is which though.

It also has a feed auger which transfers material from both sides of thebody towards the feed hole, which is not quite 1/3 of the way from the left side of the body. That end of the auger runs out of material before the right side does. When that happens your feed rate is cut in half. Running with the body raised enough to keep salt against the tailgate prevents that from happenning. On small lots it's not a problem but in bigger lots you need to keep raising your body to keep the spreader feeding uniformly.

To maintain uniform application rates you need to keep engine RPM and travel speed uniform as well. 

There is a method to calibrate spread rate, I'm not fully versed in it, but I'll try to describe how it's done.

Warm up the hydraulic system by letting it run, with the auger and spinner both turning. Remove the spinner and hook it up so that it can run without throwing salt everywhere. For what it's worth, I run my spinner on either 3 or 4 for the most part. On my truck, changing spinner speed WILL change auger speed somewhat.

Put a tarp on the ground to catch the salt as it comes off the auger. Raise the body to get material into the auger. Bring the engine up to the speed you will be running while spreading. I run at right around 2,000 RPM. Engage the auger and run it for certain period of time, 30 seconds, 1 minute, whatever you choose.

Collect (this is where the tarp fits in) the material delivered and weigh it. Now you know the lbs per minute for a given auger speed. Do it again at a different setting or engine speed until you have enough data to make a simple chart.

Now take the truck out and drive it at those same engine speeds in a given gear. Either measure the distance traveled or set up a known distance and time how long it takes to cover it. Now you know how far you will be going while the spreader delivers X amount of material.

Let's suppose that at 2,000 RPM and setting 2 the auger delivers 300 lbs per minute. And you have a gear that will give you 20 miles per hour at 2,000 RPM. In one minute you will have put down 300 lbs of material over 1/3 of a mile of travel. If you were spreading on a two lane road, dropping on the centerline, you would have applied at the rate of 450 lbs per lane mile.

300 lbs per 1/3 mile x 3 = 900 lbs per mile. Each mile of travel equals two lane miles of area, so 450 lbs/LM. A lane mile is roughly 60,000 square feet, or approx. 1 1/2 acres. Once you have delivery rate and distance traveled you can work it from there for any area.

I hope this helps.


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## BRL (Dec 21, 1999)

Man this site is great!! Good luck with the new set up! I have a sub with one and what I know has already been posted so I can't add anything.


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## Wilburn Parks (May 16, 2001)

Thanks for the reply guys. That should give me a good starting point. The book that came with spreader does the calculating just like you said Alan. I just don't have salt to do the test yet. Thanks again, Wilburn


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