# Best walk behind salt/mag/ sand spreader?



## rockytop

Need to get a good/best walk behind spreader. Needs to be able to spread larger material mixes. What brand, price and where to get? Minimum 100# hopper.


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## bayfish

Are you using it for larger areas?
For sidewalks I use the small Scotts spreader from Lowes. I have larger Lesco fert spreaders but they don't work as well for Mag or calcium as the little Scotts.


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## Dan85

We use Snowex broadcast spreaders, two 50lb bags of rock salt is pretty much the max though. Knock on wood, they've worked very well. 

Originally we tried Salt Dog spreaders and wound up returning them.

If you want really good spreaders, look into finding an epoke, they're quite expensive though.


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## Wayne Volz

*We use SnowEx*

I use SnowEx spreaders and they work well for us. Check one out and see. You can adjust the opening from small to a very large drop.


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## spiviter

We run the agrifabs and are trying a snow ex this year. Still trying to get used to the balance point on it.We are running bag and bulk salt in both of them but they need a bounce here and there to kee[ them flowing.


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## havenlax18

agri-fab are good for the $60. Lescos are good we own 2 of them they retail 239 new. I find the 2 andersons we have the best BUT they are $600. Earthways are just like lescos in the middle. I am buying a saltdogg spreader by buyers. They are the best. You can find them cheapest ive seen online for 189. I am just going to purchase one for 230 at a local dealer because of no shipping and it is already put together.


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## havenlax18

ACCUALLY GO TO one the the plow site sponsers: discountsnowstakes.com .... they are on the left colum on the site. The ice master brand is based off the buyers.


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## Puddle of Oil

bayfish;1200220 said:


> Are you using it for larger areas?
> For sidewalks I use the small Scotts spreader from Lowes. I have larger Lesco fert spreaders but they don't work as well for Mag or calcium as the little Scotts.


its funny you say that. i just returned my $70 scotts spreader to home depot. i salted a 1 acre lot 3 times then it broke, but i got my 70 bucks back. the one before that was a scotts 2000, the 50 dollar spreader. i got about 10+ salt events with that then it broke down as well. now i have to spread 250 lbs of salt out of a 5 gallon bucket for the rest of the year.  im too poor to buy a tailgate salt spreader.


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## havenlax18

Burrrrrrrr;1202410 said:


> its funny you say that. i just returned my $70 scotts spreader to home depot. i salted a 1 acre lot 3 times then it broke, but i got my 70 bucks back. the one before that was a scotts 2000, the 50 dollar spreader. i got about 10+ salt events with that then it broke down as well. now i have to spread 250 lbs of salt out of a 5 gallon bucket for the rest of the year.  im too poor to buy a tailgate salt spreader.


I owned 8 scotts spreaders. They are all junk


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## DrakeSabitch

Has anyone used the Ice Master spreaders? not ready to spend $250 on a SnoEx, the ice masters seem to be the same thing, and for $180 (ice master pro 3000), thats a whole lot better. Any input would help before i go ahead and get one. Thanks


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## havenlax18

DrakeSa*****;1205485 said:


> Has anyone used the Ice Master spreaders? not ready to spend $250 on a SnoEx, the ice masters seem to be the same thing, and for $180 (ice master pro 3000), thats a whole lot better. Any input would help before i go ahead and get one. Thanks


Just bought one, after the storm tonight I am buying a second because the fist one worked so good,


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## DrakeSabitch

ill take that as a "yes go out and get one" lol. the website says they are about 30 min away from me, so hopefully i can grab one tomorrow or after the snow hits.


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## 94formy

Have had all brands of cheap plastic wheeled spreaders from Menards, Lowes, etc, all are junk, can't handle the weight of salt. Have had 2 salt doggs for about 4 years now, one is totally wore out, and have had to replace parts on the other one. Bought a earthway last year and it has worked great so far although I can see it flexing with two bags of salt in it. Lesco makes the best one hands down. Have 2 50# spreaders and a 80# that is at least 7 years old. The axles and frames are the strongest (grease zerks on the axle housings) and parts are readily available from any lesco dealer. A little more expensive but worth every penny.


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## silvetouch

what is the difference between the icemaster 2500 and icemaster 3000. the 2500 shows a regular price of $400 on sale for 195 and the 3000 is $180.


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## qualitylawn

Lesco had one for about 5 years no problems!


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## MileHigh

We use Spykers, Salt Doggs, and Buckets.


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## tlrlc

Anyone spreading magic salt ( magicsalt ) ? I have tried different spreaders
But nothing seems to flow well, I tried saltdog, reg. fert earthway and some other salt specific spreader
I currently use earthway hi flow which does ok but I would love a better one with side deflectors
Because I'm doing sidewalks with it.
Or - has anyone tried a battery operated vibrator ( all jokes aside) - because shaking seems to work well.
Any info would be appreciated.


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## bruin250

I have a earthway 100lb spreader and a HD bucket,a scotts broadcast and scotts handheld spreader:bluebounc


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## jkrak

Here is the last spreader you will ever buy. We have used this for 3 seasons now, works great keeps salt on sidewalks spreads any size melter wet or dry. Heavy, weighs about 70lbs and expensive ours was over a grand but worth it. 
http://www.epokena.com/products/view/index.php?section=30&page=103&


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## condo plow

tlrlc;1267806 said:


> Anyone spreading magic salt ( magicsalt ) ? I have tried different spreaders
> But nothing seems to flow well, I tried saltdog, reg. fert earthway and some other salt specific spreader
> I currently use earthway hi flow which does ok but I would love a better one with side deflectors
> Because I'm doing sidewalks with it.
> Or - has anyone tried a battery operated vibrator ( all jokes aside) - because shaking seems to work well.
> Any info would be appreciated.


This might be late....I run magic salt in my vbox and In my walk behinds 
To run rock salt in a Meyer walk behind I change the pin ( the one inside the hopper that suppose to turn the salt) I drill out the hole for a hitch pin ( from menards for less than $2.00) zip tie the ends. Rock salt flows a lot better no more jerking the walk behind. This season I bought a spreader pro I noticed the pin is way to high. I drilled a 11/32 hole I inch off the hopper floor see how the one works due to 2 of my Meyer walk behinds got stolen


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## DaveCN5

I second the Lesco spreaders. We have 12 of them. They are the most durable we've tried. We ran into problems with the hoppers clogging up if we got some bigger salt in it. When I was at the local dealer picking up some extra parts I found out there is two different style of hoppers. 1 with 3 holes and 1 with a single large hole. I bought 1 with a big hole to try out. No more clogging. We are now switching all of our hoppers. We are exerimenting with liquid on sidewalks this year though and we just bought a Snow Ex SS liquid sprayer with built in wand for $700. If it does well we might switch to all liquid next year.


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## derekbroerse

I've had two different Scotts units, one wore out after two years and the other broke by about the 5th night out. Bought a pricey Earthway, it didn't survive the season either. I now have numerous Salt Doggs, wish they were stainless framed but they are the cheaper plain steel. They work well overall, the main hangup is rust... so I oil spray them and try to wash them once in a while... The most commonly used one has the differential siezed up, but no big deal. The most common problem is probably flat tires!


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## cj7plowing

I have lesco stainless ones and they have been the absolute best. I have had them for 6 years now and the only thing I replaced on one of them was the spinner after it got smashed by a snow blower. 

you pay more for the stainless but they are forever unlike the steel ones that rot up in a month or two.


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## The Viking

Anyone use the walk-behind drop spreader from Snowex, SD-95 or the stainless one? I have been manually spreading and using walk behind spreaders for the last 4 seasons, but with a couple new contracts this year I sprung for a one year old tailgate spreader (SnowEx SP 1075) 
The decision came after the plastic housing below the diff blew apart on my Salt Dog. 
I started off using various green plastic spreaders, but none of these would get enough traction on ice to spin the spreader and would quickly break. After 2 years of $40.00 spreaders and _shovels*_ and buckets I got the Salt Dog for about $200 plus tax. I had a hard time finding a dealer in Toronto and purchased it from a dealer 150km away. It was problematic from the start; I had to add a bolt that was missing. The first season had a flat, one of the plastic tabs holding the flowgate broke off, and the handle started to bend at the mount. The second year I had to add reinforcement to the handle, had another flat (valve stem?), and finally the mount for the diff blew up. I bought it because it was the cheapest spreader that had inflated tires and was intended for salt - You get what you pay for right? 
I found a cheap metal spreader at a yard sale and decided to try it out. IT looks like a 3/4 size 5galon pail on wheels with a spinner. It has inclosed diff and is very sturdy. Even though it has solid wheels and tires, it has good traction and worked way better then the Salt Dog. The $5.00 I spent on that almost made up for the $200 on the Salt Dog
Anyway, with the tailgate unit for bigger areas, I am thinking a drop spreader for sidewalks but I dont want to DROP a grand or more...
_* One note about shovels: A load of bulk salt in the back of the truck and a good long spade and I can throw salt 30-40 feet with a pretty good spread. Its quick, its dirty, and its cheap, but it works for small to medium areas_


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## willshome

DrakeSa*****;1205485 said:


> Has anyone used the Ice Master spreaders? not ready to spend $250 on a SnoEx, the ice masters seem to be the same thing, and for $180 (ice master pro 3000), thats a whole lot better. Any input would help before i go ahead and get one. Thanks


Did you end up getting one? Any good?


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## NuverPlawd

Dan85;1201064 said:


> We use Snowex broadcast spreaders, two 50lb bags of rock salt is pretty much the max though. Knock on wood, they've worked very well.
> 
> Originally we tried Salt Dog spreaders and wound up returning them.
> 
> If you want really good spreaders, look into finding an epoke, they're quite expensive though.


Looked into EPOKE, they only make drop spreaders..

That icemaster looks identical to the Saltdogg.. wtf chinese company that makes these and then lets other company's middle man their product, making them more expensive!


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## derekbroerse

Last week in the middle of the night the bungee broke holding my Saltdogg on the back of my truck, it was sideways between the salter and side board with pretty much no room to move, figured I'd finish my run without a bungee (two more stops) and replace it when I got back to the shop. Apparently, a bad idea... driving down a deserted road at 80km/h I guess the wind took it, I wouldn't have expected that from such a heavy item that was on its side and contained, but it did. I didn't notice until the next street light when it wasn't in my side mirror anymore!!! U TURN!!! Luckily no one else was out!! (could have been disaster, black spreader on wet asphalt... no one would have even seen it!) 

So I head back expecting to find this thing shattered all over the asphalt... nope. All the parts were around it, the grille, the cover, the two little bungees I use to keep the cover on... and the main unit. The plastic handles have some road rash on them and the stem is ever so slightly tweaked, but completely intact and functional!!!! 

Put it back in the truck (still didn't have a bungee) and just drove alot slower til I got back... lol Used it the rest of the night and that major storm we just finished this weekend.

I think I'd call that a tough spreader!!!

ps Do NOT try this at home! I'm a trained professional idiot....


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## NuverPlawd

Changed my mind.. went with the Prizelawn BIGFOOT.. similar to Meyers HSHDs and SHIN RS76s but so much better. Hope that helps.


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## V_Scapes

I picked up a Earthway Evn Spred this year with 100# capacity. Its got 3 holes in the plastic hopper but they have to be opened all the way to spread Roadrunner (calcium blend). So far its been good but it had trouble spreading my leftover cal. from last year which was clumped up. 
I ran some new, fresh material through it today and it worked much better. it was pricey ($325) but i got a rain cover for it for half price and ill use it to fertilize in the green season so i wanted something good.


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## herbert02

I got the SnowEx drop spreader/stainless model this year for condos with a lot of sidewalks. All I can say is amazing. The amount that you save in salt along is worth is. You can easily put 100 lbs in it. I think it's rated for 160lbs.


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## carlriv2

To anyone using the snowEx DROP spreaders, do you still like them? I need a drop not broadcast.


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