# Spreading Sand & Salt



## guest

im planning to spread sand and salt on my driveway this year during ice storms (we had about 6 times last year when it was needed) 

Im planning to get one of those 175 lb tow behind spreaders they sell at home depot and pull it behind my tractor. 250' driveway. 

My question: is this a good idea? not sure how my tractor would do on ice (with suitcase weights of course) But has anyone used one of those spreaders for sand & salt? 

I was considering the 100 lb version if that would be any easier to use, but can not think of any reason why the 175 lb would be much different than the 100 lb version. 

am i living in a dream world here or do you think the spreader idea would work? 



<IMG SRC=http://www.brinly.com/images/spreader/SpreaderTow35a.jpg>


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## leolav

I know when we tried it a few years back, the pneumatic tire just slid along the ice . We had to keep the tire pressure very low to add up to traction. I guess it would depend on the model, but I definietly wouldn't fill it to the brim. 

Also, be accurate with the salt. It will kill off grass pretty quickly.


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## Chris

> _Originally posted by simple_john _
> *im planning to spread sand and salt on my driveway this year during ice storms (we had about 6 times last year when it was needed)
> 
> Im planning to get one of those 175 lb tow behind spreaders they sell at home depot and pull it behind my tractor. 250' driveway.
> 
> My question: is this a good idea? not sure how my tractor would do on ice (with suitcase weights of course) But has anyone used one of those spreaders for sand & salt?
> 
> I was considering the 100 lb version if that would be any easier to use, but can not think of any reason why the 175 lb would be much different than the 100 lb version.
> 
> am i living in a dream world here or do you think the spreader idea would work?
> *


You are living in a dream and BTW how often do you change your avatar? I am going to set a limit to once a week ----    I keep thinking you are someone else ---- HAHAHA

Andy


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## guest

Andy:
i thought id put a winter type pic up today. 


Leo did your tractor do ok on the ice? I have a fair slope in my driveway that may be an issue.. i thought that even if the spreader is slipping a little it will at least spread the sand the width of my driveway. 


Ill get the S & S mix from a local gravel place and will go light on the salt


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## tisenberg

The salt is only good to melt away what is there. After that, if it is cold and dark, it will just re-ice back up. The salts are also tough on the driveways, but I still use them from time to time. I usually salt during the morning to get rid of the ice and then the afternoon sun hopefully gets at the wetness and dries it up.

Best thing for moving around on the ice is chains, lower tire pressure, more weight and maybe even sand.


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## leolav

Worked pretty good. Just was a pain in the but staying on top of it. Like T-berg said, the salt is tough on the driveway. If found it tougher on the lawn. I also didn't like doing this because my driveway is primarily shade and the water never gets off of it during the course of the day. I get ice at times that gets up to 2" thick across my driveway. 

We switched to just sand. As soon as it gets warm enough, I go at it with a shovel or a edger. only an area about 5 feet wide across the driveway.


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## leolav

<img src=http://www.hpphoto.com/servlet/LinkPhoto?GUID=4f3a1501-6ea2-2fd8-2de7-f11a560b2da0&size=>


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## Argee

SJ,
I thought your drive was rehydro???, homogenated???, reconstituted??? or something like that chewed up and spit out blacktop....Why would you need salt?:smiles:


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## Adamr88

SJ,
You might also want to consider that you will have a heck of a time backing that up.

Adam


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## tisenberg

Leolav ---> Looks like a grading task is at hand... unless you like playing that game over and over every year.


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## leolav

One is in the plans. The stupid builder put the driveway in perfectly, but then graded the left side too high and the right side with drainage swales. The swale to the right has been filled up over the years with sand, dirt, and now wood chips. The wood chips have helped to absorb some of the water, but it still needs to be fixed. I prefer to fix the right side of the driveway because it is much less work. 

I did it about 5 yrs ago via a shovel and a trailer, but you can only go so deep in rocky, CT soil. I am renting a backhoe next spring to fix this issue and to dig up some stumps around our yard.

What about a French Ditch??? any thoughts?


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## tisenberg

A French ditch will cause you to dig it all out, at that point, you fix the grading and you don't need it anymore... UNLESS, that will always be a lowspot that won't run off. In that case, yes.

A French drain in the low spot as it currently is without grading is a shortcut/bandaid/solution. Rent a ditch witch and you'd be done quickly. 

A French girl... never mind.


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## leolav

...or a retention well with crushed stone (like the ones used in leetchfield and for gutters). or I grade it towards my neighbors land????

How to make friends and influence people!!


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## guest

argee correct, I put down recylcled hot top on the top part of the driveway (that is the level part) but there is a decent slope down then up before i hit the street.. so when its icey we have had to get a salter/sander in there... I figured id justify the cost of a decent spreader with the savings of not hiring a sander.

FYI: i will get a mostly sand mixture with little salt to protect the lawn...



sj


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## Argee

> _Originally posted by simple_john _
> *argee correct, I put down recylcled hot top on the top part of the driveway (that is the level part) but there is a decent slope down then up before i hit the street.. so when its icey we have had to get a salter/sander in there... I figured id justify the cost of a decent spreader with the savings of not hiring a sander.
> 
> FYI: i will get a mostly sand mixture with little salt to protect the lawn...
> 
> sj *


My thoughts would be to set your skid plates up an inch and let the snow pack down. That way your not chucking out pieces of hot top into your yard. I have crushed limestone and the first few times I blow, I pick up a surface rock or two and cast it into the yard. Once I get it packed down, I raise the skid plates so that the leading edge of the blower is only 1/4" off the surface. The snow is packed underneath it for the rest of the winter. Seems to me, melting the snow and ice would compound the problem.


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## guest

*Tried my spreader yesterday*

Well we had some freezing rain over the weekend.. so i figured id give my newly modified spreader a whirl... 

I got the brinly 175 lb spreader... a had to add a hitch extender onto it, to allow room between the suitcase weights and the flow lever on the unit. 

As for 1st time experience.... it diod not work at all. the sand basically just stayed in the bucket, nothing spread or fell through the hole in the bottom of the bucket so nothing spread. 

The rig has a hole in the bottom of the bucket. When fully opened, as the wheels spin, a cotter pin moves inside the bucket and moves the sand around supposedly dropping the sand to the spinner thing that spreads the sand. 

The cotter pin does spin, but no sand fell through the bucket. The sand was dry and i am not sure as to why it did not work.. 
I think that the problem is i will need to modify the pin inside the bucket.. It may work fine for moving seed around, but the sand was too thick.. the pin did spin but the sand did not fall through the hole. I m guesssing if i have a bigger cotter pin setup, it will mix the sand more and hopefully drop it through the hole to spread. 


has anyone used one of those 175 lb brinley spreaders to spread a heavy mix like Sand? did it work?


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## Stewart

You got me stumped???? My only guess is some moisture in the sand, you did say it was dry right? I think the big sand trucks have some kind of auger in the bottom of the bed. 

Did you give it a dry run before the bad weather???eace:


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## tisenberg

Sand is going to have some types of moisture in general. Probably not enough to freeze, but enough to make it appear thicker. I think your issue is that it is clumping together and the spinning cotter is not enough to loosen it up and get it flowing. The cotter pin spins around, clears the sand touching it and the little bit that is there drops out. Then you probably have a nice hollow hole around the cotter pin and the sand is not falling down to fill the space and in turn, nothing more is coming out. 

You may be able to try a finer grain of sand to see if that works, but it may not be what you want.

See if you can spot weld addition pieces on to the pin so that it churns the sand side ways, but also churns the sand above. Kind of like an upside down "T" or right side up "L" The bottom of the "L" going right to left churns the current sand, the up and down part of the "L" breaks up the sand above. Just a thought.


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## guest

I called brinley, they do not offer any solutions.. i was hoping for an extender for the spring thing. 
The sand is dry, or at least as dry as it can be.. its outside but off the ground and covered... not frozen. 

Tis: you described my issue to a tee. 
It looks like im gonna need to go back to my welder buddy and see if he can do anything, i agree a little addition to the 'agitator spring' 

although brinley was not able to help me.. and they said id have the same problem spreading lime, i called them a second time and at least they are going to send me a new 'agitator spring'. I am getting a second one, so i can replace it with the original for spreading seed and light stuff.


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## slipshod

*Try This*

Add some salt to your sand.


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## Live Oak

If the salt is killing the grass and causing problems; try spreading Urea. It will melt ice and snow and is a nitrogen fertilizer. We used it to de-ice the flight line. Salt cannot be used for flight line use due to its corrosive properties which is particularly aggressive around aluminum and magnesium. Urea costs a good but more than salt but I don't think you will use enough to cause a large cost issue. Mixing the Urea with sand as Slip suggested is also a very good idea as the urea will mix and coat the sand particles and last that much longer as well as aid traction.


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## guest

sorry, should have clarified.. it is a sand/salt mix...


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## slipshod

*somewhere I have seen*

An electric vibrator that keeps your sand moving down into the disperser.Attatches to the side of the bin.


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## Stewart

Simple,
Give this link a look. There might be some useful info for you.eace: Happy sanding!

http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=14136


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## guest

i brought the spreader to my welder guy.. the problem is that the sand is sort of wet - even though its covered and off of the ground...
he's gonna try to rig up some sort of a better spring but i am not sure it will work too well. I have no garage so have no way to really keep the sand/salt dry...


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## bontai Joe

I am still trying to save enough money for an Earthway spreader. I looked at the Brinly and Agrifab, but was afraid they would rust from the salt I plan to spread. Earthway makes one out of satinless steel for salt spreading. It is more expensive, but I'll never have to replace it. I have seen how fast salt will destroy any steel parts it comes in contact with. Just hosing it off doesn't clean it away either, and I don't want to be outside with a bucket of hot soapy water and a sponge washing the spreader EVERY time I have to spread salt on the road. I live on a private common lane and the neighbors don't do squat about snow and ice removal, so it falls om me sometimes to salt a road from 400 feet long to 1200 feet long depending on how much cooperation I get.

Here is a link to Earthway: http://www.earthway.com/c25.htm


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## Live Oak

Here is another idea for a salt spreader for anyone with an ATV and I am sure it would be easy to rig this to the FEL bucket or back of a tractor. 

Salt Easy Spreader


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## bontai Joe

Chief,
Thanks for the link! That is one of the best things about this forum, just when you think you have found the best piece of equipment for an application, somebody here posts a link to something better. I'll have to save a few more pennies, but that looks like the piece of machinery I need !


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## Live Oak

More than welcome Joe. I have my moments! :cowboy: :smiles:


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## guest

*spreader problem*

I had problems spreading sand with my spreader.. this was due to the sand beoing moist and thge spreader spring not doing enogh... What would happen was the spinner spring would just cut a groove in the sand and none would flow from the spreader to the spreading fan..

this is the spring auger that was not meaty enough to push the sand...


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## guest

once agian.. My welder guy came through for me...

Here is a pic of the revised setup..


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## guest

waiting for some freezing rain to test it out...


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## bontai Joe

simple John,
Sure looks like it should work! It's gotta be better than what was there before.


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## guest2

I just had two thoughts about using my spreader. First, I'm not sure if I want to expose my tractors to the salt that is impossible to remove. Then everytime the tractor is exposed to moisture throughuot the year the salt comes alive to work its magic. 
The second thought was would snowblower tire chains fit on the spreader to keep the wheels turning and the sand/salt or whatever flowing? And if they did would it be heavy enough to turn the wheels w/chains or would they just skid too? That upgraded mixing arm sure looks good. I've had some clogging even with fertilizer, that would probably solve that problem.


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## guest

6dogs... I agree about the salt on my tractor... Ive seen the salt residue on the spreader and was fearing it would be all over my tractor too... I have not had any freezing rain yet so i cant even test it out... the axle 1 or 2 pins in it.. you are supposed to use 1 pin for normal and 2 pins for winter/ice usage... if the tires do slip ill see about rigging some old snowblower tires on instead... 

last year at this time.. i'd have used the spreader 4 times... (i did not have it then of course) This year when im ready.. no snow/freezing rain... 


As for the salt on my ride.. ill double wash it in the spring and put more wax on it...


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## Argee

SJ ...Do you have a cover for the top of that spreader?


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## guest

hey argee, yes. it came with a little clear slip on covber.. ive got a tarp over that too...


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## Argee

I have....or I mean had a cover for mine. I had left some winter rye in it for a coule of months and the mice chewed a hole through it to get at the seed. They forgot an escape route though so they gorged themselves to death.:smiles:


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