# I've been busy...



## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

Totally stripped down my Meyer's manure spreader and have been rebuilding it from the frame up since October. I ended up finding a lot more rust than I had originally thought, and ended up replacing the axle assembly because I noticed it was rusting through and bending. I had them build a new axle that was longer so I could put the floaters on there instead of the skinny semi tires that were on there originally. It has turned out really well, better than I had hoped. When we started, the frame was rusting through, the wood was all rotten and falling off, and the beater paddles were badly bent. The only thing holding the front on was the hydraulic lines, and the end gate was ripping through the upper mounts. There were holes in the sides covered by plywood, and the apron had jumped two cogs on one side and twisted all the cross slats. I added a splash guard around the front of the spreader so the manure doesn't splash out the front when you slow down to turn onto the lane. My neighbors and anyone driving down my road should be a lot happier now!  Looks a little better now...


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## Pipertec (Jan 12, 2012)

Man, that looks to good to put Manure in! Nice Job!!!


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## Thomas (Nov 1, 2006)

Nice work CB..first glimps looks new or demo.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Holy crap! I'd love to see something you worked on, that was going to be on actual display. Wow! Wow!


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## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

Thanks guys! It turned out far better than I had originally hoped for, and I am almost afraid to use it again for fear of it getting dirty. I was originally just going to replace the wood and put a new apron into it, but then my dad and I decided to just do it right and get it back to 100%. We priced a couple used ones at a local dealership that had been "rebuilt" and repainted, but neither had an end gate so we would have had to swap ours over. They wanted $1800 for one and $2000 for the other. I spent about $3000 fixing this one up, but I know that it is actually better than 100% now because I built it to my specifications. I plan to take some better pics of it and send them to the Meyer's company. I'm hoping they will send me some new signs for the side (old ones were missing for years) for free if they like the spreader. This spreader was originally built in 1982, and is totally different than the newer ones. They went above and beyond to help me with this thing, building parts that they hadn't stocked for years so I could get it back together. Most companies wouldn't have done that. Some of the shields (mine was missing most of them) they had to dig out the blueprints from the old files and build the shields from scratch. I had a local shop build the axle because it would have cost too much to have them assemble it and ship it down compared to the shop I used. They were able to modify it for my needs fairly easily.

I love to build projects like these that let me do different work like metal, wood, painting, etc. I built a new hay wagon two years ago that turned out quite well (plan to build another this summer).




























I can haul 12 big square bales on it with zero deflection in the timbers. That's about 12-14,000lbs for 12 bales depending on the hay.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Looking into the background their Rich, you sure do have a very nice place, and that shop or whatever that is would be a building to die for! Excellent job on the hay wagon too!


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## farmertim (Dec 1, 2010)

Now you know i am going to ask for the plans for the hay wagon? that's too cool.


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## hauler (Sep 17, 2011)

very nice job...it really does look to good to use...funny you should mention a splash guard...you dont know how many times i follwed the farmer down the road and my car/truck had the stuff all over the sides of the vehicle and under it...the wife wasnt to happy when she had to drive either one....lol


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## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

hauler said:


> very nice job...it really does look to good to use...funny you should mention a splash guard...you dont know how many times i follwed the farmer down the road and my car/truck had the stuff all over the sides of the vehicle and under it...the wife wasnt to happy when she had to drive either one....lol


Yeah, my dad didn't like to pay attention when driving down the road, and would leave a pile sometimes up to 3" thick when turning onto the lane. The front of the spreader used to be completely angled and acted like a ramp, allowing the soupy manure to just slide right up and over the front. I made the top of the front flat and I added that splash guard so it won't happen anymore. I got tired of having to get the Bobcat out there and clean it up.



farmertim said:


> Now you know i am going to ask for the plans for the hay wagon? that's too cool.


I have the materials list downstairs on the fridge. I'll try to post it up tonight when I have a bit more time. It only took me about 4-5 hours to put it together because I tried to use mostly dimensional lumber to save time cutting everything.



tractor beam said:


> Looking into the background their Rich, you sure do have a very nice place, and that shop or whatever that is would be a building to die for! Excellent job on the hay wagon too!


Thanks! The shop is nice, but I have to finish it one of these years. I got about halfway done inside and just stopped. It sure beats working outside all the time like i used to have to do.


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## 46mech (Jun 26, 2008)

Great job on both the spreader and the wagon! I need to do the same to my old JD model H spreader. Last spring I busted the apron chain in 2 places and bent one of the flights around the backside of the spreader.


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## bulletbob (Dec 22, 2011)

Very,Very nice work.And a real nice farm to boot!


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## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

farmertim said:


> Now you know i am going to ask for the plans for the hay wagon? that's too cool.


Okay, sorry for the delay. The wagon deck is about 18' long and 8' wide. You can adjust the dimensions for your application, but the build is the same. I went with the 18' length so my big square bales wouldn't hang over the front when I haul them, and so baling small bales is easier (you have a place to stand on the front when loading the last stack of bales). I used GRK's RSS structural screws to screw the deck boards to the stringers and the cross boards in the back to the center posts. The outer uprights in the back where bolted to the cross pieces with carriage bolts. I love the RSS screws. They are self drilling, use a TORX bit so you can easily drive them with a cordless drill, and they have a large flange head so you don't need a washer. That, and they are flush so you don't trip over them.

Deck:

17- 2x12x8' treated planks spaced about 1/8" apart (I used a 16d nail inserted between the boards for spacing)

2- 2x10x8' treated planks for the last two deck boards at the rear. I needed narrower ones at the back to get the proper deck length, otherwise I would have had to rip the last board quite narrow and I didn't want to do that. You will have to modify the plans a bit if you make the wagon shorter.

4- 2x6x20' treated planks for the edge bracing. I put one on top and one on the bottom of each long edge to stabilize the boards and protect the edge when loading 1200# bales with the Bobcat. They are held on with 3/8" carriage bolts with fender washers, lock washers and nuts on the bottom side. I put about 2 bolts per deck plank.

Stringers (aka the main beams):

6- 2x10x20' Douglas Fir planks laminated together in two groups of three with 3" spiral shank galvanized nails and construction adhesive. Hope you have an air nailer because my arms got very tired from spiking the planks together with my 24oz framing hammer. Douglas fir is very hard and rot resistant. We used that instead of treated because the local lumber yard couldn't get treated 2x10s in 20' lengths. I made the stringers about 2' longer than the wagon in the back so I could attach my angled braces to them and to the back. It is much stronger that way as opposed to running a brace from the back to the deck like our older wagons. I trimmed the stringers off at and angle in the front to clear the wagon tongue in uneven fields. If I hadn't the tongue would have caught on the stringers if you tried to turn when going through a low spot in the field or lane. Plus, it looks neater with it trimmed like that. I used the circular saw from both sides to get through it after marking the angles with a straight edge. I just guessed at the angle, so I can't tell you exactly what it is.

Back:

2- 4x4x6' treated posts for the center uprights

2- 2x8x6' treated planks for the outer uprights

5- 2x8x8' treated planks for the cross pieces

4- 2x6x8' treated planks for the angled braces at the back

2 short pieces of 2x2" angle iron to mount the upright posts to the stringers and 2 more to attach the bottoms of the outer uprights to the edging boards on the deck. I drilled holes in the steel and then used the RSS screws to pull everything together.

If you have any questions on the assembly or parts list, let me know!


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## CRUSADER (Feb 7, 2010)

I'd say that hay wagon looked nice. But have spent more hours than want to remember loading/unloading them things full into a barn.


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## omszee (Sep 27, 2011)

looks great,nice work on both of them...


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## samspops (Sep 28, 2014)

Did you put on new paddles on the spreader? if so, where did you get them?


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## samspops (Sep 28, 2014)

Did you replace the paddles on the spreader? if so, where did you get them?


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## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

I got the paddles from my local Meyer's dealer, who ordered them directly from the company. If you need to contact the company (I don't know if they sell directly) you can do so here: http://www.emcspreaders.com/NewWeb/contact.html


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

Rich,
ARE YOU REALLY GONNA PUT POO IN THAT??????


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