Agri-Fab 45-0463 130 lb. Tow-Behind Lawn & Garden Broadcast Spreader for Seed,Fertilizer,Salt,Ice Melt; Easy to use Flow Control from Seat of Riding Lawn Mower

The Agri-Fab 45-0463 delivers seamless performance! Durable construction, easy seat-controlled flow adjustment, and even coverage for seed, fertilizer, or ice melt. Perfect for large lawns—highly recommend this time-saving essential!

Solid. It took awhile to put it together but it’s well built and spreads well. I only wish they would have designed something to block the spreading onto my tractor, it spreads in all directions, front and back. I’d be happier if the spread plane was limited to both sides and back, not front. One other aggravating thing is that the angle of the bucket holding the fertilizer should be unrestricted and more pronounced. It affects the flow of product down to the hole. As you get closer to the end, the fertilizer accumulates all around the exit hole and just sits there, just short of coming out. You have to stop, shake everything and start again. If the bucket was shaped like a simple cone, problem solved.

BOTTOM LINE: A basic, relatively easy-to-put together pull behind broadcast spreader (made in the USA!). It easily holds the stated weight of whatever you're putting on your lawn, (though 130lbs will fill the hopper right to the very brim!). My tractor pulled it across flat lawns, some bumpy spots and a few low-graded side hills with no problems whatsoever. The fit & finish were very good, although there were a couple of tiny spots where the paint was scuffed. (But this is a fairly inexpensive basic lawn tool, not a pricey hotrod, so a flawless flashy paint job was not high on my priority list.) Speaking of which... some online photos make the frame color sort of look like a metallic copper orange. It's not. It's just plain orange, a little on the reddish side.THOUGHTS: I tried to save money and bought a pull behind broadcast spreader years ago thru Sportsman's Guide. It lasted exactly three uses before falling apart! I got exactly what I paid for. *SIGH* I was a little nervous about buying this Agri-Fab unit as I've read a few bad reviews from owners here and elsewhere. The majority of reviews, however, were positive - plus I still have an Agri-Fab aerating drop spreader that's well over 15yrs old and still holding up. The 45-0463 unit came well packaged in a fairly sturdy box. It was a LOT lighter than I thought it would be. The thing is tightly packed and will take a few minutes to unload. Do yourself a favor and have a large, clutter-free workspace to put this thing together in if you can! Make certain all the listed parts are there first, and read the entire assembly instruction booklet *before* starting. The instructions aren't as detailed as I would've preferred, but I was able to figure it out. (There's also an online video from Agri-Fab, to help make the job easier for those who are less mechanically inclined.) I took my time and was able to tinker it together in less than two hours. A basic socket set will greatly speed the assembly process! Above all: BE PATIENT! A lot of the issues other customers reported would seem to be more from rushing thru things without proper preparation or not following the instructions properly, IMHO. (Like NOT tightening all the hardware until you're instructed to do so!) If something is missing, call Agri-Fab. I had one bolt missing from the vacuum-sealed parts bag. Thankfully I was able to find a suitable replacement in my misc nut & bolts stash.The assembled unit looks pretty nice, hooks up easily and pulled with zero problems. (A hitch pin w/cotter securing pin comes with the spreader.) The adjustable discharge control unit is a very basic "set it & forget it" affair. I found that a setting right around 4 to 5 did a nicet job of spreading the recommended amount of product. I have a little over nine acres and first put down insecticide to keep fleas & ticks off our dog for the summer, then laid down a good coat of weed & feed right around the house to green up a few thin spots and wipe out the encroaching dandelions. Both products spread nicely; both the fine powdery insecticide AND the coarse grainy weed & feed - with no clumping or binding of the gear box, even with a full (heaping) load on the weed & feed. BTW... the gearbox is enclosed in a heavy black plastic housing, but the housing is held together, clamshell style, with three cotter-style pins for quick easy disassembly & cleaning/lubrication. It should also make replacement of any worn gear drive parts a breeze as well. Be aware that the broadcast spinner works whether going forward or backwards (it just changes direction), but that did not present any functionality issues when I did. Also, if you come to a stop and don't close the trap door beneath the hopper, whatever's in there will continue to trickle (or pour, depending on the setting) onto the spinner plate - potentially giving you an unintentionally huge overdose of chemical when you take off again, if you aren't paying attention. And some commonsense advice: rinse off your spreader after *every* use! That'll go a long way towards making it last a lot longer, plus the painted parts won't rust/corrode/deteriorate as quickly.No, this Agri-Fab model 45-05463 isn't the world's greatest spreader but for the price it seems to be a solid bargain. In fact, my only real gripe is that the accessories that Agri-Fab sells for this unit, (hopper cover, grate kit & deflector shield), should've been included with it. Oh well. One last thing: the unit is light enough to lift and hang up out of the way on a nail or hook on the wall of your storage shed or garage at the end of the season. Nice.

I bought this spreader to seed and fertilize 10 acres. 2400 lbs fertilizer and 150 lbs grass seed. It did everything I needed. Was easy enough to assemble and held together well. My pasture is pretty rough but there was no issue with tipping or spilling. I loaded it over 100 lbs at a time with fertilizer and set it on 5 to get a rate of around 300 lbs per acre. The seed was trickier and you will need to experiment with each type of seed. Over all I am pleased with the spreader. I cleaned it after use, two days later, and corrosion was already settling in. There are alignment issues with the shaft the spreader plate is on but the didn’t impact operation. One of the tires got a flat, maybe sand spurs, but maybe not. It would be good if the wheels came off easily. I may “improve” certain things that would make it easier to fix it or just buy a new one when it does. For the price I would buy another one if I needed it.

I was very excited to receive this because it looked solid and had a "Made in USA" sticker. However, the directions were extremely poor, they tell you to install things that you later have to remove to install other stuff and do not explain any of it because it is just a bunch of less than clear pictures. It also said to install the wheel spacers too early so when I got to where they actually go it was buried behind braces, I was not going to uninstall my couple hours of work, so I had to make my own spacers. When I tested it, the gears in the differential kept skipping after a few turns. I had to disassemble the factory installed covers and found the differential design to be very sloppy causing the gears to misalign every so often, which would eventually strip the gears. I had to install some shims to align the gears, but now it is very tight and I will have to add extra weight to make sure the wheel has enough grip to drive the spreader. The easiest would have been to return this, but after a few hours invested, I was not going to disassemble it to ship it back, so I am just keeping what I have and hope for the best.Update: Used the spreader for the first time. I had to stop before I even loaded it down because the factory cotter pin sheared just taking to where I needed it. For some reason, both wheels accept a cotter pin but they only drilled one axle, so all the force goes through a single cotter pin. I drilled a new hole to add a cotter pin and enlarged the other to handle a much thicker cotter pin. This is a really terrible and lazy design.It is also very top heavy when loaded so the ground must be very level. I was spreading fertilizer in my gardens before I tilled it under and I had a full load of fertilizer dump almost immediately. The bar that attaches to the hitch is not very sturdy, which allows the spreader to twist more than it should, which is just icing on the cake for an already top heavy design.This is really disappointing for something that advertises being made in America!