Anyone have one of these sand spreaders

[rfc143]

SAND AND SALT SPREADER - Pronovost

Trying to figure out how big the sand aggregate can be put through it. Our town buys material that has pieces 1/4" or so. Not sure a drop spreader like this can handle it.
Anyone have one of these or similar?

 

[leonz]

It all depends on whether they use gravel sand or stone sand.
The gravel sand is as large as concrete sand in sieve size.
The same applies to stone sand which is usually sized for
asphalt make up sand for top layer asphalt.

The salt and sand spreaders used by municipalities use a spin
cast spreading system and a conveying system to move the
salt/sand to the spinner spreader.

For the amount fo money you are looking to spend on this equipment the
smallest VICON pendulum spreader with a salt/sand tube will do everything
you need and not clog up and the fiberglass hopper will not rust out on you.

The VICON pendulum spreaders utilize a cam arm agitation method that breaks
up any large material that my be frozen or simply bound together with moisture.
It meters out the material through the salt and sand tube over a preset area at a
rate determined by you using a combination of spreading width control and volume
of delivery control and it provides a very wide range of spreading width and volume
delivered per acre.

The cast iron gearbox that was part of the patented delivery method for the pendulum
spreader has a gearbox drive fro the cast steel cam arm that is used to break up the
material to keep it flowing.

The smallest PTO DRIVEN VICON pendulum spreader will out last any tractor you put it on and is
easy to clean by using dawn dish soap and hot water in a hand held garden sprayer if you use salt.

 

[LouNY]

Most of the 3 point spreaders will be a royal pain to load.
A few of them tilt down so as to be loader similar to a fel bucket.
They also do not work well with wet sand and salt mix which is the most common mix available.
Although many places have gone to straight salt or salt calcium cloride mix.
If using any non selve loading 3 point spreader, you will have to either load it by hand,
or have a specialized mechanical loading system, an auger or conveyor or second loader tractor to fill it.
Unless you intend to unmount it, load it, and remount it to use then depending on the size of the area you need to spread on it
you may have to repeat this several times.
My 6 foot V box spreader takes a full fill to do my 1/4 mile driveway.
View attachment IMG_20180205_123232794.jpgView attachment IMG_20180205_123232794.jpg
This spreader holds almost 1 cubic yard when level filled.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I always wondered how much sand per foot of driveway was required and how much those sanders held. Sure see a lot of them now a days. So from your numbers it looks like you are saying you figure 1 yard of sand per 1/4 mile. Is that correct ?? That sees like a mighty load if you can put a full yard plus the sander on that 3/4 ton truck. Isn't sand about 3000 lbs a yard- maybe slightly less if it is bone dry or real loose ?

gg

 

[rfc143]

Thanks for the replies. I must have a sander on the front though. Not only because my blower is on the 3pt, but also because I don't have any options to load whatever I use. The Pronovost/Hardy unit allows me to load it directly from my sand shed. I've done the math and I have enough oil flow on my front hydraulics to run it. I'm just not sure how these drop spreaders handle slightly larger particles.

 

[LouNY]

I always wondered how much sand per foot of driveway was required and how much those sanders held. Sure see a lot of them now a days. So from your numbers it looks like you are saying you figure 1 yard of sand per 1/4 mile. Is that correct ?? That sees like a mighty load if you can put a full yard plus the sander on that 3/4 ton truck. Isn't sand about 3000 lbs a yard- maybe slightly less if it is bone dry or real loose ?

gg

It's a good load on the truck, the sander is 8-900 pounds its self and say 3300 pounds for the yard of sand, I have the Timberon rubber springs in the truck and I drive it slow when loaded, in the driveway it's only about 10 mph, when I go over to the farm it's 3 to 5 miles and I only travel about 25- 30 mph.
I sand a bit heavier then some do as most of the driveway is quite steep.

 

[LouNY]

Thanks for the replies. I must have a sander on the front though. Not only because my blower is on the 3pt, but also because I don't have any options to load whatever I use. The Pronovost/Hardy unit allows me to load it directly from my sand shed. I've done the math and I have enough oil flow on my front hydraulics to run it. I'm just not sure how these drop spreaders handle slightly larger particles.

I don't think you would have any problem with 1/4 inch material in that unit looking at the pictures,
besides which straight rock salt has lots of pieces that would be over 3/8's of an inch.
Yes mounted on the fel and being able to scoop and go would make a nice setup

 

[Gordon Gould]

It's a good load on the truck, the sander is 8-900 pounds its self and say 3300 pounds for the yard of sand, I have the Timberon rubber springs in the truck and I drive it slow when loaded, in the driveway it's only about 10 mph, when I go over to the farm it's 3 to 5 miles and I only travel about 25- 30 mph.
I sand a bit heavier then some do as most of the driveway is quite steep.

Thanks for the explanation Lou. Makes sense to me now. So a sander like the one the OP is looking at would allow me to do just the worst spots on a very long road/drive and even yours would take several trips.

gg

 

[crazyal]

I have a Herd sander (750S I think) and find that the sand is usually a bit damp and likes to freeze to the sides. Since mine is a 3pt spreader I fill it by filling 5 gallon buckets and then dumping it into the hopper. The Herd has an agitator (which is nothing more than a shaft on a universal that bangs the **** out of the sides) but even with it I usually still have lots stuck to the side and on plenty of occasions a layer of crust on the top. I don't mix in any salt so maybe that would make a difference.

My driveway is pretty steep in spots and a good 3/4 of a mile long. What I've found is that putting sand down by hand (like how you would feed a chicken) gives you a real good idea of how much is needed and where. I rarely use the Herd. It works fine but being a spinner style it throws it pretty far to the sides (they do make plates to reduce how far to the side it throws, I just don't have them). But more than anything I really only need sand where the tires travel. That's not only in the ditches on the side but in the very center as well.

That being said I like the looks of the Hardy. Instead of spinning the sand it just drops it for more precision. I would think that you could even put a deflector in the center to push the sand out to where the wheels are when doing a road. I'm not sure why it spreads in patches though. I would like to see a continuous strip of sand. Patches would be find for a parking lot but not for a hill. Also I think pulling it on your loader so you can tilt it and scoop up a load of sand is a gimmick. For me by about January the top layer of the sand is frozen and will need a lot more force than that to get through it. Secondly I have tried to scoop loose dirt with my loader and the results are mixed.

Finally there's the amount of sand. I usually get 10 to 12 yards every couple years. If I put 3 yards down each time I sanded I would be broke. Often within a day or two we'll get rain that freezes after I just put sand down. If I'm home and can tear it up with my spiked tire chains I'm fine but if not I'm back out putting down sand. Seams in Vermont we have too many times when the weather will get to 40 only to drop to 0 within hours. If you do purchase one I would love to see a review.

 

[LouNY]

I get a tri axle load of sand salt mix about every other year, I keep it covered with plastic.
If it freezes it's just a thin crust on the face or top and I'll run the front tires of the loader on the frozen bits and crush them,
it they don't crush they get tossed to the side.
If I'm sanding and anticipate it getting covered I'll throttle the sander engine down and just spread a narrow path,
I used to sand out of the back of a pickup with a shovel, nothing like trying to stand and sling sand with kid driving the truck.
Takes a bit of practice for them to be able to drive slowly and smoothly.
I used to be able to make a yard sand the driveway at least 3 times with a shovel, no way now it would take me a half a day.