Customer Reviews for Chapin 150 lbs. Tow Behind Spreader with Auto-Stop

I have two acres to treat and it work really good so far. I seeded and fertilizer. You have to find the right speed.

Works very well, I tow it behind my exmark and would buy it again.

The spreader works as expected. It is nice that it stops dropping fertilizer when you stop.

Did a pretty good job as long as the feed tube didn’t plug up. Had to bang on that black thing under hopper to get it freed up. Clogged up 3 times on each hopper full. I had 100 lbs fertilizer in each hopper fill. Is there a better way to unclog this thing or stop it from clogging to begin with. Over time banging on that black thing will eventually break it.

Five stars rating it is as good as gold.

This is a nice spreader at first glance, but doesn't work well in real life. I've now used it twice, with a full cleaning in-between, and have been completely frustrated. Several things: 1. When full, it is heavy enough to turn the tires, which turns the spinner and lets fertilizer out to be thrown. When going fast, I suppose it can throw a fairly wide path -- maybe 6-8 feet, to allow feathered, overlapping rows . But at a more prudent, moderate speed, the path is about 5 feet wide, with more of a stripe pattern. Not a deal breaker, but it would be great if it was geared up to spread widely at a slower speed -- say a normal grass-cutting speed. 2. At under about 2/3d full, the wheels will start sliding rather than turning, meaning no spreading. This result applies regardless of tire pressure. Maybe if the tires had knobby treads, or an "ag tire" tread, it would bite into the grass/ground better, but the lightly treaded tires just won't turn. I've been trying to figure out a way to hang more weights on it, but it would need about 2 cement blocks worth of weight to make a difference -- and I haven't figured out how to do that. Maybe there's a way to fill the tires with liquid (like tractor tires) for traction, but again, I haven't figured out how to do that either. 3. It is quite top-heavy when full, with a fairly narrow wheelbase. Thus, pulling on any slope over about 5% (or even U-turning to go up/down a slope), will result in the spreader tipping over. I am trying to figure out how to add wheelbase extensions, but no obvious solution yet. Also, because the right wheel turns the spreader mechanism, if the right wheel is on the "high side" of the slope it will lose traction even at/above 2/3 full. 4. That said, it does clean easily, and seems to be made of sturdy plastic. The cover has an elastic strap that will keep fertilizer in the hopper (or at least off the ground) if it tries to flip over on a hill (ultimately the hitch plate will stop the complete turning over, but at the price of bending those pieces).

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

The spreader pulls easily on my sloped lawn, but that is due to maxing my load at 100lbs. I really like the auto stop feature which cuts down on excessive dropping of fertilizer. So far it has been well worth the price.

Fantastic pull behind. The settings on the spreader are a bit aggressive so I typically keep it on 1. Overall great product!

This spreader is well-built and trails nicely. It works best in larger open areas without a lot of obstacles. Moving from one area to another may require the operator to move the gate setting to zero, and then reset when in the next area, but the quality of design and large tires sold me on this unit. Having said that, a quick close gate from the tractor seat would be nice.

When I do drive over areas that do not need product, how do I stop spreader from spreading. Otherwise I have seed and fertilizer on driveway everywhere I cross...

Easy to use, works great!

We have about 10 acres that we use this on. It would be more efficient if we used a spreader on our tractor, however, we get to much broadcast area in some spots that we do not want to spread product. We bought this knowing we would use it a lot and hoped it would hold up. As of today, we have used this for more than 20 hours of actual spreading. This includes seed, fertilizer, food plot feed, etc. I can only assume that someone who would use this 4 times a year on a smaller lawn would get a long lift span as we have surpassed the normal use 10 times over in 2 weeks. Great product and well made. Only thing I would add is a bigger auger at the bottom that breaks up product a little better for feeding into the spreader compartment.

It’s the best small spreader I have owned Outstanding

keeps clogging on scotts plus halts

Very satisfied, no more need for a second person to pull the release lever to activate the spreader!

Just bought this to spread weed control and fertilizer. Auto stop works great and a big help. One problem is it seems unable to handle clumps in the material, especially on the lower feed rates. A bin grate would be very helpful if included or available as an accessory. As a troubleshooting tip: Use a plastic colander or a screen to sift material if everything is spins, but nothing comes out.

I only got to use the spreader one time so far but I was really impressed by the construction and how easy it is to use

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

Weed and feed did not drop through spreader effectively - lots of stopping and manual intervention

I bought this spreader primarily for the stop feeding feature. I works but not immediately. I will still feed out a little fertilizer after stopping. And make sure there are absolutely no clumps in the fertilizer at all or it will just stop feeding. I had to break up all the clumps with my hands.

This seems to be sturdy in construction. I do like the shut off when stoped feature. However, it does have a very high center of grvity compared to its width when it is loaded. I use it on a hill so i tipped it over twice the first time I used it. It would also be nice to have a shut off gate that you could stop the flow from the tow vehicle when you drive over an area that you’ve alread covered or don’t want to cover.

Its fairly simple to put together in about an hour or so. Very sturdy. Big fat pneumatic tires are nice. Spreads evenly, stops spreading when you stop. Seems to be worth the money.

Seems very durable does a good job spreading grass seed haven’t tried fertilizer yet but I’m confident it will do a good job on my 2 acres

I haven't used it yet,but wasn't that hard to assemble it, it took me about an hour to assemble it

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Makes easy work of spreading seed or fertilizer on our large yard. Holds up to 150 pounds of product which means less stopping to re-fill the spreader. The gearbox is enclosed keeping it cleaner from dirt. The Auto-Stop feature is the part that I really like the most since it keeps me from having to stop the lawn tractor and reach around to find the stop. There is an 11 incremental gate adjustment so you can get the ratio just how you want it.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Was fairly easy to assemble if you follow the directions. It spreads very evenly. The machine stops spreader when you stop so that makes it nice not to have to reach for levers. Gears are metal & I think will last a long time. It is a study well made product. It does not tip over if it's not overfilled. I am very pleased with it.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] My husband and I were really excited to try out our Chapin 8620B 150-Pound Tow Behind Spreader. Every year, we walk through our large yard scattering grass seed and weed killer, this spreader has taken away most of the hard work involved in doing that. This spreader was fairly easy to put together, it took my husband about an hour. It was easy to connect securely to our lawn tractor. Hubby says it turns and stops nicely, and he loves the auto stop feature, because it prevents him from wasting seed and weed killer. We will definitely be getting alot of use out of this great spreader throughout the Spring and Summer.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought this to help me spread the grass seed amd ant poison in my large yard. Putting it together wasn't very hard even though I had to bend some the of towing part to fit better onto the frame. Other than that it was easy. It works very well for spreading as it has 11 different settings for how much it allows through for spreading. I very much enjoy the cover that came with it to keep the granules in the hopper. Overall this is a great item and will save me a bunch of time seeding my yard.