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Your cart is empty.Contractor Series, Turf Spreader, 80 LB Capacity Hopper, Powder Coated Steel Frame, T-Handle With Rubber Grips, 12" Wide Tread Pneumatic Tires, Hopper Has Finger Grip For Balanced Lifting, Solid Steel Linkage With Gate Control, Enclosed Metal Gears, Directional Spread Pattern Control, Adjustable Rotary Gate With Cast Zinc Plated Agitator, 2 Piece Grate For Sifting Seed & Fertilizer. Contractor Series..
Sharon Featherstone
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2024
The spreader was delivered intact and on time. Unboxing was easy enough and all the parts were undamaged and complete. The nuts and bolts come on a piece of shrink wrap cardboard with each part labeled in a cryptic code never before seen by human eyes. The assembly instructions were written by a space alien who has never seen the spreader and has no concept of continuity with the labels on the shrink wrapped cardboard. So step one is to take the instructions fold them carefully in half and drop them in the nearest trash dispenser. Step two is to take a full set of hand tools and begin to piece the spreader together by looking carefully at the picture on the box. Step three is to apply bandages to your fingers after you cut yourself on the parts as you assemble them. Once the spreader is assembled go back and disassemble it so as to get the handles and other moving parts properly oriented for use. Its a great product with really really bad assembly instructions. Can't wait for some geek to claim it took 10 minutes to assemble.....because you know its gonna happen.
victor m.
Reviewed in Mexico on December 22, 2024
Las instrucciones de armado están complicadas. Laborioso de armar. Nos tomó 3 horas para poderlo armar y si, o si, se necesitan dos personas para hacerlo
Kristi
Reviewed in Canada on August 11, 2023
This spreader started to rust very early on. We reached out to the company and they said there is nothing they can do. Replacement parts are expensive. Disappointed in the customer service and the product itself. Price point is too high for the quality of product.
Wavicle
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2023
Received this on June 20, 2023 and immediately set to assembling it. To help prepare in advance, I watched the Chapin video on their web site for this exact model- the 8301C 80 pound turf spreader. I also downloaded the manual and read it several times due to all of the prior comments on assembly issues. The previous comments on assembly problems are spot-on. I have a fairly good background in mechanical design but still found this a bit tricky to pull off. It was readily apparent that someone at Chapin performed a cost analysis and determined they could save maybe 75 cents per unit by going with standard size fasteners and then getting the cheapest possible stuff available on the planet. The metal is so soft you can round-off the hex bolts and hex nuts with no effort at all. The threads also peel away-- my table was full of metal shavings after assembly. So the standard size fasteners means you have some extending an inch or more past the nut and that is simply not needed even during assembly to allow fitting the frame together. After following the video I had decided to wait until the end to snap on the rear deflector panel. Well, the design was changed since the video was produced and now, if you study the assembly instructions in extreme detail, you'll see the frame bolts actually pass through the deflector. That means I had to partially disassemble the spreader to get the part installed correctly. One other significant detail is that out of the box the auger shaft on the gear box was bent about 1/2 inch-- probably from shipping and mishandling. It bent at a weak spot where there is a threaded hole for the impeller. Rather than go through a combersome return or exchange, I carefully peened it back into shape, which was rather easy because the metal is so soft.The tires are decent and I've inflated them to the sidewall pressure of 20 psi. The handgrips are thin and likely to tear. The hopper filter screens are super heavy duty but too close to the top of the hopper. The rain cover is actually decent but I don't see myself using it other than for storage of the spreader. The solid gate control linkage is good and appears to function as intended (way better than a cable).Overall I really expected more at this level of turf spreader because the inferior materials and poor design made assembly no fun. That is likely to translate into a short service life. This is likely the one and only Chapin product I will ever purchase because the writing is on the wall that profit over product quality is their mission.It will get put to use in the next day or two and if I find other shortcomings I will come back and update this review.
Placeholder
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2023
This has worked great with spreading ice melt. Can't wait to use it on the lawn this spring.
squash1014
Reviewed in Canada on September 28, 2022
Great Product. Mine works well. Take some time to assemble.
Donna P
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2022
Just received this and am unable to verify the effectiveness of the spreader. What I will say is that the directions are minimal and not clear. If you have three mechanical engineers and two jack-legs, you can probably assemble it unless than 3 hours.
Robert Hawkins
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2022
A little aggravating to assemble, but well worth it. This thing is a beast !
Customer
Reviewed in Canada on March 13, 2022
Works great
Rudini
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2020
A really nice spreader. Just works. Easy to assemble.
J. Janzen
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2019
Very cheaply made and disappointing quality for the price. I think a cheap made in china product would be equal or better and cost less. Lots of cheap plastic parts that won't last. The frame is bent so that the wheels can't both sit on the ground unless there is some weight in the hopper. Assembly instructions were total crap. Extra pieces left over, so I called the manufacturer who said that is OK, you don't need them. None of the fertilizers I purchase have a drop chute rating for Chapin products and the settings conversion table in the user manual is totally worthless. Not that it really matters because the chute control is junk anyway. The chute stays closed through the first 15 marks on the settings indicator, so 0-15 actually means zero. The directional control for spreading uses really flimsy plastic gate valves that I doubt will make it through the first season. I'm not going to use them much because they have very little effect on the spreading pattern. They can't even get the application of their logo right. The painted logo on the hopper was flaking off right in the box. I'm very disappointed in this product and I strongly recommend that you not purchase it. It's a shame that companies waste resources making junk like this.
Tyler Delzeit
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2019
Like everyone else says, the instructions are very poor. Not much of them are written in English. The quality of materials are subpar. Very thin metal, I wouldn’t be surprised if the axel ends up bending. It will NOT hold 80 pounds of material, barely holds a 50lbs bag. The agitator sits to high above the drop holes. The drop holes were constantly clogging with material. I had to remove half of the material to get it to flow. So call it a 25-30 lbs hopper. The spray control is useless. I plan on returning this spreader when I get time to disassemble it.
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