New Idea manure spreader wood vs metal

[mikewood869]

Were getting to the point of working on our new idea manure spreader. Anyone know how long metal plates would last vs wood planks? We have cows and chickens. No clue on the model number since the tag seems to be gone

 

[mikewood869]

 

[Charlie M]

If it were mine I would put wood back in it. I bought one that had a metal plate put on the bottom instead of wood and its too thin compared to wood board for the way the apron sprockets are set up. Works OK
but not as well if the correct thickness of any material had been used. Also I can work with wood a lot easier than metal. I would find a saw mill that could cut some black locust boards and use those. You can
put on some paint and it will look like new. Thats what I would do. Probably nothing wrong with using metal either. Depends on how you want it look when its done.

 

[560Dennis]

Experience with steel sided Oliver ,Colby , manure spreader . Id recommend to stay with the wood new idea design . Dont see many other
mfg. s ,but new idea are still around. My thoughts

 

[RogerinIowa]

Is there some sort of plastic sheets that
would work, like skid plates for bean
heads?

 

[rrlund]

If it helps, Oliver used yellow pine in their wooden spreaders.

 

[sandcastle1]

wood or trex decking would be my choices, have seen both done, I would not use metal.

 

[Leroy]

They do make plastic just designed for spreader use. I don't know what it is
called but avaiable in sheets big enough for one to cover the floor or the
sides. Amish friend that is in the machinery bussines was using it when I was
at his place. Redoes old spreaders and makes new ones.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Tag should be on one side or the other below that orange shield/cover in front on the green front plate above the tongue. The wood will last longer than the steel. though The UHMW Plastic sheets come in various sizes and thicknesses. Thick as about 2 inches and length of like 10x5 or something like that. Look at some of the steel companies around you like Ryerson or Alro they have it in sheets. IF I had to splice it I would cut the end on an angle 45 degrees or so it would slide by the splice easy.

 

[formerly ny bill]

that is a 244, vintage about late 70s/maybe early 80s? The 243 was a single axle, 245 had a longer
overhang behind the tandem wheels. I have had 2 244s.

Wood is the way to go.

 

[Alvin 41]

You have an early NI large bogie wheel spreader with the frame and beater in excellent condition. Model 218 or later. We used one hard for dairy manure,often frozen,and broke axles that were welded to the bogies. sThe replacement sleeve mounted bolt in axles never broke. Wood similar to the original for sides and bottom would be easiest and a plastic sheet on bottom will wear longer, I put extra 2x4's across bottom underneath to protect from breaking by frozen chunks dumped in. T-rod apron chain is the strongest ,but will wear out the drive sprockets eventually. The chain driven beater drive seems to be better than the direct gear driven later model 245 but the ratchet apron drive has more variable speed but isn't as trouble free.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

I redid an old AC manure spreader that was wood
originally, and put it back with green pressure treated
wood 40 years ago. I used it for 5 years and sold it to a
friend that continued using it for another 10 years till
he quit cattle. Now he hauls wood with it, and it still
looks pretty good

 

[Northvale PA]

I installed treated lumber 5/4 boards in mine. Believe it or not but your metal is in better shape. Keep it
out of the rain. Also, if you remove the bottom boards, clean out the upside down axle boxes, paint them
and cover them with some sheet metal. Mine looks rough but works good.

 

[Alvin 41]

NI 244 and 245 have a direct 90 degree gearbox beater drive and worm drive apron ,and end gate has 2 hydraulic cylinders ,none of which this spreader has.

 

[formerly ny bill]

you are right, my mistake. Think the 218 was the correct ID.

 

[10backacres]

Rebuilt JD model 34; 10 yrs ago that originally had fir or oak?. I replaced with IPE a South American wood with insect and disease resistance. Decided not to use CCA treated wood since I'm using the manure n the garden & didn't want CCA (chromated copper arsenate in garden) Bought a tongue & groove router bit and made the boards T&G, used stainless carriage bolts. The paint is starting to come off of the metal that was repainted....But the wood looks as good as the day I installed it. I'm in PNW and it sits in the rain and sun all year long. Cost about $1000 for parts, lots of time on labor. I'd use IPE wood again. Be aware the wood structure is hard,dense, machines well, sands well but you can easily get slivers,wear gloves ! A dust mask when making sawdust Routing or sanding

 

[mikewood869]

Thank you guys for the help. This will probably be a spring project. This spreader hasn t ran in about 20 years. It seems like some of the chains are still free. I ended up taking a walk down to the spreader today.

This post was edited by mikewood869 on 01/19/2023 at 06:57 pm.

 

[Leroy]

What is that loaded in it? Some kind of gates?

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 21:43:14 01/19/23) What is that loaded in it? Some kind of gates?

Construction staging.

 

[mikewood869]

(quoted from post at 17:43:14 01/19/23) What is that loaded in it? Some kind of gates?

Showcrop is right, scaffolding, tires off of a Ford taurus and a tire changer.