Landpride FS500 broadcast spreader issue

[yoderjac]

When I was broadcasting the seed for a spring plot the other day, it was clear to me the broadcast spreader had an issue. The agitator was turning just fine, but the fins are hardly turning at all, so seed distribution was minimal. Today, I decided to dig into it. It was no immediately obvious to me how it worked. There was what looked like a collar with a set screw sitting about an inch above the spinner plate which was sitting on the gearbox. I tried to loosen the set screw to move the collar down to engage the spinner plate, but could not find a hex to fit in. I tried one that was obviously too small just for kicks and got a surprise.

The hex key went right through the the collar and out the other side! Then I noticed a hole through the shaft below what looked like the collar. I just scratched my head, obviously I was missing something.

Fortunately, Messick's to the rescue! They had a complete parts diagram blowout on their web site. Apparently, those holes need spring pins. I ordered the missing pins from Messick's. I'm guessing from the diagram there should be no gap between that part that looks like a collar and the spinner. I'm presuming the hole in the shaft is such that when properly setup with the spring pins through the shaft, there is enough pressure to keep the spinner spinning.

Time will tell if I can fix it.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I got ahead of myself. I remembered looking at the spinner disc and noticing there was no collar to attach it to the hole through the shaft with the spring pins. I figured it broke off and that was my issue. So, I decided to order another spinner plate. Messick's wanted over $160 for it with shipping. I looked around and found a COSCO spinner plate that seems to be about the same on ebay. It was only $60 with shipping so I decided to order it.

Later this afternoon I decided to take a closer look. It turns out the reason I could not see the collar is that it is under the spinner disc. So, I guess I'll now have a backup. It looks like it should be an easy fix simply putting the correct spring pins in.

 

[yoderjac]

The spring pins I ordered came in from Messick's today.

The picture shows the unit turned upside down and you are looking at the bottom of the spinner. I simply lined up the holes with the holes in the shaft and started tapping the larger spring pin in. The design uses a smaller spring pin inside the larger one. I'm guessing that when this last happened and I took it to the shop, they did not use the inner spring pin and the outer one worked its way out or something.

I hammered the larger spring pin through the shaft and far enough into the other side of the collar that I could see it was in both sides of the collar. It was still sticking out the other side by about 1/4". Next, I started tapping in the second spring pin inside the first. There was very little room to swing a hammer and because of the shape of the spinner, easy to bend the small spring pin. I ended up using a socket extender between the pins and the hammer. I got the small pin in far enough that it is really tight, but I could not move the larger pin further to balance it between sides.

At any rate, the spinner now turns with the PTO and the fix is done.