There are no retailers with spreaders for customer use other then fertilizer buggies.   That doesn't help the lime spreader question much. 

Chandler has the reputation of being the best litter spreader.  I would place litter a step higher then lime on the "hard to handle" ladder, although lime id much heavier which leads to some differences....a litter spreader uses a lime divider when spreading lime, but if you try litter with it in you will try out the shovel shortly aftewards.   Mechanical drive Chandler litter spreaders do not have a good reputation.....most everyone opts for full hydraulic drive which would eliminate the drive train weakness you mentioned.   

My favorite of the fertilizer buggies was the Dempster.  May not even be in the picture any more but always took the 8 ton Dempster when it was availible, in preference to the much newer Willmars.  I never got along well with the belt drive fans on the Willmar and their idea of running the drive sprocket outside the chain loop led to lots of trouble on rough ground....axle drops too far and chain jumps off sprocket.  Lengthening chain for greater wrap greatly reduced problem but I didn't like having to correct this problem on every spreader the dealer had.