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SE Neb | I borrowed a New Holland 512 from a neighbor as we have never had a very good spreader and he had this one that needed a little work but had always been a good spreader for them. The discussion was that if I wanted to get it going that I was welcome to use it which sounded like an ok idea to see how it worked and possibly buying it.
Well it showed up and it was half full of manure and had been for several years as they didn't have cows in the lot so they didn't need it. It got that way from being loaned out and the feller not giving a darn how he returned it. So on to the rest of the story I unloaded the dang thing with a shovel and proceeded to fix it's problems. I discovered that it had a rotten floor but someone had done an ok job of putting a sheet of steel in it and so on to the rest. First problem was that it had seemed to not be on a first name basis with a grease gun and so it needed a new hanger/bearing for the beater on the drive side. Next thing was to grease it up and free things up to give it a test run. Well not so fast the powershaft was stuck but after a major soaking and a little encouragement I got it loosened up and got the ole 3020 hooked up and ran it for a while.
Well things looked up so down to the pile we went loaded a couple buckets just to see how it went. Well darned if it didn't work quite well and so on we went about 6-7 loads into it the chain decided to grab the floor and pile up, back to the shop we went. Well after a trip to town to get some links and a little heating and beating things were back on track and after a few test runs we took it back to the pile and started in. Well about half way through the load things went bad again, seems that one of the slats got bent in the middle right at the back under the beater and tried to jump the chain off, so back to the shop and more attention. Well after loosening everything up and getting the slat back straight things don't look to bad. But this to the field for a load or two and back to the shop is not worth a dang.
Sorry for the long story but I am to the point that I really think that it needs a new floor chain but heck if I am going to install a 500.00 plus dollar chain in someone elses spreader. Which leads me to the underlying question is a NH 512 spreader worth spending much on or are they just a PIA and I should run fast and look elsewhere... BTW we usually only need a spreader about this size for maybe 60-80 loads per year so I really don't want to spend a fortune on one but a money pit is not my idea of fun either.............. :-) | |
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New Holland Manure Spreader
