Chapin 8303C Made in the USA 100 lb. Contractor Turf Broadcast Spreader with Enclosed Gears System, Rugged Powder Coated Steel Frame, 12 Inch Tire, Includes Rain Cover and Grate, Red

I bought this spreader to put fertilizer on my large grass area. It worked very good. It is well built and can handle 100 lbs easily.It was easy for me to assembly, I am good with tools and common sense. It would have taken my son in law awhile longer to do if I was not with him. The instruction are not as detailed as I would hope for. But they got us through it.The distribution of the fertilizer was very even. The one hint I would give is to close the gate valve before stopping, otherwise too much product will fill the spinning spreader and you will have a ton of product fly out when you restart.Yes, I recommend this spreader.

The good, It spreads well and quite far compared to the crapy home depot scotts one I had before. It has huge capacity, overkill for my application but thats a good thing ;)Instructions are terrible as others have noted. You will be faced with assembly instructions that do not correspond with the hardware packaging. See pictures of hardware packaging with respective instructions for these parts. This was easy to show as the hand grips are the easiest thing to pick out of the hardware to show it doesn't line up.There is actually a spreader setting reference chart in the manual. Attached is a picture for anyone missing it.The gears are actually metal inside the gearbox (Had to check it out myself to confirm) The down side is that the high speed pinion sits inside a plastic bushing(no roller bearings). If running this commercially I could see this wearing out. If it does though, the gears will most likely still be ok. 2x screws to remove it and I’m sure you could order a replacement generic bushing from McMaster Carr or similar."Made in USA with global materials” This is a joke, Nothing except maybe the box is made in USA (unlikely though), everything inside is made in China, obviously the instructions were made in China too. I guess if you bought it in the USA it was “assembled” here by you.The plastic 2 part sifting grate that goes on top of the hopper is a pain. I put a couple zip ties to hold it together which makes it easier. You will need to remove it during spreading otherwise it bounces out and turns sideways in the hopper.Overall it’s a pretty nice spreader. Would be fascinating to see how others are constructed in detail for a proper comparison though.

I have used this spreader a few times since ordering it.First, building the spreader is easy enough. There were times that I had to study the picture and use some deductive reasoning, but for the most part it was easy to assemble. Prior to assembly, I wanted to make sure the gears were well greased and to my surprise, they had plenty of white lithium grease all over the apparent metal gears. Good to know. I sealed up the plastic gear cover and assembled the spreader. The only issue I wished would be different would be the auger would be lower in the hopper. Mine sits about an inch above the hopper and doesn't move material under it. I may try to adjust it if I can figure out how.After assembly, I used some Urea to gauge the amount of material at what settings. I used the suggested setting of 12 for 1/2 pound of N per 1000 sq ft. Setting 12 put out 14 pounds of Urea for roughly 15,000 sqft lawn. Looks like the settings are about perfect. I also used it to put down 58lbs of pre-emergent. I split the preM into two separate applications. I used the 12 setting on this also, and it worked well.The hopper may say 100lbs, but 40-50lb bags fit nicely into the hopper, I wouldn't go 100lbs.The bad: The two piece grate is worthless. I've tried it on the occasions and it isn't worth using so far. The rain cover though work great, though. Since I was putting down in slight drizzle, it helped keep the fertilizer from getting wet.Overall, this is a great spreader for those that need to jump up in size over the Scotts brand. Believe me, pushing that Scotts with a 40lb bag was a workout. The Chapin moves effortlessly with the pneumatic tires. Way easier and it will last for years.

Bought this spreader in May 2022. First it came with a tire which would not inflate. Contacted Chapin and the did send me a new tire. Thought all was well. I used the spreader twice in 2022. The again on the spring of 2023. All worker well however there were a few things I did not like about the spreader. Used it yesterday 5/13/23 for my second application of fertilizer and the gear box broke. So have used it 4 time and now it’s worthless. Plan on calling Chapin and we shall see if they stand behind their products.Update: contacted Chapin and they are replacing the gear box. There customer service is very good. Plan on installing the gear box shortly and hopefully use the spreader again.

My initial review of the Chapin 8303C broadcast spreader is below...I'm amending this review after just one year of use at this point.The gears would seem to grind some from the start, and I thought that using what sounds like plastic for gears on a piece of equipment supposedly designed for commercial use was a mistake. Well now the impeller barely turns and I'm sure the gears are worn almost completely.Fall is a major time for me (a small business gardener and landscaper) and to get to a job and not be able to use a tool for the job of the day really affects my livelihood and reputation with my customers.I'm terribly disappointed in this product, and have contacted Chapin to see what they can do for me and hopefully will be able to update this review favorably.I'm a professional gardener and landscaper and after using the spreaders that you find in the box stores or hardware stores just doesn't cut it.The original review follows((The Chapin spreader is extremely well made, was easy to assemble but the best is how well it does the job!I have so much better control as to where and how much material I put down on the lawn. It makes me a better gardener and saves my clients money!))