Solo Hand crank Shoulder Carry Spreader

[SulleyBear]

For those brave and daring souls who have followed my adventures over in the SCUT thread, I thought I would dare venture out of the SCUT and OTHER TOPIC threads and "spread my wings" and "expand my horizons". After all, I don't want to be thought of as only "Two Categorical".....

I have been having trouble with my "Wizzer".......The battery powered, hand held spreader version......

I plow snow for many of my neighbors and I take this responsibility seriously. While it is expressly communicated and agreed to by all parties involved that I can not assure "Safe Conditions" despite my efforts to clear snow and apply ice melting products, I want to make a reasonable effort to prevent anyone from slipping or falling on their walks or driveways. Also, our neighborhood has private roads and they are "rolling" which means the USPS delivery person has a hard time getting the USPS 2wd Jeep to start and stop on the inclines with ice and hard pack conditions.

As a result, I always plow every mailbox area of the drives I care for as well as any of the drives which have inclines or other "extenuating circumstances", I clear the snow and spread the snow melt material. The UPS and Fed Ex and USPS people work hard and I don't want to see them or anyone else slip and get hurt on one of the drives or walks for which I m responsible.


Scotts Wizz Spreader - Spreader - Scotts



This is the $15 to $20 "Wizz" er spreader I have used for spreading side walk snow melt material. I do NOT use rock Salt. I use some special blue tinted material which my K9 kids can walk on and not burn their feet and also so it doesn't damage the surface.

The Wizz in a summary;

Good
1. Cheap
2. Simple to operate. Set, fill, pull trigger
3. Spreads snow melt if the conditions are correct

Bad
1. Cheaply built
2. Batteries don't like cold so you must use Lithium Batteries
3. Clogs if the setting is about 4 (out of 1 to 10)
4. Plastic drive components and I have taken it apart and fixed it now 3 or 4 times.

Summary - The Wizz is better than spreading snow melt by hand because it helps regulate it and you can use less snow melt and achieve the same safe conditions verses spreading it with a bowl or by hand, etc.

In my search for a more robust and "Professional" spreader which is very portable, I found this item..

[SulleyBear]

The Solo Arrived Yesterday and I gave it a whirl today.

Here are my first impressions

1. This item is well made. This is a professional quality item.

2. This item was $60 (ish) dollars at Amazon.

3. Overall I like the concept. The execution is ..........Pretty Good.

4. It spreads material from about 6' to about 25' wide.

Here are some points and review of the item

It weighs about 6 pounds empty



The fill opening on top is large and easy to fill as the opening is about 6" across.

The cover over the material compartment is well made and comes off easily even while wearing gloves.




The Hopper is about as tall as the tape measure which I can't read in the small picture shows....Was it 18" t 19"? I think. See picture



The hopper overall is about 12" wide across the gross width of the spreader

[jgayman]

Looks interesting... it would seem the logical conclusion would end up something like this. :-)

[SulleyBear]

Well made and meant to be serviced, this item comes with a detailed manual and specific maintenance and service instructions, which is promising.

Here are some images of the material spreader portion of the spreader........



Note the little black flap in the picture above on the left side of the photo, this is how you control the width of the material



If you are left handed, you better know how to crank with your right as this unit is not set up for "South Paw Cranking".

However, the crank is made of steel, is threaded and has a jamb nut and the crank threads onto a real course threaded shaft which is substantial and doesn't wobble or feel cheap when you are using the item. It cranks nice and smooth and is very good at spreading the snow melt material.

In the photo shown below, is the material flow control. It's a vertical threaded brass pin which has the knurled plastic thumb grips on the post, which makes it easy to grip and to loosen to move and tighten again. It's not a bad system for material control. But is it very sensitive. A movement of 1" on the slide will double the amount of material spread.......My finger is on top of the adjustment post I have been describing.



Up close image of the material flow control and the "Open and Close" gate for all material. There is one MAJOR ISSUE with this, it's the location of these when you are "wearing" the spreader. Its on the back side of the unit which means its out of your site and against your chest so you have to open and close the unit by "feel" as you can't see it when wearing the spreader. THIS TAKES GETTING USED TO,

[SulleyBear]

So after having used the unit here are my impressions......

It's heavy when full and strapped around your neck and over one shoulder. In fact, I weighed the unit when I filled it to the lid and it was at 33 pounds full of snow melt, so the 20 pound capacity must be for much less dense material, such as lawn fertilizer, keeping in mind that the unit weighs about 6 pounds empty. So it appears I was able to get about 27 pounds of the fine snow melt material in the material bin.



Here is the unit strapped to my Carry All on the back of my tractor. Its about the same size as a 5 gallon bucket in diameter and height when stacked on the carry all.

It easily will cover a 2 lane driveway with one pass when the material width is set on maximum.

In fact, if you crank faster than the "normal" speed, I was able to get the material to cover the width of our 35' wide private road, getting about all but the last foot or two along each side of the road. So, this thing will throw material if you want it too.

One of the reasons I like the Blue tinted snow melt material I use is because it's easier to see where the material has been applied as it turns the snow a light blue where its on the ice or packed down slick surface. You can see just where the material is being applied.

I wanted to see how much material I could put through this unit and I filled it and walked down the center of outr private road and opened the spreading width of the spreader wide open and I opened the material flow to maximum. I emptied the spreader, using the entire hopper of material so between 25 and 28 pounds of snow melt on 155' of road, covering it from shoulder to shoulder.

This was MUCH MORE material than needed to meet the task of melting the ice and snow pack. In fact, I would say that at 1/2 the material spreading volume, it would have been very adequate. So, in theory, the spreader would have been able to spread the 2 lanes of road for about 100 yards on the hopper full.

Now, I am not talking GLARE ICE, but rather "slick" conditions which can be dealt with by allowing the material to work. On glare ice, you would have to go harder with the material, but you could also narrow the width and cover just the portions of the road needing it.

My overall impressions of this Solo Spreader are summarized below;

1. It's very well made and it works.

2. I like the design with the excpetion of the location of the control gate and material flow knob being on the back against you, where it's impossible to see while wearing and using.

3. It's HEAVY when full and it bothers my right shoulder, but this is the shoulder which has been operated on 7 or 8 times, so its already a painful mess. But I wouldn't want to have to wear this spreader and use it for more than a few minutes to get the driveway areas done, due to the pressure the strap puts on my collar bone, which is already been disconnected on the end from my actual shoulder to attempt to reduce pain. If you have a painful shoulder, you probably aren't going to like this unit adding to the agony........

It should be noted the majority of the weight of the spreader was hanging on my LEFT shoulder, with the strap just coming back over my right shoulder as you need to wear it to support it. Since this must be cranked with your right hand, this is how you should be wearing this unit.

4. Am I glad I bought it? Yes, as I haven't found too many "portable" solutions for dealing with walks and driveways. Many are junk and this one is a quality made product which is well engineered.

5. Would I recommend others buy it? Yes, as long as you are aware of the fairly minor issues I have raised.

6. The quality seems outstanding. I didn't see anything which I would consider "cheaply made" or put together in a compromising way. Clearly, this is a quality item and meant for frequent use. It uses brass hardware on the adjustment pieces, it has lubricating points. This is a item meant to be used and maintained and will very likely provide years of good service.

Overall, I would give this Solo Spreader 4.5 starts out of 5 stars, with the slight reduction for the issue with the material flow lever and knob.

I will post updates as I use it. I put about 50 pounds of material through it today and I did 4 driveways and sidewalk areas, which each one took about 5 to 6 pounds of material. When I got it on the private road and put the unit to the test for maximum material width and flow, that's when I used about 30 pounds of the material in the 150 foot of roadway. Again, that was much more material than needed to achieve the goal of melting the slick surface, but I wanted to see it's maximum capabilities and they should meet just about any possible need.

[JD4044M]

For 23 years been spreading salt by hand on the driveway when it turns to ice once in a while. I like using the salt heavy because nothing grows on my gravel as far as grass and weeds go. Got good at doing it and carrying the 50 lb sack of Hay Salt we buy it by the ton for Tanning Hides reasons. I set down the bag and fill a coffee can up and hand throw it around where needed. I will spread the whole sack on the 350 ft driveway at once and if the temps are right it works great. Always thought about a spreader to do it just never bought one yet??? We only do this a couple times a year to break up the thick ice from melting and re/freezing at the end of winter. Don't like to make my gravel driveway soggy in the winter and cause the gravel to get picked up by the rear blade plowing. I also have used the old salt on it that has been used once and shoveled up into bags to take to the dump. We get a lot of UPS/FED-X traffic along with people bringing stuff to be tanned so I have to keep the driveway nice to come up. We have 4x4 and don't need it for us but the rest don't that deliver stuff here! Nice write up on the Dispenser!

[mark02tj]

Back when I had the "typical, 2 cars wide, suburban neighborhood driveway" I used one of these to spread the salt. Worked much better than spreading it by hand. Used a LOT less material as well. I would put the salt into a 5 gallon bucket and then I'd just scoop it out with the spreader.

Since we moved into this place 8 YEARS AGO TOMORROW I've never spread any salt on our concrete pad. Two reasons for that - 1) I really didn't want to do anything to damage the concrete. It was only a couple of years old when we moved in and in great shape. 2) My garage faces south and the sun reflects off the garage door and melts any residual snow that's left after I clear the concrete pad with the blower. Almost like we have a concrete pad heater!

But, if Sully wants to paste a link to the non-damaging ice melter that he uses, I might get some to use just in case I need it.

[JD4044M]

Back when I had the "typical, 2 cars wide, suburban neighborhood driveway" I used one of these to spread the salt. Worked much better than spreading it by hand. Used a LOT less material as well. I would put the salt into a 5 gallon bucket and then I'd just scoop it out with the spreader.

Since we moved into this place 8 YEARS AGO TOMORROW I've never spread any salt on our concrete pad. Two reasons for that - 1) I really didn't want to do anything to damage the concrete. It was only a couple of years old when we moved in and in great shape. 2) My garage faces south and the sun reflects off the garage door and melts any residual snow that's left after I clear the concrete pad with the blower. Almost like we have a concrete pad heater!

But, if Sully wants to paste a link to the non-damaging ice melter that he uses, I might get some to use just in case I need it.

I would not put salt on my concrete either it is damaging to it. I only put it on the gravel. Our School uses a fertilizer to deice with not sure what it is? I only use sand on our sidewalks at home and on the driveway where needed.

[SulleyBear]

Back when I had the "typical, 2 cars wide, suburban neighborhood driveway" I used one of these to spread the salt. Worked much better than spreading it by hand. Used a LOT less material as well. I would put the salt into a 5 gallon bucket and then I'd just scoop it out with the spreader.

Since we moved into this place 8 YEARS AGO TOMORROW I've never spread any salt on our concrete pad. Two reasons for that - 1) I really didn't want to do anything to damage the concrete. It was only a couple of years old when we moved in and in great shape. 2) My garage faces south and the sun reflects off the garage door and melts any residual snow that's left after I clear the concrete pad with the blower. Almost like we have a concrete pad heater!

But, if Sully wants to paste a link to the non-damaging ice melter that he uses, I might get some to use just in case I need it.

I just went to the general True Value website and didn't see the product there, I will take pictures of the front and rear of the actual bag and look up the website and post it in this thread, maybe later today.....

I have been trying to help someone resolve a complex issue with the IRS where they have been sent a bill to remit another $47,800 and its got them all worked up in a dander. Unfortunately, the taxpayer is in her upper 90's, legally blind and is in the early stages of Dementia issues and has no recall of what she has done to trigger this.....

The woman who is her "POA" and eventually the Executor / Personal Representative of this woman's financial matters doesn't have any financial "savvy" and very limited knowledge of such matters. In fact, she insists that "There is no income tax on any Government Bonds", which simply isn't true. She also has this "understanding", despite her insistence that there is no taxation on any Government Bonds, and that taxation isn't based on gain over basis, in her words, "it's the gain over face value".........

Huh? So, I guess it is and isn't.......don't even get me started..........This stuff is actually very simple and straightforward and if they can't handle this, you can imagine how messed up the complex items likely are.........

This is what happens when people select people they "like and trust" who have no knowledge of how to handle such matters. In fact, the IRS claims there were a dozen or so 1099's issued to the taxpayer for that year which were not included in her return and filing. I wrote to the IRS and asked for copies of the 1099's since there are none in the clients file she maintained or were attached to her return for the year in question.

They had a local CPA prepare the return and when I asked her why they weren't included in the return, I get two different answers, first the CPA says "She didn't have enough income to require her to file so she (the CPA) didn't attach them to the return, although she did file a return.....

The lady that's the PR and POA told me that the CPA "was in a hurry to leave that day as her daughter was having a baby and she wanted to be there, so things were very rushed." Meanwhile, the IRS has tagged on about $9,800 in penalties and interest on the amount due........

Yesterday, the PR / POA called me 4 times in 30 minutes wanting me to call the IRS to straighten this out after her meeting with the CPA who prepared the return ended with the CPA telling her to "Just pay it, because its really hard to fight the IRS."

Well, I sort of have a reputation for fighting them......and successfully when warranted and I have something to defend myself with. In this case, I wouldn't be surprised if the money is due because there were significant transactions with over 100 Series EE bonds which likely triggered the taxable events, but of course, the PR / POA has no records to show what the transactions actually were.

At a minimum, there are grounds to have the penalties and interest waived if the tax amount is paid due to the age and disability of the taxpayer. The CPA told the PR /POA that was something the CPA wouldn't get involved with and the PR / POA would have to initiate those steps on her own, which is why my phone is ringing as this woman doesn't know what, where, how, when to turn to handle any of this.......

I am disgusted by the way this entire thing has been handled by the "preparer".........Very sloppy, very negligent......However, she did give the PR / POA a bill yesterday for her recent "work" on this matter for another $550, which essentially was to tell the lady to pay the amount due.

I don't know this preparer at all and I have a feeling in my gut that something else might have transpired here and I don't like it. The preparer seems to be running from the responsibility of what she did and didn't do. Of course, just sending the IRS the money, which I personally feel she likely owes the taxes as the 1099's were issued by the agency which handles the reporting for the bonds transacted on "Treasury Direct", is the "easiest thing to do". It also results in the entire matter being closed because one of the forms the IRS is requiring be signed with the payment of the taxes prevents this issue from being questioned, reopened or reconsidered in any manner by the taxpayer...........What a convenient way to shut this door and lock it forever more.

So, I have been occupied with other things as of late.........and likely will be today and early next week as well................

Incidentally, the IRS refused the written request I drafted for the POA / PR which was sent to the IRS asking for copies of the 1099's in question. They responded by saying "The 1099's are reported to the IRS electronically and therefore, they can't provide us a copy of the form. All they would do is summarize the data reported by saying who issued it and he amount of income reported, nothing else. They did suggest we try and contact the issuer of the 1099 directly but if you have ever done this for a tax year two years prior, at the end of the current fiscal year, lets just say you get very little cooperation usually...........

My goal is to get the taxes paid and the waiver of the penalties and interest and to attempt to rule out my concern that there might have been some malfeasance in the transactions related to the gains by the preparer before they close the matter. It makes me very uncomfortable that someone who was involved in advising the client on the bond transactions has no copies of what occurred.

Even more troublesome was I did find where the woman who is the CPA / preparer is related to the woman at the local bank which used to handle all of this woman's money until I discovered one day that the lady at the bank was the named beneficiary on bank accounts for the taxpayer totaling about $110k and there is no relationship there other than banker and customer.

When I confronted the banker, she said "The client insisted that I put my name down as beneficiary as she and I have worked together for years and she has no children or family members of her own". I told her the bank pays her to handle these matters and it's a major conflict of interest for her to be a beneficiary on a clients account, not to mention a breach of her fiduciary duties . The bank was interested in quickly "cleaning this matter up and moving forward." We moved forward, right to an entirely different bank........

I brought that matter to the President of the Bank's attention and the bank woman's name was quietly removed from the account and she was retired after over 35 years of service to the bank (and likely herself........in the process)

Now, I learn that the tax preparer is the sister in law of the former banker and guess who the attorney was that handled this woman's estate planning? The banker woman's husband. What an incestuous mess that turned out to be and I guarantee, it's not the only one with these 3 players.......

I need to start at the top and go through this woman's records for the last several years. I have a sinking feeling that her best interests have not been respected. The good news is the PR / POA woman is completely honest, just very naive and I am afraid the others might have duped her into taking actions which is not in the taxpayers best interest.

What a mess.............

I really would rather not be involved in this but I simply can't allow this taxpayer or her PR / POA to possibly be victimized and I am afraid they have been. I wouldn't be surprised if they (The former banker, former attorney and hopefully former CPA) have creatively hung this entire matter around the neck of the well meaning and totally honest, but naive and gullible PR / POA of the taxpayer. There is 7 figures worth of assets involved so the incentive for terrible behavior is extremely high. And no one else is involved in any oversight on this entire matter. I am only involved because of the PR / POA asked me to be as we know each other extremely well and for most of my lifetime.

So, I will dig in and see what I find. I don't think this is going to end well and they (the 3 so called professionals) are already insisting all the actions they have taken were at the insistence of the taxpayer and her declining mental state gives them a lot of cover........

This stuff makes me sick to my stomach, but I can not and will not look the other way.

[kevin37b]

You are a hero SB .