Chapin 8622B Tow & Pull Behind Broadcast Spreader, 150lbs Capacity, Auto‑Stop Dual Impeller, Enclosed Bearings, Use for Seed & Fertilizer, Heavy‑Duty Farm/ATV/UTV

The only thing to dislike is the enclosed directions. I have 52 years as a quality engineer writing procedures for people to do things and I have to say the written directions for this device are terrible. But, there is a very good video with the Amazon add that solves this problem. Use it. I looked at all the reviews and tested some of the problems people had and could not duplicate them. In particular the tendency for it to turn over. I ran it fast ,slow, and riding down the length of a 45 degree bank and could not turn it over on several 1 acre or larger food plots. I pull it behind a Polaris. I have spread seed, fertilizer and whole conn kernels and it worked great. I put small amounts in the hopper first to determine the feed opening for each then 50 lb. bags. So far I have only needed the small feed spinner and it does stop dispensing when you stop so as not wasting stuff spilling out in one place when you stop dispensing.

- Don't be fooled by the presentation of the marketing and the NY domestic address. This is NOT US made, it's 100% Chinesium, says so all over the materials when you get it. I think the only thing made in the US is the manual, and that's printed in English, Spanish, and French. This says to me it's all made in China, then packed in the US for NA distribution. - Arrived open because it's so poorly packaged. By some miracle everything was still inside. I note that unlike another reviewer picture, this did NOT come in a branded box with pictures and whatnot like they show, it came in a plain brown box. Either there is massive inconsistency with their shipments, or the product has changed. Also the listing shows the thing is black, as is what I received, where those other reviews that are so much more favorable it's red. Seems pretty suspect. - Instructions reference part numbers but the blister pack of hardware has no such designations on it, so it's pointless. Clear disconnect when you make everything in China then throw in a manual in the US without making sure it all lines up. - Part of the unit has to be taken apart and put back together. On purpose, by the instructions. That makes no sense, just ship it in parts. - While it should be obvious, it's notable that there is no warning to check the tire pressure before use. They ship half pressure. - One wheel is held on with a heavy bolt, the other with a little cotter pin. This makes no sense, and is not the only inconsistency issue with quality. - Getting the hitch and frame to line up to bolt them together is very difficult and not clear in the instructions. There should be brackets rather than just trying to line up and bolt together tubes and panels. While they are 4 heavy bolts, they are the only thing taking all the vertical sheer force holding this thing together. - On the tubes, the bolt holes are recessed. This makes it extremely difficult to tighten the bolts as there are no lock washers, and the recesses are not notched to hold the bolt. You have to get in there with a needle nose to hold the thing while tightening the nut. Some of the bolts are twice as long as they need to be because they only provide one length for everything, so you're wrenching forever. Space is too tight for a power tool. Royal pain and lousy design. - There are two auger bits, you can only use one at a time. The smaller bit is pointless, it sits a couple inches from the drop opening so it wouldn't do anything. The larger bit is also pointless as it sits nearly 2 inches above the opening. Nothing is designed to actually help move material down the chute. This is bizarre as two minor changes would have made it so the auger actively sifts material out. This flaw makes the unit nearly useless as material just doesn't move through most of the time. I had to drive around 10x longer than I should have, at full speed, and only because of very lumpy ground bouncing material down did I eventually get the job done. Note the person who said it tipped over must have done something incredibly wrong. I had this thing nearly airborne hitting bumps, no issue with stability. - The flow control is cheap plastic with no actual release and lock mechanism. You simply crank it hard to ratchet the plastic teeth over each other and hope it doesn't break. Clearly this will wear out quickly. Given how heavy duty the rest of the materials are, making this dollar store cheap is unacceptable. And again even full open material fails to properly flow through because of the lousy auger design. This is in stark contracts to another review talking about an all metal mechanism where this is actually all plastic. Again, totally different product?? Honestly I'd say don't buy based on this shadiness alone unless you like gambling. - The rain cover is rectangular, the hopper is pentagonal, so it doesn't fit properly in the least. Because of the poor quality of critical parts, and the lousy functionality, it wouldn't be very good at half the price. At this cost, it's a complete ripoff and total waste of time and money. I believed some of the hype that indicates this is higher quality than other brands, and regret every bit of that choice. Instead of Chapin it should be called Cheapen.

Not sure why there was so much fuss in other reviews about putting this together; it seemed pretty straight forward to me although I'm used to this stuff so can imagine it might be difficult for the extreme novice. I will say having the proper tools certainly sped things up; drill driver bit with socket set, open wrenches, couple sets of pliers. Doing this with just 2 open faced wrenches would take forever. Ok the instructions are crap. Clearly this will be built upside down but the images are posted right side up. Classic case of engineers not communicating with designers. Easily remedied by just turning the instructions upside down but really stupid and unnecessary. Also noticed there's no recommended speed to run this in the instructions. Should this be run at 1 mph, 4 mph, 10 mph? From other reviews, looks like the tires will get in the way of the spread if run too slow so appears this should be run on the faster side but then need to worry about this being top heavy and tipping over/ front hitch plates bending and not up to the high torsion stress levels. And once again as with other spreaders, the application rate chart is a guessing game; fertilizer, insecticide, selective herbicide, etc bag gives you application rate per X sq feet but the instructions just give two options - seed or weed and seed which also differ in application rates. So what number do I put it on for granular insecticide? Here's the things I did after reading all the other premature failures. It's unfortunate I need to even do this stuff but it seems all other tow behind options on the general market have similar issues: - Grease the zerk fittings: I already have a grease gun from my lawn tractor so pumped a few each into the wheel bearings until I saw it starting to seep out. I then started pumping into the gear box... and pumped and pumped and pumped. To the point where nothing was coming out the sides like it normally would in any other zerk fitting. Was there any grease in here at all??? I actually stopped a few times and checked my gun to make sure grease was actually coming out/ was not empty. I must have pumped at least 20 times and still no grease coming out. And it's a wonder why everyone else's gear box is stripping/ seizing!! - Augur zip ties: It seems the augur does not scrape the bottom; another user added zip ties to the augur pointing down and to help feed out the hole on lower levels. - Mesh screen: Another user added in 3/4 steel mesh screen to prevent clumps from clogging up or snapping one of the plastic augur teeth...another $50 purchase to do this - (yes 'Everbilt 24 in. x 3/4 in. x 24 in. Plain Expanded Metal Sheet' is now $43). Tin snips worked well to cut this. - Triangular hitch plate upgrade: It seems with a lot of people whenever they fill the hopper with 50+ lbs and go over small bumps/ hills, the plates cannot handle the torsion load and start twisting due to being top heavy and causing the entire thing to fall over. (Hint for Chapin: Guess what, not everyone has a perfectly level lawn with zero bumps or hills. And if the recommended speed is 6 mph as you mentioned in an answered question, then those torsion loads are going to be much higher when on a hill or hitting a bump.) So the hitch plates really need to be beefed up as the point right at the hitch pin is going to be the weakest link. I bought a 1/4" thick 12x12 mild steel plate (item B07MC8K235) and will need to cut/ drill to the original design. With this thicker material, I will need to also buy another set of bolts and lock nuts but not a huge deal. This will be more than enough to prevent any sort of twisting on my steep hills. Update: Did this project and it was quite involved. Needed to purchase a Diablo Steel Demon blade for my circular saw as the material was just too thick for an angle grinder. The blade made relatively quick work out of cutting the 1/4" thick steel although made a HUGE mess with all the metal shavings. I bought and used 1/4" bolts & lock nuts in place of the metric ones that come with the unit, drill bit/ step bit + 3 in 1 oil worked good to get these holes drilled. Everything came together nicely in the end. - Check Tire psi: other's have said there was as little as 2 psi in the tires where it was rated at 20 psi. Mine were between 10-15 psi. It is crazy all of this needs to be done to get it up to par. It really does appear the ones designing this have zero clue about usability on anything other than absolutely ideal conditions. Even just putting in a simple screen instead of the cover would be a nice upgrade. Will post updates along with pictures once I do all of the above as well as actually start to use it. Update: Used it for the first time to spread grub control on the grass before the rain storm. Worked very well so far. It definitely wanted to tip and most certainly would have if not for the upgraded hitch plates I installed. With them installed it gave so much more stability, zero indication at the plate hole itself of any torsion issue. Happy with it so far, hope it lasts! Update 2: Spread granular lime, seed and fertilizer. Here's my take on each: Lime: Needed a LOT of lime to raise pH - ran it with the hopper wide open. This spread very well and glad I had this tow behind instead of walk as I needed to make multiple passes even with it wipe open. Seed: Seed is very smooth and 'slippery' in that it will continue to come out of the hopper even if you stop moving. So you really need to plan your route accordingly because of this. Fertilizer: The hopper is set on about 4-5 for fert and it did get hung up every so often; the fert would not come out so I had to jump off and shake it around until it started coming out again. Since fert is course, it will generally not come out of the hopper when stopped. For all 3 I do agree with others in that the tires get in the way of the throw path; bad product design. They're too high/ the spreader plate that spins is too low. So a lot of the product ends up hitting the tires instead of flying off to its intended destination. To combat this, you really need to be going full speed which is difficult to do when going around edges and shrubs. What I do is just use this spreader for the bulk of the yard wide open spaces and then for the side/ smaller yard I use my smaller Scotts spreader which has more control.

2-year 03/25/26 Update: The spreader is still going strong without any issues now almost 2 years after purchasing in 2024. As I stated prior, In the beginning on the season, I grease all the wheels and gearing and spray with WD-40 all other moving parts. After each use it is hosed off with a hot water hose, but any hose will do. I then wait till the spreader dries and spray some WD-40 (Any penetrating oil spray will work) on all the moving parts before putting it back in the shed. The Spreader still drops and stops whenever the spreader moves and stops as described without hesitation. In the case of the Chapin 8622B, if you take care of the equipment it will continue to operate and perform as described. Excellent investment if you do not have a way to reach and turn on and off the spreading action on a spreader. I have found a spreader setting chart online (see attached) that has spreader settings compared to other brand spreaders for your convenience, which comes in handy if you are setting the spreading rates and they call out a different spreader manufacturer on the directions. 1-year 06/30/25 Update: The spreader was used about 12 times since it's purchase back in 06/24 with fertilizers and other lawn and bug materials. I use it with my Cub Cadet Zero turn mower. It is still working and operating flawlessly. The only thing that has and is done is cleaning it by hosing it down after each use and greasing it once a year. If you have a ZTR mower and want a spreader that can halt spreading and dropping material as soon as you stop then this spreader is perfect. I have now been using this on a 1-acre property and it is great! The Chapin 8622B is an excellent choice for anyone who has a ZTR mower and wants to be able to spread lawn/agricultural materials with ease. All you need to do after assembly, which is about an hour, is connect the spreader to the ZTR and then keeping the gate adjustment lever set to zero, you move the spreader to the location you want to start spreading and get off the mower and set the gate adjustment to your desired setting and get on and go. The spread will start to drop and spread the material as your ZTR moves and stops dropping material as soon as the ZTR mower stops. Then if you need to move to another location just put the gate adjustment lever set to zero and move to the next area if needed. Overall and excellent quality and made in the USA and strong. I have an acre and use about 80-100 lbs. of material which the spreader handled easily. Very important to clean and spray some silicone or other good lubricant on all the moving and drive parts when done as depending on what material you are spreading can be very corrosive.

I first bought the Agri-Fab 45-0530 and was disappointed. It's very cheaply made, especially the key part: the flow control mechanism. So I shopped and found the Chapin, which is almost twice the price. However, everything about the Chapin 8622B tow spreader is significantly superior to the Agri-Fab 45-0530. It’s like comparing a Yugo to a BMW. The Chapin is solid as a rock; really heavy duty constriction, made to last. It’s farm grade. When unpackaging, I examined the parts closely with glee. I kept hearing my Dad’s voice in my head saying, “You get what you paid for.” Yep. The frame, wheels, tub, and above all the two most critical parts -- the mechanism to adjust the volume, and the gearing mechanism -- are pro or farm grade construction. See the product image showing the cast metal gears; the gear housing even has a nipple to add grease. That seems like a small thing, but it's not. It an indication of quality engineering and design to last, not "planned obsolescence" as with so many throw-away products these days. Quite conveniently, it was nearly all assembled out of the box, also unlike the Agri-Fab. With the Chapin, I only had to assemble the tow assembly. It took 20 min. A customer wrote a review in April, 2023 complaining about the assembly difficulty. That certainly wasn’t my experience. A photo from a different reviewer, Doug, from June 5, 2019, shows how few parts there are to put together. If someone can’t figure that out, they probably have difficulty installing a light bulb. I agree with the rest of Doug's review too. Even the bolts and little parts come neatly packaged and labeled, not jumbled willy-nilly in a plastic bag, as his picture shows. I’ve used it twice on a 5000 sq ft lawn area and it works perfectly. When you stop, the flow of material automatically stops. To be sure, you have to get off to make adjustments to the flow if needed. And you have to set it to zero if you want to drive without material being spread. But I’m OK with that. The Agri-Fab does allow one to remain seated and try (TRY!) to make adjustments, but the Agri-Fab’s control mechanism is such a cheap piece of junk that doesn't work as intended. You can see how cheap the Agri-Fab is just from looking it after buying. It isn’t worth it. The Chapin also comes with a cover for the tub (nice!) AND notice the shape of the tub itself. Another example of clever attention to engineering detail. It’s not rectangular; it has a pointed middle so that you can just tip it over forwards and pour out any remaining content into a box or bag. Love It. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

The first time I used it the amount of material delivered was difficult to predict. The second time I used it, the impeller quit moving and now no material is being spread. Seems like junk for what I paid for it. Adding some new facts... I gave this product a 1 in this review. There was no option to give it a 0. If you are looking for a good quality and reliable spreader, look elsewhere. Here is a summary of why: 1. September 2024 I purchased the Chapin 8622B tow behind spreader for my personal use from Amazon. 2. Soon after that I used it to spread grass seed and starter fertilizer. It seemed to not feed reliably but I got through the task 3. November 2024 I used the spreader a second time to apply a winterizing fertilizer. The gearbox stripped out and the impeller would not move. I used my old push spreader to complete the job. 4. It was now outside of the Amazon 30 day return window so I contacted the manufacturer. 5. They sent me a new gearbox and a Youtube video. Fix it yourself. 6. In Late February 2025 I got time to repair the spreader. The first thing I discovered was a bolt that needed to be removed was stripped. It was kind of a special shoulder bolt that I could not purchase at a hardware store. 7. I contacted support and again they sent me the hardware. Fix it yourself. 8. March 2025, by now it was time to apply my spring pre-emergent. I used my old push spreader to do this before the weeds sprouted. 9. April 2025, with the new hardware, I cut off the stripped bolt and replaced the gearbox. It seemed to be working okay. 10. May 2025 I applied some broadleaf weed killer. Again, I experienced poor results. The gearbox worked okay but again the spreader did not feed the material well. Everything started good, but at some point I realized it had stopped feeding. Now I had no idea what I had covered and what I hadn’t. I ended up double covering some areas and burned the lawn. 11. I’m fed up at this point and requested to return this product that had never worked correctly and receive a full refund. My request for a return/refund was denied. I was told “Unfortunately, we cannot process refunds if the unit has been used. We can only accept returns if the unit has not been used, and it is in the original box it was received in. I do apologize for this inconvenience.” That seems to be a really tidy policy that assures they will never have to take a return of their defective and underperforming products. 1. Nobody keeps the box. 2. In order to realize it doesn’t work, don’t you have to use it? After my experience I belatedly looked for some reviews. A popular theme was tipping, stripped gearboxes, and feeding problems. I looks like I’m not alone. Unfortunately, another trusted American brand is likely to disappear (much like Pan Am, Sears, American Motors etc.) It is inevitable with products this poor and such ineffective customer service.

Designed with quality materials and relatively easy to assemble. The hardware packaging wasn’t labeled to match the directions, which was a little frustrating, but it was still straightforward to figure out based on what was included. The main issue, and the reason for the 3-star rating, is stability. When filled to120 lb capacity (30lb below the listed capacity), the unit becomes top-heavy. While pulling it with my zero-turn, it partially tipped and spilled pelletized lime across my lawn. Thankfully it wasn’t fertilizer, or I’d be dealing with burn spots. In the process it was stuck sideways and bent the towing plates which I ended up taking it apart and bent it back with my bench vise. A wider wheelbase would likely fix this problem. As it stands, I’ll continue using it but won’t fill it to the manufacturer’s claimed capacity. On the positive side, I do like the zerk fittings on the axle hubs and the gearing system, they seem built for longevity. That’s a step up from my previous Agri-Fab spreader, which lasted about three years on a ¾-acre property before failing beyond repair.

Update: 3 stars down from 5... Ive used this for three years now and I'm reluctant to recommend it. I only use it maybe twice a year for fertilizer. Every time I go to use it the shafts are all frozen up. Despite cleaning reasonably well after each use it seems the fertilizer gets into the nooks and corodes or jams up the shafts. I've given the gearbox a shot of grease every season. Had the gears grind once, I had to reverse to get them to mesh again. Just seems like a combination of poor materials and/or durability. I expect I'll be looking for a gearbox in a year or two Used to fertilizer around a acre. Based on my seed rate and the area it worked out perfectly volume wise, so the application rate guide (keep the manual!) is pretty accurate. Only thing I wish it had, but not a deal breaker, was a way to remotely turn it off from seat. I was worried my zero turns pin hitch bracket would be too low (Cub Cadet Ultima ZT1) but it was perfect height.

It is difficult to put together as the directions tells you to loosen a bolt but does not tell you to move the angled support to hold the handles. Can't wait to try it out. Damn rain!

We spread 1000’s of lbs of Fertilizer/Lime. Always used John Deere ..decided to purchase a Chapin due to the fact of the none flow when stopped Big mistake. Going to try to return. Spreader is too bouncy. Already flipped it twice Spread adjustments very difficult to manoeuvre … screen not included. Which causes poor flow due to possible lumps getting caught and finally wheel base is too short

Étendre engrais à gazon.

I bought this spreader because I got sick of the cheaply made Agri-fab and Brinly tools that always fell apart within months. After some research and reading the reviews on here, I decided to pay a little more for this Chapin. Boy was that a bad decision so far. There are several things about this that are decent, but the most glaring design flaw is the wheel base. It is way too narrow. The people writing these glowing reviews about how stable it is must be living in a subdivision with a small, perfectly groomed and flat lawn. I have a 4 acre lot, 3 of which is grass, and it has a lot of bumps and mounds. My first time using this, it toppled twice, spilling everything all over the lawn. I had 4 15kg bags of pelletized lime, which works out to 132lbs and less than the capacity it advertises. It toppled once when I was about 2/3 full and again when about 1/4 full. The hitch bracket bent completely out of shape and I had to hammer it back flat to get the hitch pin out. It is no where near thick enough to prevent bending. The spreader is pretty tall, which makes it taller than it is wide. That's just asking for anything to topple, especially when you are putting weight in the top half. And the worst part is that I wasn't even going fast. How do I know? Because the impeller didn't seem to be throwing well, so I was going slower to see if that helped. That brings me to the next issue. For some reason, it is inconsistent with how much it throws. I tried changing the settings and there was no rhyme or reason for how much got tossed. After looking at it closer, I think the plastic auger was backing off. I tried tightening it again and I'll keep an eye on it. The installation instructions weren't terrible, but there were a couple of steps that could have used a little more detail. However, I was able to figure it out after playing around with it for a bit. Specifically, it was around the bolts that needed to be backed off to attach the frame. One other minor issue is that it referenced step 2.3 when it should have been step 3.3. I assume at one point it used to be step 2.3, but they added a new step 1, pushing the others back. What I like about the spreader is that it stops when you stop. That allows you to get out and close the hopper when moving to a new area. It would have been nice to be able to reach this from the seat of the lawn tractor, but it's not the end of the world. The tires are also nice and big. But this brings the instability into play as mentioned above. With a wider wheel base, these tires would be great. So, after spending more to get a "better brand", it turns out I got the same quality. Don't fall for that "Made in USA" is better crap, because that simply is not true. All companies are trying to make the most money by ripping their customers off. Extending the axle by 6 to 8 inches would drastically improve stability. And having the red hitch brackets be thicker and/or attached together with ribbing would drastically reduce the bending.

great little unit