Just picked up a Lesco HPS today, a few questions?

[Fertboy]

I finally broke down and picked up a HPS spreader today. I work solo and recently landed some large properties to justify it. Some are between 2-4 acres.

I know someone will have the ride on debate started soon, but the HPS will work great for me as I only spot spray. It should be great for reno jobs, I dread liming,seeding,and ferting 40-120K properties myself.

I tested it out on my own land today, and it appears the spread width is not quite as wide with my push spreader. I have a pretty brisk stride when ferting by hand. This was tested with the yellow fert speed lever on. I was using Lesco 24-5-11 fert. Has anyone else noticed this? After 2 passes, I made them a little more closer so the fert is just overlapping between the passes.

Is this an optical illusion from standing higher on the sulky? I checked the ground and it appears the coverage was good. I plan to callibrate it on Sun, the spread pattern is actually better than my highwheel,not the 10-3 more 9-3.

Would be great to hear any comments on the spread width, and any tips with this unit.

Thanks! Ed

[RigglePLC]

I don't have an HPS. May I suggest --place about 15 paper plates in a row and drive across them, (leaving a gap for the wheels) To check for even fertilizer distribution. Count the particles and write down on chart. Repeat--until you get consistant results--not easy.

[lawn king]

Hello fertboy. I have been running hps for 4 seasons and been very pleased with the machines overall! You are correct in your observations of the 9-3 tight pattern of coverage. The faster you run the machine the wider the swath you will cover. They take some time to calibrate and operator weight is a factor. The factory bearings are cheap and will wear out fast, the fuel tank is small, i weigh about 170 lbs, i run the hopper full, 100 lbs and get about 1.8 hours of application out of each tank of fuel. The 6.0 kawasaki is very water sensitive and it does use oil. I grease every day i use the machine, spray the carb with stp cleaner after each use, and spray all the springs,pullys and linkage with liquid wrench. The hps machines will serve you well if you do the proper maintenence & washdown.

[Fertboy]

LawnKing

Thanks for the post. My Lesco guy told be the main problems he sees, is the bearings,the pump drive idler pulleys, and the cable for the hopper shut off?

How do you judge your spread width? I am so use to ferting to the center, between my passes by hand and you always have that little over throw. It just appears not to throw as far.

I have done the pan test before, and never really went by it. The product you use,prill,terrain,how peppy you feel pushing influences to much on an effective width.

This unit seems to be really precise with the pattern, you could get away without the deflector near curbs while the parts are still tight.

Overall I like the unit so far, the kawasaki seems to be a nice engine, I weight in at 160, 165 after sunday football. The engine is a little rough at idle, the rubber bushing sseem to smooth it out at speed.

What oil do you use, lesco Guy told me it came with 10W40 and may burn a little with a multi weight?

Thanks Ed

[lawn king]

I use 10-30 in my machines and lots of grease and liquid wrench.

[vegomatic40]

Gottta agree on the water sensitivity issue as well as a little under-powered for hauling my big frame around. When the Kaw's die on my units I plan on replacing them with Honda 8HP engines to get a little more grunt of torque on hills and improve on fuel efficiency/run-time between fill ups. As I understand it. Lesco had some kind of falling out with Honda and as a result went with Kaw's on almost everything made. Should be a fairly easy switch. The frame/chassis are more than robust and have held up very well over the past 2 seasons with a minimum of maint.