Choosing a spreader for sand and salt

The carrier matters most. A tractor, a wheel loader, a truck and a forklift largely take different spreaders, and a wrong choice here cannot be corrected with settings.

Which spreader suits a tractor, wheel loader, forklift or truck?

• Wheelbarrow and pavements — Falköping K-60, 60 litres, 0.6 m spreading width, 31 kg
• Compact machine with tow hitch — the T series T-2.5, T-6 and T-7, 2.5 to 7 hl, 1–1.4 m spreading width
• Tractor, three-point — the R series R-3H to R-7H (0.3–0.7 m³) or the spreader buckets S-3 to S-25 (0.3–2.5 m³)
• Tractor with trailed spreader — T-12, T-15 and T-20, 1.2 to 2.0 m³
• Wheel loader — spreader buckets S-11LM, S-20LM and S-25LM with LM, Trima or three-point mounting
• Forklift — H-5 and H-7, driven from a trailing wheel, 0.5 and 0.7 m³
• Truck — the hydraulic truck spreaders B-2H and B-2HS (0.2 m³), the disc spreaders in the C series (0.6–7 m³) and the CLC combination spreaders

Range is what governs the working day

Volume alone says little. Falköping states the range in kilometres, and that is the figure that determines how often the vehicle has to go back to refill:

• T-6: 6 km with sand, 60 km with salt
• T-12 and T-15: 9 km with sand, 90 km with salt
• T-20: 10 km with sand, 100 km with salt
• H-5 and H-7: 3 km with sand, 30 km with salt

Sand and salt are spread in completely different quantities

The difference in range is explained by the spreading rate. Falköping states 80–400 g/m² for sand and 5–30 g/m² for salt on the same machines. Salt is therefore spread roughly ten times more thinly than sand — which is why a tank of salt goes so much further than the same tank of sand.

If you need to spread both dry material and brine, look at the combination machines: the CLC series takes 6–7 m³ of dry material and 3.6–8.5 m³ of liquid (up to 10.9 m³ with high tanks) in the same unit.

Electric on pickups and light trucks

The FC FICON spreaders for pickups and light trucks are electric and are mounted on the load bed. The FC 380SS has a 12-volt motor, a 380-litre stainless steel hopper and a 65 mm feed auger. The FC 750-2500 runs on 12 or 24 V and comes in sizes from 750 to 2 500 litres, with a 155 mm auger (SSA) or a 300 mm conveyor chain (SSC).

Documentation if required

If the gritting has to be documented for the client, the control system must be in place from the start. Falköping's Panel PC is prepared for GPS and GSM transmission and for data collection, which provides a continuous history of all actual values controlled from the control panel.