Help requested improving side dump mulch applicator

[clavius]

For starters, that's a pretty clever setup you made. Nice bit of lateral thinking using a treadmill like that. I like it.

As to your question:

I am no expert on this stuff and have never built farm equipment, but just as a bit of a data point take a look at this spreader accessory for sanding icy roads:

https://www.fisherplows.com/products/poly-caster/

Depending on the model, one of those holds between 1.5 and 2.5 cubic yards of sand, at maybe 2000+ pounds/cubic yard. So maybe a bit more than your wood chips.

The whole thing is driven by two electric motors, one for the spinner that spreads the sand, and one for a bottom mounted conveyor that feeds the spreader. Both of those motors combined are powered via a 100A fuse. Assuming that it uses all of that 100 amps (which it obviously does not) that's consuming 1200 Watts of power, or in very round numbers, 1.6 HP total. Assuming no losses, 746W = 1 HP, and there are always losses. And, that is the total and is divided between the two motors. So less than 1.5 HP total to run the whole mess.

So while none of that directly answers your question, it would imply that if you had a 5 or 6HP small engine on there, you should easily have plenty of oomph to feed wood chips to your side conveyor, I think.

Just some food for thought.

Edited to add:

Rather than adding rear remotes to your tractor, maybe you could drive a separate hydraulic pump for your mulch spreader off the tractors PTO. A bit of added complexity, but requires no major alterations to the tractor. Just another option.