Calibration Resources
Calibration should take place annually and/or any time a change is made to the equipment or the material. The City of Cudahy reduced salt use by 50% through calibrating their equipment. See their instructional video, and videos from other communities below.
Salt Trucks
Tips for calibrating a Force America 6100 or 5100ex (City of Cudahy).
5100 calibration instructions (pdf for printing)
Calibration for a manual drop tail gate spreader with manual valves (City of Farmington Hills Department of Public Works).
Manual spreader calibration chart and instructions (pdf for printing)
Sidewalk Spreaders
Calibration of a push spreader (PDF instructions)
Additional Resources
- North Carolina DOT staff explain the calibration process they use to calibrate for their truck with spinner controls.
- Baystate Roads Program explains proper calibration for their municipal sander/salt spreader and the basic calculations to determine how much material needs to be used.
- Calibration Accuracy of Manual and Ground-Speed-Control Spreaders
- MN DOT: calibration examples for a variety equipment