Calibration Examples

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).

Calibration of a Force America 6100 Closed-Loop System (MN DOT).

Calibration for a manual drop tail gate spreader with manual valves (City of Farmington Hills Department of Public Works).

Sidewalk Spreaders

Calibration of a push spreader (PDF instructions)

Additional Resources

• The North Carolina DOT explains the calibration process they use to calibrate for their truck with spinner controls.
• The Ice Slider company explains how to calibrate their sander truck. The same process can be used to determine salt truck output.
• 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 various equipment