ballast box

41B-boy

Member
Location
Chehalis, WA
Howdy, needed a ballast box/weight to put on 3 pt to counter the front end weight whilst using the forks...

Question for the brain trust regards the weights of various materials... sand, gravel, dirt, cement, etc.
What might y'all suggest that will give me the most weight in a 5.3 CF box.

I'm reluctant to use cement as it would permanently limit my choices in the future.
Anyhoo, have at it !
I'm all ears.

Fr. Bob

ps. John Deere 1070 with fluid filled rears
 
sand gravel and dirt are near the same. Concrete some what more. Steel/iron weighs about 6 times as much!! Scrap yard uniform chunks of 100# each wiuld be my resource. Jim
 
What I do is have my back blade on and on the center link area it has a wheel weight. Then the blade it self has 6 85lbs suit case weights hanging on the blade. Wheel weight is around 150lbs. I've tried a barrel filled with concrete but found the blade is far better plus you have the bale to use
 
How about something like this?
cvphoto125419.jpg


cvphoto125420.jpg


cvphoto125421.jpg
 
It's about 450 lbs less per yard, here than gravel, plus if the dirt is dry and lumpy, you don't have a true yard on the truck!
 
What I've always seen around here on barn tractors is a half barrel of concrete.I have one I took off a JD 300 utility with a 145 loader.The guy had mounted a vise on top of the concrete too.I use it for an outside vise table,and have used it a lot for changing U-joints in the warm weather.
 
What I've seen is a barrel with 3 pit hitch pins in it. Add cement or water , sand etc. easy to unhitch or hitch up.
 
I have a half a barrel poured full of concrete, with a drawbar sticking out the back so I can still pull trailers. I don't use it very often, so I don't have a picture. In the winter I have a back blade on, and most of the summer the brush cutter is on.
 
55 gallon drum set up for 3 pt. It's what I use. Right at 1200 lbs full of cement. Put it on or take off to use rake or back blade. Ford 3600 with a loader. 55 gallon is 8.82 cubic feet. So your 5.3 at over half would weigh about 750 full of cement. It's about 145 per cubic foot. Could leave it in the bag and soak it. Then could have 80 lb weights to put in the box. Or use the smaller bags.
 
A 55 gallon barrel works great. Run the lower links through the front third (not in the middle) of the barrel to allow for clearance without moving/removing the drawbar. Add a hitch on the back and place another horizontal bar in the back third of the barrel in case one needs additional weight (via front end suitcase weights) for a different tractor down the road. This will be about 1,200 pounds. Fill part way with concrete and finish with gravel, etc. Remember in this setup water will rust out the barrel eventually. I filled mine with 1 inch of top with concrete. This left room for a chain, etc. on top with little chance of it falling off and getting lost.
cvphoto125458.jpg
 
As others have stated, sand, gravel, dirt... all pretty much the same weight give or take.

Really, anything is better than nothing.

If you want to re-use the box, use dirt sand or gravel, whatever you have handy.

IF you don't care about re-using the box, fill it with concrete.

You could also build some forms and cast concrete blocks to fit the box, so they can be added and removed as needed.
 
That's a good idea to not fill it full, for a place to carry a chain. I did fill mine full, and I used a white plastic barrel that isn't UV resistant, so it's falling apart from sitting out in the sun. It still works fine, just doesn't look so good.
 
I've built 2 ballast weights
cvphoto125461.jpg

The First one was for my neighbor. It was a 55 gallon
full of concrete, estimated weight 1200#. He used it to lift 1200# round bales.
cvphoto125462.jpg

This ballast is not a full 55 gallon barrel.
estimated weight 900#.
That was enough to lift this heavy metal brake that is about all this tractor can lift.

The concrete is part of the structural strength of the ballast.
 
I have two Kubota ballast boxes (small and large).

I have bagged playground sand in each, allowing removal if/when desired.

Bags weigh 50 Lbs. each.

Dean
 
FWIW: I store each ballast box on HF moving dollies allowing easy hitch-up and movement when necessary.
 
What you have is super nice.
I'm cheap. Most used metal weights sell for about a buck a pound.
A 1200 concrete ballast =$1200 ouch..

A bag of portland cement = $10
Sand and gravel is free in my lower yard, old gravel pit
 
I have this carrier on my MF 202. I installed the supports that go from the upper center pin to the lower three point ends to take the load off the lift system. I was going to make something similar but it was actually cheaper to purchase.
 

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