Scared Back to My Ford or Backhoe w/Ballast?

[Anonymous Poster]

DO ANY OF YOU USE BALLAST WITH A HEAVY BACKHOE?

My previous tractor would lift 1100 lbs with the laoder and weight on scales was 5040. My new toy Kubota L35 lifts 1650 and supposedly weights about 6200 w/HD bucket and fork brackets.

Today I was pushing over a sick 8-10" diameter fir tree because I felt it was safer then cutting it. It went right over so I knew the roots were bad. Actually it leaned over. I was going to lift up on the root wad so it fell all of the way down. Being real careful as I always am, tractor hardly above idle, but caught one side of the bucket on it and in a heartbeat the right rear tire was way off the ground. Dumped it and the tire came down and I started looking for those defibrillation paddles to get my heart going again. Figured if I was conscious was probably alive so went about my business.

Is this catching a corner of the bucket thing something that is going to be a problem no matter what I do? I try to be careful not do to that just for stress on the loader. With my Ford it might have the ability to do that but the hydraulics were so much slower at ANY rpm I had LOTS of notice. This L35 at almost an idle speed is so quick it's like turning the throttle on the 500cc dirt bike iinstead o my 200.

One thing I have absolutely no skill at since I've never had the need or luxury of doing it is feathering the loader controls like I do with the backhoe. Maybe that's what I've got to practice.

What I'm asking with this thread is I was under the impression if a heavy backhoe is on the tractor you don't and/or shouldn't be using wheel weights or ballast. Are any of you using ballast AND a backhoe? I've read the archives on ballast info but I can't seem to find this covered.

Are there any other L35 owners out there in tractorland? What are you doing? I enjoy not sinking in everywhere but feel that keeping all four wheels on the ground is a concern. Of course if I had ballast and caught the root would the loader now be at a 45 degree angle?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

thanks in advance

del

[email]oldcarparts@mygarage.com [/email]

 

[MChalkley]

Del - We must be operating in parallel universes or something. I did exactly the same thing this afternoon picking up a tree that got blown over in a recent thunderstorm.

I have my tires (which, as you know, are extra-large) filled to 50% with water/methanol and I've still picked up one rear wheel even with the 2,000 pound backhoe on it. One thing I've noticed, though, is that it's a lot harder to do if you center the load in the bucket. In other words, if you pick up something with one side of the bucket, it's pretty easy to pop the opposite corner up off the ground, but if you pick it up with the middle of the bucket, you have to pick up both rear tires, so it's not nearly as easy to do.

Mark

 

[PaulB]

del - yes, even my mighty B1700 ,1500 pounds soaking wet, will lift one rear wheel when the loader lifts from one corner. Happens faster than you can spit.

 

[ejb]

Its not hard to do with any tractor...I have a jd5410, loaded rear tires and I think I tip the scales at something close to 6tons with loader and a 3Pt attachment on...I very often lift the rear tires of the ground when trying to lift something out of the ground with the loader...the keys are 1) know that it is probably going to happen and be prepared for it 2) lift from the center of the bucket, much better to tip forward on both front wheels than sideways and 3) go real slow on the loader controls and be prepared to take action when you feel yourself going up.

Once you realize that it can and does happen, it doesn't have to be heart stopping, I don't think a tractor is going to roll over completley forward anyway, you have down pressure on your loader so when it hits, you are going to stop...but like I said if you are going real slow, have centered the load and are very aware of what is going on, its not that scarey once you do it a few times

(now tipping to far to the side thats something that scares the heck out of me)

Be careful out there!

 

[Bird]

del, I concur with the other guys. I don't know how many shots of adrenaline I've gotten doing the same thing, but a bunch./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif And yes, you just have to practice feathering the loader controls, like you said, especially if you're in a situation where it's impossible to center the load in the bucket.

Bird

 

[W5FL]

Yes, filling the rear tires to 75% will help stability considerably. It won't bog down much more since it is just the ratio of the total old weight and the new ballasted weight for the tractor. You can try it with just plain water in the summer and put the good stuff in before it freezes this fall. Wheel weights will help also, they are just more expensive, but if you like the ballast, then you can add weights and ballast.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I'm careful to lift from the center too, but with my Ford the slow hydraulics gave me a long warning. In this case I think a root broke and all the weight ended up on one side of the tractor. When I had first lifted it was fine, lifted again and WOW. I guess I was just shocked at the speed of it all. I shouldn't be surprised with this tractor, the hoe is like that as well, with the tractor idling, the hoe will push it around like it doesn't even feel any load. (bucket and legs up). Even with the legs and bucket dug in there isn't much resistance to movement, I'm thinking of making some sort of attachment to the outriggers that will go in the ground more. I don't know how people use a backhoe like this on hard ground or cement. Just slow and careful I guess.

 

[MChalkley]

I think keeping the load centered enough that both rear wheels will come off the ground if you lift too much is the key. That doesn't feel nearly as bad to me as that combination forward and sideways tilt when only one comes off the ground. That'll get you excited in a hurry!

Mark

 

[TomG]

I think I've seen rubber stabilizer shoes on commercial hoes for work on hard surfaces.

 

[roysallis]

The same thing has happened to me when trying to pull up fence posts. To try and save time I came at the post at and angle and had the chain on the corner of the bucket. I was going slow and easy but the pressure got to a certain point and all of a sudden one rear wheel was off the ground. It only took this one time for me to learn to lift from the center of the bucket, even if it does take more time.