Ballast box?

[Dream Farmer]

I see on many of the other brand tractor owner pages the guys are using ballast boxes when doing FEL work but not many Bobcat or Kioti owners have them listed..Are our tractors heavy enough that it makes these obsolete? are people not listing them? or are you just using a 3pt implement as an alternative?
Shawn

[k0ua]

I have my 750 pounder on the back of my Kioti, and thinking about adding more (filled tires too!)

James K0UA

[ttriff]

I have the Bobcat ballast box it's filled with bags of pea gravel. Later this year it's going to be modified to hold a platform with a broadcast sprayer tank

I was going to fill it with removable piece of concrete. Unfortunately the box has several steel reinforcing crosspieces, they make removal of a single piece of concrete impossible.

Having weight in the rear makes a big difference when using the FEL.

[powerscol]

I have filled tires on my CT235 and have not found a nend for one.

However when moving heavy clay I use my box blade to remove some of the bounce. If you don't push it the weight of and implement such as box blade will work. Filling the tires is a must though. Check with you local AG tire store or CO-OP.

[abatis]

I usually leave a box blade on mine. Along with the juiced rear tires I have not had any problems so far. I do plan to add some weights and maybe a tool box to the box blade. I know the manual says to have weights.

[RoyJackson]

I see on many of the other brand tractor owner pages the guys are using ballast boxes when doing FEL work but not many Bobcat or Kioti owners have them listed..Are our tractors heavy enough that it makes these obsolete? are people not listing them? or are you just using a 3pt implement as an alternative?
Shawn

It's a matter of leverage (due to weight distribution) rather then actual weight.
Many implements don't provide adequate weight to counterbalance the FEL lifting capacity. Some, such as a rotary cutter, are too bulky. Just adding weight to the rear tire (by use of liquid ballast) doesn't pull enough weight off the front axle.

Whatever you do decide to use (and I recommend ballast boxes 100%), make sure you have adequate ballast on the 3PH to reduce the load on the front axle, add traction and aid in keeping the tractor stable.

[TripleR]

Sorry for invading the wrong forum, but we own/have owned several different brands and sizes of tractors and the only one that has done very well without weight on the 3PH is a Massey Ferguson 375 with filled tires and cast centers.

Everything else we have with a FEL, we use a counterweight and filled tires to get good performance.

[Grand_Pooba]

My manual states you need 800 lbs of counter weight for the loader to be used at it's max capacity. I have a 900 lb block of concrete that I made up that works great.

[IndyIan]

I moved quite a bit of dirt, 1000lb bales, with loaded rears and a 350lb rear blade on. It worked OK, but now I have a 1000lb box blade and there is a large difference in how much you can do with the loader. I'm currently spreading around a couple 100 yards of clayey topsoil the excavator left from our pond project and I can run the tractor almost like a bull dozer and make a big curled up wave of dirt pushing with the FEL when going down the pile.
Right now I don't plan to get a ballast box but it you don't need a big box blade or rear blade then I would get a ballast box.