What to use in Ballast box
- Thread starter nyen0004
- Start date
beenthere
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2001
- Messages
- 18,090
- Location
- Southern Wisconsin, USA
- Tractor
- JD_4x2_Gator, JD_4300, JD_425, JD_455 AWS, added JD_455, JD_110, JD_X485(sold)
Best? That would be what you have available and how permanent you want it.
I fill mine with washed gravel.
A search on ballast box's on TBN will come up with some clever ideas including filling with concrete.
Anything but concrete would be easy to change out and put something else in its place.
I fill mine with washed gravel.
A search on ballast box's on TBN will come up with some clever ideas including filling with concrete.
Anything but concrete would be easy to change out and put something else in its place.
KubotainNH
Veteran Member
I used concrete so I could stick a 2" receiver in the box for a hitch. I also have a couple pieces of pvc in it vertically so I can stick things like rakes in them. My box sides are taller so stuff like straps and chains easily stay put in there.
brandoro
Platinum Member
I wanted as much weight as I could get so gathered up a fair bit of scrap steel and poured that in with the concrete. Concrete is 150lbx per cubic foot, steel is about 490 lbs per cubic foot. I figure my four cubic foot ballast box is about 850 lbs. I bolted a hitch receiver to the bottom prior to filling the box and put a frame in the top that is well embedded in the concrete so that I have a place to carry chains and other things.
brandoro
Platinum Member
Ford tractor
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2010
- Messages
- 975
If there is a metal working shop around, you can buy drop odds and ends pretty cheap. Bring the ballast box, have them fill it with all the metal "junk" that they would normally send to scrap. Or they may let you fill it from their scrap pile. Offer to pay $150 a ton, that's more than they are getting now.
123rday
Silver Member
I put 8-60lb bags of concrete in mine since my tires already have rim guard in them, but in bag form so if I wanted to remove them and use the box for something else I could. There is still room on top so chains ride just fine.
F1520
Silver Member
Washed gravel in mine, too. I have lots of rocks on my property, but they're mostly too big to get an efficient fill in the ballast box.
After a few hours of bouncing around on the back of the tractor, the gravel settled in tightly and there's a little room on top to carry a length of chain or whatever.
Lots of good ideas on TBN for fill material. I like being able to remove what's in it if/when we move or if I sell the box some day.
The ballast box really makes a difference when doing loader work, too. Stabilizes the tractor and takes the front-to-back bounce out of it.
After a few hours of bouncing around on the back of the tractor, the gravel settled in tightly and there's a little room on top to carry a length of chain or whatever.
Lots of good ideas on TBN for fill material. I like being able to remove what's in it if/when we move or if I sell the box some day.
The ballast box really makes a difference when doing loader work, too. Stabilizes the tractor and takes the front-to-back bounce out of it.
dmay
Gold Member
I simply filled mine with sand for now. An easy reversible choice should I wish to customize my ballast box later.
devildog1
Veteran Member
Why Ballast Box for weight?
For the life of me why would anyone want to put a usless box on three point hitch that you can not use? Why not a Box Blade or a back blade? At least it could be used for doing something besides rear weight that has no other use except to hang there.
DevilDog
For the life of me why would anyone want to put a usless box on three point hitch that you can not use? Why not a Box Blade or a back blade? At least it could be used for doing something besides rear weight that has no other use except to hang there.
DevilDog