Ballast rear ballast for loader

[natem1984]

well i have my new 5234D it is great, i will get pics up as soon as i can.
The question i have is what other people are using as a rear ballast for use with the loader. The ballast box looks like it will stick out far, and will be a pain to have back there all the time. I am thinking of having the tires filled. What do you all think?

 

[Mike5252]

I had your same dilemma earlier this year.

Here is where I ended up:
-I had serious issues with buying something for $200-300 (and just as importantly taking up precious garage space) that seemed to have no other purpose than holding weight I would put in it.

-As I primarily use my tractor for mowing, I didn't think adding another couple hundred pounds by filling the tires (to what is already a fairly heavy tractor for mowing) would be that good of an idea for me. I like being able to take the weight off when mowing.

-That left a rear blade or box blade. In medium to heavy duty form, either of these can weigh around 400 lbs. Plenty enough for my purposes and what was recommended by Cub.

I thought a box blade would suit my purposes best, so ended up w/ a land price BB1548 that I believe weights in just a little over 400 lbs. I've already found several litle projects where having it has come in handy. In my area you can find new 48" box blades for around $500-$600.

On a separate note, I've had two occasions in the last week to really test out the 812 loader. I've been very impressed. It took on a large rock I purchased for a landscaping project (450 lbs) and also lifted the root ball on a small tree I was moving to another spot in the yard (probably 500 lbs easy). It struggled with both when trying to lift when the center of the load was out past the edge of the bucket, but both times when I moved the center of gravity back towards the back of the bucket it lifted right up.

Hope that helps.

 

[wojnaroski]

Nate,

Remember, it is not just the weight on the tractor, loaded tires, but the counterbalancing effect, ie: weight behind the tractor countering the loader. Mike is right about the box scraper, there are a lot of uses for it. Another option would be suitcase weights, which would not stick out as far as another attachment.

Good luck, Alan

 

[Hard]

I had a 48" Woods box scraper on both my 5234D's with a quick hitch. The box scraper provided plenty of ballast and the quick hitch made hooking it up very easy. It's not easy trying to maneuver around a 400 to 500lb box scraper to hook it up to a 3pt hitch, the quick hitch took care of that problem.

 

[mark1]

Hi I used a barbell weight set.I got the weights for free and can add 100-250 lbs.then just roll em around in the garage when not needed.
See --http://www.ctoa.net/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=63