$15 350lb front weight

[Calpyro]

During a recent grading project with my Yanmar YM2010D I noticed that I would occasionally lose traction or lift the front wheels while dragging my 5' box scraper. I seemed that I lost all forward movement and spun tires when using the rippers and lift the front wheels when the box scraper got over full.
I decided that adding weight was the solution so filled the rear tires with water and constructed a front weight out of concrete. The front weight was designed to hang below the front frame, forward of the front axle. I decided to add the weight here rather than the conventional location of the bumper because I wanted to add to the stability of the tractor by lowering the center of gravity.
I constructed it by bolting four heavy steel 1/2'X2"X8" straps to the existing holes behind the bumper. The straps protruded downward from the frame six inches, to which I welded a patchwork of rebar so when I unbolted the straps they maintained the bolt pattern of the tractor. After removing the straps, I constructed wooden forms (15" wide X 11" tall X 24" long) from plywood. The metal straps and rebar was then set in the box on two concrete bricks and filled with four 80 pounds of bags of Quickcrete High strength concrete. While filling the box, I took advantage to dispose of lots of old wire and rusty bolts and nails, approximately 25 pounds worth! I let the whole thing set for a week before I bolted on to the tractor.
The results were quite dramatic! Now the tractor does not lift the front end and fills the box scraper full to the point that soil backs up as high as the PTO before spinning the wheels. I can drag much more dirt than before and the tractor feels quite a bit more stable.
As soon as I can borrow a digital camera, I will post a few pictures. It is a bit ugly, but it is damm heavy!
BTW the total cost was $15 at Home Depot.
Cameron

[TonyC]

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing the photos.

[tony123]

Originally Posted by TonyC

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing the photos.

Yeah....where's those photos????

edit: oooooppppsssss I see the date now? I guess he ain't readin' this anymore. hahaha

[Farwell]

Tony,
Maybe the weight project backfired on him and hurt him so bad he couldn't take the photos and post them.
I frequently get caught trying to comment on ancient threads and don't catch it until I have written a whole bunch of poetic comments. Darn, what a waste of words. I would have liked to see the photos as well.

[schmism]

nothing like digging up 6 year old threads.....