More useful weight box?

[tuolumne]

A weight box for the 3520 I am purchasing costs around $200 and weighs around 400 lb. It seems I could build something a lot more useful for $200. On my little JD 112 I have a box that slides into the frame that can seat up to 3 kids or some tools. Has anyone built such a carry-all for the 3 point hitch? I'm looking for ideas. I want something that weighs in near that 400 lb mark for loader work, into which I could put 5 kids for transport, chains, tools, etc. when off in the woods working. Pictures would be great. I don't have a welder...maybe it's time to get one.

 

[mars1952]

A weight box for the 3520 I am purchasing costs around $200 and weighs around 400 lb. It seems I could build something a lot more useful for $200. On my little JD 112 I have a box that slides into the frame that can seat up to 3 kids or some tools. Has anyone built such a carry-all for the 3 point hitch? I'm looking for ideas. I want something that weighs in near that 400 lb mark for loader work, into which I could put 5 kids for transport, chains, tools, etc. when off in the woods working. Pictures would be great. I don't have a welder...maybe it's time to get one.

If you don't have access to a welder you are going to be limited to an off the shelf ballast box. I don't know of any multipurpose ballast boxes out there. Use the forum search to look for "Ballast" and you will find many custom ballast box threads.
You will get many different opinions about how much ballast to use. This is my opinion:
Rear traction is one of the reasons to add ballast. The other very important reason is to take weight off your front axle. If your rear wheels are slipping more than 15% when you use your FEL that means that you have almost all the weight transferred to the front axle (The whole weight of the tractor plus the dirt in the bucket). The 3520 series tractors can lift an impressive amount of weight with their FEL. Look at your user manual and see how much weight your front axle can take. I am sure that it wasn't meant for that much additional weight. Also almost all your stability comes from the rear axle. Your front axle can pivot and allow the tractor to roll over when your tractor is balanced on the front axle. To transfer weight from your front axle to your rear wheels you must put weight behind the rear wheels. Loading the tires or adding weight to the rear tires only adds weight to the rear tires it does not transfer weight off the front. Think of a teeter-totter. If you put weight on the pivot nothing is changed on the seats. If you put equal weight on the seats the teeter-totter will balance. In this case the rear axle is the pivot point but we want about 45-50% of the weight to remain on the front axle.
John Deere Ballast Handout Scan I hope this scan is readable.
My tractor is a JD 4300 MFWD with FEL with Calcium Chloride in the rear R4 tires (700 lbs) and foam filled front tires. I get the best FEL performance when I have my back hoe on. The Back Hoe weighs something over 1200 lbs. The combo of filled tires and the back hoe makes a total of about 1900 lbs ballast.
Marshall

 

[Nuru]

You got me thinking about that foam again for my fronts.

 

[m7040]

I use an adapter to convert Three Point to quick attach and then attach the pallet forks to the rear. Also made a ballast box out of 2 by lumber and filled it with 2000 lbs of rock sand. That way it is easy to drop and pick up when needed. Since doing this the FEL performance has been great with very minimal skidding of the wheels

 

[Soundguy]

How about a 'stock' carry all.. and then cut a 55g drum in half and fill with cement, bolted to a pallet. Have another pallet available with a plywood deck for carrying things... that chunk will be your weight, when needed. when not needed put on the 'flatbed'. Hve both of them 'pin' to the carryall using a slip in pin with a detent ball.

Just back up to the pallet, slide in.. drop 2-4 pins in, lift and go.

I made 3pt concrete chunks for both of my loader tractors for less than 20$ in parts..

Soundguy

 

[BTDT]

into which I could put 5 kids for transport

Are you wanting to carry around kids on your 3pt? Unless it was some kind of caged in box where they couldn't fall out or interfere with what you were doing, I don't think that's a good idea. Joyriding on the back of a tractor might be fun, until something happens, then it's lawyer city.

 

[kwolfe]

I don't see any harm in taking the kids for a ride on the 3pt using a carry-all with a bench on it. I take my kids and nephews for wagon rides all the time. I don't back up with them in or around it.

 

[tuolumne]

That's right. I need to transport the little helpers to the field somehow. Extreme caution is always a must with children nearby; and yes, those helpers usually slow down the operation some!

 

[RoyJackson]

A carry all at Tractor Supply will cost $120.
The one shown on their website ha a 1000 lb capacity. It seems like this would be the most veratile option. You could weight it for loader operations (you don't mention what kind of tractor you have, but I'd wager you'll want mush more then the 400 lb you wrote...probably closer to 700 lbs, unless you have a subCUT).
When you want to move your kids to the field, you could build a seat for them.
I don't have a carry all (or kids), but I see this implement being quite versatile with a little bit of imagination.

BTW, I agree with some of the other posts..carying kids on a tractor isn't a good idea. If I really wanted to do that, I'd go for a 4 wheeled trailer (like a hay wagon) instead.

 

[ovrszd]

I built a Tote Box that could also serve as Ballast. It doesn't weigh 400 lbs though. I'm guessing 140 lbs. Is latched to prevent accidental dumps. Could be filled with kids, or whatever for ballast!!!