Ballast 4x20 owners, how much rear ballast do you run for the loader?

[Ramairfreak98ss]

Ive heard people only having an attachment on the back, others ONLY have their ballast box filled with dirt, sand, stone or concrete.

I have just 6 bags of "salt" in my new ballast box/w extension, 300lbs worth and 220lbs of rear wheel weights, 110 each side, or two weights per back wheel, and my 4720 cab with the 84" materials bucket will lift the back of that sucker up in no time flat. Will this be reduced a TON by getting the box filled with concrete this week?

In the manual it makes it sound like to use the full power of the 400cx loader you NEED three weights per rear tire, ballast box filled with sand/stone/concrete AND rear tires loaded at least 75+% is that true

I feel real tipsy with it with a quarter filled bucket of dirt.

 

[kennyd]

Your machine sounds seriously UNDER-ballasted. My ballast box is filled with Portland cement, estimated at about 800lbs or so and even with my wimpy loader (compared to yours) I can lift the rear under certain circumstances.

You should fill your box with Portland as it's heavier than regular concrete ASAP. You are risking damage to your machine and yourself operating like you are.

 

[chetlenox]

I'm with KennyD, if you are going to haul dirt in that big materials bucket, you need a lot more weight.

I use the ballast box filled with standard bagged cement (700 lbs?) and have 110lb rear weights on the wheels of my 4520. With my standard-sized bucket filled with dirt it's about as front-heavy as I'd want it. Especially on an incline.

Chet.

 

[Cidertom]

Rear tires filled, 448 back hoe, lead bricks in the bucket of the hoe- extended out and I still was a tad light when I picked up the 2700 lb concrete culvert sections.

Without the lead bricks, just the hoe and tires, when I would stop the back end came up.

So I think that JD is correct in the manual for max lift.

 

[wwalkersd]

No problems here with filled tires and this on the back:

(it weighs about 1000 lbs) but we really don't use the loader all that often. Still, we've carried ~1000 lb loads with no problem.

 

[jgrreed]

I have my BB + extensions full of small gravel (?800lbs), and fluid in the tires and have lifted round bales no problem, and a full bundle of ~ 45 6" x 8' posts and kept the back tires on the ground. Wouldn't trust it on uneven ground but if you're careful it's all good.

-Jer.

 

[jgrreed]

FYI-

I (very carefully) lifted a round bale (11 - 1200lbs) off the second row of bales (~6-7') with my spear the other day without my ballast box, just my back blade on the back and fluid in my rear tires.

It was fine.

-Jer.

 

[wolc123]

I have a non-cab with calcium solution loaded rear R1's and can lift a full bucket of dirt with nothing on the 3pt (sometimes necessary working in tight quarters). Usually there is a 6 ft rotary mower on back, and that allows me to max out the hydraulic lift capacity of the loader without bringing up the back end. I think it is crazy not to fill the rear tires of a loader tractor. Wheel weights and rear 3 pt balast take up too much room and/or cost too much. From the sounds of your post, they aint all that effective either.

 

[Karl2]

In the manual it makes it sound like to use the full power of the 400cx loader you NEED three weights per rear tire, ballast box filled with sand/stone/concrete AND rear tires loaded at least 75+% is that true

Not sure, my rear blower weighs 1900 pounds dry and usually carries a few hundred pounds more of caked ice and snow; front end is now too light and I need to lug a bucketful of wet snow around whenever I need any front traction, and sometimes that's not enough. Can't use front weighs because they interfere with loader operation. To counter the heavy butt I have ordered a much heavier reversible front snow blade/bucket.

I don't know the specifics of my tractor's (4720 cab) default rear weight with no rear ballast other than the liquid in the rear tires but when they delivered the blower I had to use the loader to get it off the trailer because the idiot they sent could not figure how to do it with his small forklift. Proceeding with utmost care I lifted the thing off the trailer half expecting the tractor to tip forward but the rear wheels did not leave the ground, although I reckon someone breaking the wind in the general direction of the tractor's rear at that moment could have posed a risk.

 

[bam747]

I have a 4720 open station with a 400CX FEL with the 72" heavy duty JD Work Force Pro skid steer style materials bucket. I have two 110 lb weights per rear wheel (4 weights, 440 lbs total). I opted not to go with 3 weights per side because they will stick out too far with the standard position of the R4 tires.

I also ALWAYS have my 8' Land Pride RBT35 rear blade attached to the 3PH. The RBT35 is a heavy duty blade that weighs around 1000 lbs. The main swing arm that holds the blade is also 4' long, so I get a large leverage multiplication factor to the the effective ballast versus a ballast box which keeps the weight much closer to the tractor (but allows much more maneuverability!). I can visibly see the rear of the tractor squat down significantly when I lift the rear blade off the ground.

Oh, I also have me sitting in the seat. I'm embarrased to say that adds 6' 7" of 350+ lbs of ballast right over the rear axle!

I have used this set up to dig and move very full buckets of dirt, road base gravel, and 1 1/2" rock with no problems at all. I also push and move full buckets of wet/heavy snow with no issues.

I saw in your original post that you are using an 84" bucket. I assume that is the 84" light materials bucket designed for things like shavings or bark or snow. If so, you should not be using that bucket to move heavy materials, opting for the 72 or 73" buckets.

And yes, the manual does say 2 weights (400x) or 3 weights (400CX) per rear tire plus loaded rear tires plus 1200 lbs in a ballast box! However, when I asked each JD sales man point blank about this requirement, they all said that was over kill. Their consensus with either the cast iron weights or the liquid ballast and a cement loaded ballast box or heavy 3PH implement. But then again, maybe it is all required with a 84" bucket loaded with dirt or a full 2000 lb plus pallet (as well as the 400CX FEL)!

And I don't think the manual mentions how much the cab is worth as FEL ballast. It's got to be something more than zero over the rear axle (same location as the cast or liquid ballast).

If it was me and I was not going to carry a heavy 3PH attachment like my Land Pride RBT35 blade or a heavy duty (and heavy!) box blade or a heavy snow blower (see previous replies), I'd definitely carry the JD ballast box with extensions and it'd be fully loaded with cement. Actually, I may end up getting one of these in the future to use when I need more maneuverability that I get with the rear blade attached.

And the first time I try to lift something that puts air under my rear tires with the ballast I've already got, loaded tires would soon follow! This is a big time safety issue for me and the cost of adding ballast just doesn't count in the over all scheme of the universe as far as I'm concerned.