Ballast Loader ballast

[huckflynn]

I added a FEL to my BX2200 purchase as a last minute, not well researched, splurge. The first thing I did when the tractor arrived was to remove the loader and get familiar with the tractor and mower deck without any unnecessary complications.

This week was to be my loader training week. I ordered a load of topsoil to play with and it will be delivered 1st thing tomorrow morning. Today, I pulled out the loader manual and read about something the dealer never mentioned -- additional (beyond loaded tires) rear ballast.

So, it looks like I may have a pile of dirt sitting around my yard until I can figure out the best way of adding more ballast. Are there other ballast options readily available for the BX2200 aside from 3pt implements? If not, it looks like I'll be buying my 1st 3pt implement too. The rear blade looks like something I should be able to put to pretty good use. Any recommendations? Thanks.

Huck

 

[Muhammad]

Huck,

Box scraper is quite popular for a useful add-on weight. if you just want weight and don't want to spend a lot of money, make yourself a concrete weight for your 3-point. Andy made one a while back and you can see the details at http://www.his.com/~msimpson/tractor/hacker/trweight.htm... or make some wheel weights like he did @ http://www.his.com/~msimpson/tractor/hacker/wweight.htm. Keep in mind that with your tractor/loader's lower lift capacity and weight, a slightly smaller concrete weight, or smaller/fewer wheel weights might work well for you.

Good luck... (safety first)

 

[Bird]

huckflynn, Muhammad's already given you good advice. Personally, I don't know how anyone who's going to do much dirt work can do without a box blade. When I bought my first tractor, I thought I wanted a straight blade (back blade?) and some other people talked me into going with the box blade instead (and they were right). And of course, some folks just make a weight box, like Muhammad mentioned, to put on the back of the tractor. Another thing to consider is the fact that you don't absolutely have to have a weight on the 3-point. You can still use the front end loader to move dirt, but you might have to move smaller quantities at a time so you don't have enough weight on the loader to lift the rear wheels. Either way, when you start to lift something, i.e., raise the front end loader, raise it very slowly to see whether it's going to try to pick up the back end of the tractor. I've used my front end loader to clean out a barn and since manure's light, and maneuvering space was tight, I didn't use, or need, additional weight on the 3-point. In other words, try it; slowly and carefully until you get the feel for it.

Bird

 

[hayden]

What about loading the tires? Water, antifreeze, or calcium can add mucho weight - as much as 200lbs per wheel depending on size. Drawback is you can't easily "take it off", but if you use your loader much, it's great to have it. Nothing hangs off the back of the tractor either which helps manuverability

 

[MChalkley]

Or even 600 lbs per tire, if it's a 19.5L24! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

MarkC

 

[Muhammad]

I hope you have a forklift to help remove those, Mark... or a 'World's Strongest Man' ... or wait, why remove them? They'll take years to wear out, will never go flat, will outperform all rubber tires and... what more do you want? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I'm assuming you don't plan to ever use your tractor to 'mow' any lawns?

 

[glennmac]

I used a commercial weight box on my BX. I used 70 lb. sand tubes in it for variable ballast. I could fit six tubes in it, vertically, but usually used only 4. I could also carry things in the weight box such as shovels or a chain saw stuck vertically in between the sand tubes.

On my 2910 I have filled tires and a Walco 10 cu. ft. dump box. It goes on the 3ph and has a dump lever. It can carry more than 6 sand tubes if necessary, horizontally. Used by itself, the dump box can carry 2 garbage cans or you can lay flat things across it, like boards or plywood.

Huck, your profile indicates you are in NY. Here in CT not many box blades are sold. The two oldest dealers in the state don't even carry them. One guy said they don't work in New England; they would just bounce along on the rocky ground. The other guy sells a few to farmers who use them to maneuver manure piles. It all depends on what kind of soil and ground you have. Get recommendations from people in your area.

Glenn

 

[MChalkley]

Actually, Muhammad, mine only have a little over 400 lbs of ballast in them but, counting the weight of the tires, they're still over 700 lbs apiece. I made the mistake of letting one of the old 17.5L24's fall over when I was doing some work on the hydraulics. It took 4 of us to get the thing stood back up again.

You know, it's a funny thing, though, about the way the tires act on soft ground: Even with no load in the loader, the unballasted front tires actually make more of an impression in the ground than the rear ones do.

MarkC

 

[Muhammad]

I would guess that on the softer ground, because they are thicker, the larger rears don't sink as much. How about on harder ground?

 

[JATO_RaT]

Huck, this is still one of those areas where I think far to many tractor owners neglect and buy a cheap little boxscraper. Although I really cannot comment on your size of tractor, my experience has shown me that a heavy duty and generally expensive boxscraper is well worth it. I love having hydraulic rippers and top and tilt and will never have anything short of that. For my tractor, I use a 72" box from Gannon that weighs about 1100lbs. With only one exception, I cannot make the rear wheels come off the ground even with the heaviest of loads. The exception is when I have the bucket heaped and get on a downward slope. All that being said, Bird is correct, you do not have to have a 3pt item on the rear to move material. Smaller loads are an option and the handling characteristics of your tractor will determine what you can do. On occasion I remove the boxscraper when I need more manuvering room. I am just aware that things can get out of wack real fast and always have my hand on the front loader stick to drop my load fast. Remember to carry your load as low as is possible whether you have extra ballast or not... Rat...