Built tool box holder and photos of tire width adjustment

[Gary Fowler]

Having a little trouble with my camera uploading photos today for some reason. Computer geeks did some work on it and as usual nothing works the same now.
Anyway lets see how the photo attach.
I have a couple showing how I changed the tire width by moving the location of the hub to the rim and a couple of the tool box bracket installation.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Well first photo of tractor on trailer got in by mistake and I cant seem to remove it, so just disregard it.

 

[DJFireUSA]

I could be wrong here but I think you may want to add a support on the bottom of the box. I think the weight of the tools will cause the plastic to rip/tear/break over time.

Seems like a nice job. Would be concerned about losing ground clearance but I think you'll be just fine.

 

[Gary Fowler]

When I built the bracket, I didnt take into consideration that the tool box is not square sided and made the bracket to be level so it ended up tilted a bit to make the tool box be level, but it worked out pretty good. I had to do some trimming on the bracket where it mounts to the tractor to allow the TB lid to open fully but all in all it worked out well.
As for the tire movement, you can see from the photos where it was originally bolted behind the far lug location. I had to remove the tire rim and center hub to relocate to the front side from the back side. You can see from the photos that it is now identically mounted as the back tire so they are same width now.

 

[DJFireUSA]

Put 20 lbs of tools in it and watch what the box does. The plastic back wall of the box will want to rip where it meets the side walls of the box. This should show itself quite quickly with very little weight.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I had a plastic box mounted up front with only 4 screws holding it and it broke 2 of the screws loose but never pulled a head thru. I had much more than 20 pounds of tools in it and the box weighed at least 10 pounds or more, it was the kind about 24" high with wheels to roll it around(Walmart special) that I bought as a spare box to have at my shop before I moved to Bismarck from Houston. It was inconvenient as all heck to get to as you had to have the FEL up to get to it and it completely blocked the hood mounted headlights. Metal boxes will rust out pretty fast from mud and water splashing on them.
I put 8 screws on this one with 1" diameter washers so it should be good. The bracket is built to hold tightly to the box also so the screws just hold it on place. It wouldnt fall thru if it had no screws.

 

[tugboat-2]

Gary: looks good to me. Its about the only place to mount a box that we have on these cab tractors. As for ground clearance, it looks like a step on that side would be about the same level. I have considered the same location for my JD. Metal does rust for sure so if you are happy with the heaviness of your plastic box, then you should be good to go. It looks good to me and sure beats having chains and tools rattling around on the floor (or forgetting you put 'em in the bucket and dump 'em out,..ha,ha!)
CHEERS,
. . tug

 

[Gary Fowler]

It looks good to me and sure beats having chains and tools rattling around on the floor (or forgetting you put 'em in the bucket and dump 'em out,..ha,ha!)
CHEERS,
. . tug

HaHA. Been there done that. Luckily I saw the chain laying in the grass on a later pass with the tractor. Dumped my chainsaw once like that and darn lucky to not run it over. Now I dont carry anything in the bucket except material that I want to dump. I even tried hanging them from the hooks but they still get loose and fall so I have been just doing as you said, throwing it up in the cab in front of the seat after use. I have a spot in the corner of my shop next to the roll up door reserved for chains and binders, axes, sledge hammers and pry bars which is where they are most of the time. To avoid the chainsaw incident again, now I go around in my Kubota RTV and cut everything then go get the tractor to clean up the mess. Relieves me of the mind game of remembering what I went for when I have just one task< HAHA.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Gary: looks good to me. Its about the only place to mount a box that we have on these cab tractors. As for ground clearance, it looks like a step on that side would be about the same level. I have considered the same location for my JD. CHEERS,
. . tug

Actually the bottom of the box is where the second step was at and top is nearly level with bottom of the door. Notice the photo of me standing next to it, its nearly waist high at the top and mid thigh at the bottom. Smaller tractors wouldnt have so much ground clearance but still should be plenty to avoid rubbing it off on brush. I guess one could always put on a skid plate in front of it if he used his tractor for a dozer or something in the woods. The bottom of the box is still higher than the bottom of my fuel tank which is on the opposite side