Ballast Ballast Box pics (and others)

[TripleR]

Thanks for the compliments. I still have some minor trim work to do on the house, but for the most part it is finished. I spent all of 2008 and 2009 building it. My wife and I were the general contractors and I did about 75% of the labor. Concrete, exterior framing, roof, plumbing and front stone porch were contracted out. I did everything else.

I have been ripping a bunch of locust trees out of the ground in my pasture. If the cutter is on I don't have much of a problem, but in tight spaces I leave it off. With nothing back there, my &ss end comes off of the ground when I am under the roots and trying to rip the tree out. Getting the bucket wedged under a root then curling the bucket really has a lot of power. I can't wait to get the box filled and start using it.

All in all, I love the M8540... it is very impressive. All of the golfers (we live next to a course) stop and watch when I am taking trees down.

I envy people who can do that kind of work as it has to be very rewarding not to mention how much can be saved. A friend of ours did that and while it took him a long time, he has a house to be proud of and lots of satisfaction from a job well done.

We have some trees on our property we are going to be doing the same thing with as soon as mowing season is over or we get caught up. The loader on our old CX80 was pretty anemic, so we didn't need much ballast on it. I anticipate much better results from the M8540. The more I use the M8540, the better I like it. I mowed some inclines yesterday I would not do with our Case. The shifter is still a little stiff, but I don't have that many hours on it.

That is funny about the golfers. I have to admit I like watching that stuff too.

 

[PHILIP8N]

Filled mine with concrete today. Eighteen 60 pound bags. Once it dries, will silicone edges, then paint top Kubota orange. Philip.

 

[rjkobbeman]

Filled mine with concrete today. Eighteen 60 pound bags. Once it dries, will silicone edges, then paint top Kubota orange. Philip.

That is funny, I just got done filling mine with concrete about 30 minutes ago. Mine took 20 80# bags. No pics.. had to get cleaned up and start the grill for dinner.

Nice looking box. Mine was banged up. Nothing major, just a lot of scratches and some rust. Didn't make me happy... but that was a battle I chose to not fight considering what it is. Near as I can tell is that it sat in some lot/yard for a while before it was sent to me. I didn't want to raise a stink over a box meant as dead weight. I'll wait for something else more important -- if it ever comes.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

I don't know what it is about those Kubota boxes.??.....They look soo much bigger than the Deere green ones.

Regardless, a ballast box is money well invested.:thumbsup:

 

[nap61]

Nice box and home. I like the gun turrets (or are they minerrets).

Norm

 

[Dave5264]

Nice Tractor ! Im sure those Ballast Boxes work very well, my question is, what if one of the lift pins for the 3ph bends or breaks ? filling it with concrete must make it pretty much impossible to change it out, no ?

 

[JDGreenGrass]

Nice Tractor ! Im sure those Ballast Boxes work very well, my question is, what if one of the lift pins for the 3ph bends or breaks ? filling it with concrete must make it pretty much impossible to change it out, no ?

I don't see this ever happening under normal use. If you swing 600 to 1000 pounds around and into something, chances are, that something will give out before the pins.

 

[rjkobbeman]

Nice Tractor ! Im sure those Ballast Boxes work very well, my question is, what if one of the lift pins for the 3ph bends or breaks ? filling it with concrete must make it pretty much impossible to change it out, no ?

If mine bends or breaks, I will try to unscrew it and install a new one. The concrete probably has a good hold of the nut on the inside. If that fails, I will just cut it off and weld on a new one. On the inside of the box, there is a 1/4" (or something like that -- I didn't actually measure it) thick steel plate that is welded to the sides of the box where the lift pin goes through for reinforcement. A new lift pin with a weld all of the way around its base should be more than strong enough.

Worst case scenario, I will just buy another one. This isn't something I am too worried about.

By the way, have you ever cut on one of those pins before? They are some tought stuff. I'm not too concerned about them bending or breaking. There is a lot of weight on them with the box, however there is no ground engagement going on. Ground engagement puts a whole lot more stress on the pins that just carrying around weight.

Also...

I actually used mine on Monday. Moved a bunch of rock around. Boy, what a difference that box makes. Even on my tractor, picking up an 1800 pound box is noticeable. The rear end sat down and inch or two. Traction is much better in 2wd. With a full load in the bucket (don't know how heavy 1" rock is), I was not feeling any "lightness" in the rear. Very happy I got this. With the FEL loader on the ground and the ballast box on the ground, the parking brake doesn't do much!

 

[Dave5264]

Thanks Guys, I wasn sure how tough they were.

I damaged my box blade in early summer (Bulldozing backwards with too aggressive an angle...rookie error) and aside form having to get the box blade 3pt frame straightened, I got the gussets re-enforced and ....one of the 2 Pins was replaced due to it having a fracture.

 

[rjkobbeman]

Thanks Guys, I wasn sure how tough they were.

I damaged my box blade in early summer (Bulldozing backwards with too aggressive an angle...rookie error) and aside form having to get the box blade 3pt frame straightened, I got the gussets re-enforced and ....one of the 2 Pins was replaced due to it having a fracture.

I would say the ground engagement you were doing with your box blade was putting thousands of pounds more stress on the pins than what a ballast box does. The ballast boxes are HEAVY but they are low impact -- they are just carried around.

As a general rule, I try to keep my lift arms as far inboard as possible. This helps minimize the leverage against the lift pins. This of course only applies to implements where the pins are fixed and pointing outboard. For me, this is my box only. My other two implements has pins that pull out and are held in place at both ends.

I used part of a CAT-I pin on a non-related project. I had to cut it to length with my abrasive cut-off saw. My saw cut it OK, but I was very surprised how tought the pin was. It took significant force to cut throught it. I also cut some CAT-II to CAT-III bushings to length for use on my Quick Hitch. Those buggers are real tought too.