cttractor
Silver Member
I'd like to elicit some commentary about differences between adequate and extra weight placed on the rear of a tractor. Essentially, I'm wondering about whether or not it's possible to carry too much ballast on the rear. We all know that we want to have enough weight there so the rear tires don't leave the ground when we lift something with our loader. We also know we should keep the load as low as possible to keep a low center of gravity. But the question really is: do we need just a little more ballast than that required to counteract the loader and its payload when the relief valve kicks in? Or is there benefit to having even more weight there?
For example, does excess weight beyond that help keep us more stable on hills? If the former, we're better off reducing the weight in the rear to only what we need plus a little extra because additional really grinds and wears our lawns down when we drive across. If more weight than what's needed to counteract the maximum lift capacity up-front makes us more stable on inclines, then safety always trumps a lawn and we should run higher weight amounts.
It'd be great to have someone "weigh in" who's performed an analysis of the pertinent "moments" or could provide a URL to a related study. But a lot people on this site also have many years of experience operating tractors and heavy equipment on all sorts of surfaces and those experiences can be very enlightening.
I appreciate any insightful comments anyone might have to offer. Thanks much!
For example, does excess weight beyond that help keep us more stable on hills? If the former, we're better off reducing the weight in the rear to only what we need plus a little extra because additional really grinds and wears our lawns down when we drive across. If more weight than what's needed to counteract the maximum lift capacity up-front makes us more stable on inclines, then safety always trumps a lawn and we should run higher weight amounts.
It'd be great to have someone "weigh in" who's performed an analysis of the pertinent "moments" or could provide a URL to a related study. But a lot people on this site also have many years of experience operating tractors and heavy equipment on all sorts of surfaces and those experiences can be very enlightening.
I appreciate any insightful comments anyone might have to offer. Thanks much!