Ballast Question About Tractor Weights

[BobG_in_VA]

Ray, I'm sorry, loaded rear tires have alway moved the transfer weight "backwards"...and you don't ever have to fill the fronts...the traction is what you seek, as well as stability. Again, my tractor with the FEL only weighs about 5 tons or so with the FEL AND loaded rears...I don't need anything behind me to keep the rear end on the ground. Your experience may be different. Again, sorry I tried to help. BobG in VA

 

[RaydaKub]

Ray, I'm sorry, loaded rear tires have alway moved the transfer weight "backwards"...and you don't ever have to fill the fronts...the traction is what you seek, as well as stability. Again, my tractor with the FEL only weighs about 5 tons or so with the FEL AND loaded rears...I don't need anything behind me to keep the rear end on the ground. Your experience may be different. Again, sorry I tried to help. BobG in VA

The point is that loading rear tires does not *MOVE* any weight backwards. In order to move weight backwards, the result would be LESS weight on the front axle. Loading rear tires does not remove any weight from the front axle, only adding weight behind the rear axle will cause the weight to move to the rear axle. Doesn't matter how big your tractor is, the principle doesn't change.

Keeping the rear wheels on the ground is definitely important. Filled tires will contribute to doing that, and I use them. I was addressing a particular issue though. If your rear tires are heavy enough to keep them on the ground, you have a rare tractor indeed, or relatively light loads (compared to the tractor's weight). Most guys on these forums seem to use both loaded tires and 3ph ballast. Both have advantages and application.

No blood, no foul. My apologies as well. Context is everything.

 

[cooljoe00]

Thank you for the input I finally found a thread that had more information in it. I had posed this question because I haven't bought a tractor yet and was wondering how much weights should I buy to run the attachment I was going to get. I didn't know it was in the owners book, I was trying to find out everything I could before buying. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/356084-help-adding-weight.html This was the thread I found that had some discussion on this topic if anyone finds this thread.

 

[Fordlightning]

I live in a hilly mountains of western NC. My last tractor (MF1529) with the backhoe installed would at times pull the front tires off the ground when taking off on a grade(did just above idle and worse higher the rps was). So I loaded the front tires (rear was also loaded), and flipped them for max width. I only did 50/50 mix of dexcol. But after loading the front tires, it stopped lifting the front tires. At times could tell was lite, but at least didn't lift them into the air.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Thank you for the input I finally found a thread that had more information in it. I had posed this question because I haven't bought a tractor yet and was wondering how much weights should I buy to run the attachment I was going to get. I didn't know it was in the owners book, I was trying to find out everything I could before buying. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/356084-help-adding-weight.html This was the thread I found that had some discussion on this topic if anyone finds this thread.

Since you are in SC you will be able to use plain water for ballast. This will let you experiment and give you full freedom and convenience since you no longer have to manage the fluid - just fill from garden hose/drain on ground. A fill valve from TSC will make filling convenient. Rim guard is expensive, requires special equipment to manage, and youre stuck with it.

,,,, Here in VA, I use water in the 16.9 X 30 tubeless AGs on the Mahindra 7520. I fill the tires to somewhere in the 90% range - near 100 Gal/tire. The tractor seems to ride better than if they were empty. We are about as far north as plain water can be feasible.