Budget counter weight.

[vtsnowedin]

Having more time then money and a lot of junk lying around I decided to build a counter weight for the 5045E on as low a budget as possible. Having a steel 55 gallon drum in hand and a few old hardened bags of mortar mix, or cement etc. That has become the plan. n o great revelation here .I'm just going to do it about the same as every body else has.
Anyway today I took the first step. I found a #8 rebar in the bone pile and cut it to length and drilled the holes in the ends for the lynch pins. I ground off most of the rebar deformations on the ends even though it fit through Cat. 2 bushings as it was. I regained my respect for grade 60 steel and had to relearn how to sharpen drill bits.
So far my counter weight weighs about ten pounds.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Rebar is melted down scrap so it can be mild steel or carbon steel or a mixture of the two. Sounds like you have some carbon steel in yours. I would buy a bag or two of crete mix and bond all of the stuff you are adding to your weight.

 

[vtsnowedin]

That is in the plan. Just how many remains to be determined. Some of the old cement and mortar mix left overs I have lying around may be able to be mixed with a little effort and some of it is just shove the whole thing bag and all into the crete. I have to get the drum from its hiding place and get some holes through it for the cross bar then work out the top link tabs. One expense I may have to spring for is a drill bit large enough to drill the holes for the top pin. I don't have anything that big in hand.

 

[2458n]

I would weld the top link in some way that it would be attached to your bottom pins. I would also weld some pieces of rebar on the horizontal,so it will not spin. bust your junk bags up and pour in some good quick crete. Paint and decals later. Top of barrel left 4 inches high for extra chain storage.

 

[Parkanzky]

This seems like a good use for your bent crossbar. Probably still stronger than the rebar.

 

[vtsnowedin]

I would weld the top link in some way that it would be attached to your bottom pins. I would also weld some pieces of rebar on the horizontal,so it will not spin. bust your junk bags up and pour in some good quick crete. Paint and decals later. Top of barrel left 4 inches high for extra chain storage.

I have some #4 bar to connect the two. I'm thinking the top link tabs need to come out of the side of the barrel eighteen inches above the cross bar instead of sticking up out of the top of the concrete.
Yes to your other suggestions.

 

[Aaron9876]

Rebar is a forged steel so it gets some work hardening, plus as stated before it comes from basically any steel that can produce the proper yield strength...usually 60 ksi

 

[vtsnowedin]

Rebar is a forged steel so it gets some work hardening, plus as stated before it comes from basically any steel that can produce the proper yield strength...usually 60 ksi

Yeah the bar I used was grade 60 and they often test out 70 to 80 kips /in^2. I don't recall a rebar sample failing destructive testing in the last twenty-five years. One of the last bridge decks I worked on had all its rebar made out of stainless steel. It will be thirty years or more before we know if that solves the deck deterioration problems we have in the north due to the use of road salt and over loaded log trucks.
The counter weight project got set aside for a few days while I put in a food plot and do family stuff. I just got back from a three day weekend where we combined a friends daughters wedding with a weekend away for our 38th anniversary. I even indulged SWMBO by letting her drag me into a Macy"s at the Mall of New Hampshire for way more shopping and watching her try on dresses then I usually endure.

 

[ajmaxham]

I used 1 1/2'' pipe and pins from Tractor supply. Metal from old dock hardware and seven 80 lb. bags of concrete mix.

 

[Thomas]

Update w/pics??? :confused3: