Help with adding weight.

[aTexasYankee]

I searched. Quite a bit, actually, and couldn't find a thread specific to what I'm asking, only responses in other topics.

I'm less than a year and under 100 hours on my Kioti. It feels a little "tippy" to me at times and I'm usually pretty good at sensing when balance is a little too far off. In reading lots of other threads I've seen where adding weight, low, can help with stability. That makes sense, but I not sure how to go about it and which is the most effective, both in practice and economically. I also don't want any extra wear and tear or maintenance if I can avoid it.

There's weights you can bolt on to the tires? How does that's work? Like an steel hubcap? Cost?

Weight installed onto the draw bar? Cost? Will this interfere with any 3pt attachments?

Filling tires with liquid? I'm already out on the calcium stuff... But the windshield washer fluid or RV coolant, how well does that work? How easy is this to do DIY and what damage can I cause going this route?

Will I see any significant draw back to adding weight? My uses are light dirt work, driveway maintenance, digging swales with BB, landscaping rake, mowing a few acres of grass (RC for now, but will eventually get a finish mower), and general wheelbarrow uses. I get muddy on parts of the property, should I avoid extra weight? Will the extra weight tear up my lawn when mowing more?

Thanks!

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Extra weight makes the tractor more useful IMO. The mowing and the mud are the only downsides I see to adding weight. lb for lb liquid in the tires of your choice is the cheapest way to add ballast. Wheel weights are nice because they can be added or removed depending on your needs but they run about 1$/lb. Your owners manual should have a chart that says what an appropriate amount of ballast for your machine should be. This is not a hard and fast rule but more of a guideline. Also, look and see if you can adjust the track width of your rear tires. That alone will add alot to the stability of your machine.


Steel weights-bolt to the hub 1$/lb as a rule of thumb
Weight on the drawbar is not a good idea because you can't use it then. It may interfere with your hitch.
Filling tires is the most economical and can be free if you use water to whatever the local guys charge for rimguard/beet juice. Rimguard is brought up because its the heaviest liquid/lb that is environmentally friendly that you can put in your tires. Water is around 8.3lb/gal and rimguard is around 13lb/gal. This doesn't sound like much but for 100gal, you could have 830 lb or you could have 1300lb. What you choose is up to you and your climate. If you decide to use water ,most antifreeze additives lower the lb/gal except salt adds.

Water/rv antifreeze is DIY if you have some hand tools, rimguard can be but dealers would do this. installation cost is not that much.

Theoretically there is a fuel penalty for adding weight to the machine. However, the increase in weight will give you more traction (Normal force x static friction) and should be able to produce more work done per unit time. So its a net benefit.

 

[jeff9366]

Two threads in the T-B-N archive, by CK30 owners, purport that wheel rims carrying R1/ag tires are adjustable for width.

Confirmation should be in your Owner's Manual.

If you are in this fortuitous situation, spreading the rear wheels 6" will make a huge difference in how stable the tractor feels.


Try the simplest solution first.

 

[aTexasYankee]

Extra weight makes the tractor more useful IMO. The mowing and the mud are the only downsides I see to adding weight. lb for lb liquid in the tires of your choice is the cheapest way to add ballast. Wheel weights are nice because they can be added or removed depending on your needs but they run about 1$/lb. Your owners manual should have a chart that says what an appropriate amount of ballast for your machine should be. This is not a hard and fast rule but more of a guideline. Also, look and see if you can adjust the track width of your rear tires. That alone will add alot to the stability of your machine.


Steel weights-bolt to the hub 1$/lb as a rule of thumb
Weight on the drawbar is not a good idea because you can't use it then. It may interfere with your hitch.
Filling tires is the most economical and can be free if you use water to whatever the local guys charge for rimguard/beet juice. Rimguard is brought up because its the heaviest liquid/lb that is environmentally friendly that you can put in your tires. Water is around 8.3lb/gal and rimguard is around 13lb/gal. This doesn't sound like much but for 100gal, you could have 830 lb or you could have 1300lb. What you choose is up to you and your climate. If you decide to use water ,most antifreeze additives lower the lb/gal except salt adds.

Water/rv antifreeze is DIY if you have some hand tools, rimguard can be but dealers would do this. installation cost is not that much.

Theoretically there is a fuel penalty for adding weight to the machine. However, the increase in weight will give you more traction (Normal force x static friction) and should be able to produce more work done per unit time. So its a net benefit.

I couldn't find anything in owner's manual specific to filling tires, other than don't fill front tires and it should only be done to fit the job and removed (temporary) which I won't want to do. It does mention wheel weights max at 220 lbs each tire. Does that mean I would only fill tires to 220 lbs capacity?

Wheel weights @ 1/lb. isn't going to happen with my budget.

Not too worried about fuel. I have closed 70 hours on machine and have only filled up 4 or 5 times on a 8 gal tank.

Two threads in the T-B-N archive, by CK30 owners, purport that wheel rims carrying R1/ag tires are adjustable for width.

Confirmation should be in your Owner's Manual.

If you are in this fortuitous situation, spreading the rear wheels 6" will make a huge difference in how stable the tractor feels.


Try the simplest solution first.

I don't have R1, I believe I have what are called R4 or industrial tires. Definitely not turf tires. Does this mean I cannot spread the real wheels. It mentions doing this (although I'm not clear on the process) in manual I screenshotted but did not mention it being tire specific.

 

[jeff9366]

I don't have R1, I believe I have R4/industrial tires. Does this mean I cannot spread the real wheels? It mentions doing this (although I'm not clear on the process) in manual.

If your Kioti manual is not clear, call your Kioti dealer for specifics. Dealer will know whether or not wheel rims with R4s can be spread and will explain the process.

I am sure a Kioti CK30 owner who has previously explored this option will respond soon.

The rims on my Kubota L3560 with R4s are adjustable for width in four increments.


Here are some germane threads from the T-B-N archive:

increase rear tire spread site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

 

[aTexasYankee]

If your Kioti manual is not clear, call your Kioti dealer for specifics. Dealer will know whether or not wheel rims with R4s can be spread and will explain the process.

I am sure a Kioti CK30 owner who has previously explored this option will respond soon.

The rims on my Kubota L3560 with R4s are adjustable for width in four increments.


Here are some germane threads from the T-B-N archive:

increase rear tire spread site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

I called them and they didn't seem to think R4 tires could be adjusted. They're did say each tire takes about 3 gallons of rv antifreeze. It'd be $125 for them to do it. Seemed high to me.

 

[coralhead]

I called them and they didn't seem to think R4 tires could be adjusted. They're did say each tire takes about 3 gallons of rv antifreeze. It'd be $125 for them to do it. Seemed high to me.

Did you have a typo about the 3 gals per tire?
Call this number and they can see if there is a rim guard dealer close by. 866-792-3700
I used this in the rear ag tires on my Branson 4520r and the cost was around $300 total for both. It added approx. 500lbs per tire.

 

[TripleR]

Good points by others, DIY is very easy, kits can be bought cheaply. We use WWF as we have an occasional flat and losing Rimguard hurts the pocket book more, it is great otherwise.

 

[GManBart]

I called them and they didn't seem to think R4 tires could be adjusted. They're did say each tire takes about 3 gallons of rv antifreeze. It'd be $125 for them to do it. Seemed high to me.

They should have told you 30 gallons for your 15-19.5 R4 tires. Figured 60 gallons total at a couple of bucks a gallon....$125 is pretty reasonable. That would get you somewhere north of 500lbs down low.

Hydro-Flation Table for AG Tires - Rim Guard - Liquid Tire Ballast

 

[aTexasYankee]

Did you have a typo about the 3 gals per tire?
Call this number and they can see if there is a rim guard dealer close by. 866-792-3700
I used this in the rear ag tires on my Branson 4520r and the cost was around $300 total for both. It added approx. 500lbs per tire.

They should have told you 30 gallons for your 15-19.5 R4 tires. Figured 60 gallons total at a couple of bucks a gallon....$125 is pretty reasonable. That would get you somewhere north of 500lbs down low.

Hydro-Flation Table for AG Tires - Rim Guard - Liquid Tire Ballast

Yes, sorry, typo. 30 gal per tire. $125 for the fluid and then whatever labor on top of that, I think that's half hour minimum so probably another $50 to $80. So I'm probably going to look into doing it myself.