Bob_Trevithick
Platinum Member
I was going to post this in the existing thread about ballast and counterweight, but it seemed more appropriate to give it it's own thread, as this has nothing to do with FELs.
I have a JD 4300, R4 tires, with a 66 inch front blade. On the back, I have a King Kutter DS-30 30 inch dirt scoop, which I have loaded with sand bags for traction while pushing snow.
I believe the front blade weighs a bit under 500 lbs.
The dirt scoop weighs about 250 lbs.
I'm looking for the best weight to use for traction on ice and snow.
I'm sure there is some sophisticated formula I could use to determine the ideal weight to use out back, but I have no idea what it would be.
I found that 11 of the 60 lb. sand tubes fit pretty well back there. This would give me somewhere around 900 lbs. Does this seem a reasonable place to start?
I guess the goal is to get the maximum amount of rear wheel traction while not unbalancing the machine to the point that the front end is light and the front wheel drive becomes useless.
Given our lack of snow so far, I haven't had a chance to find out empirically what works best, so I'm wondering if anyone has done something similar, and can give me a ballpark idea of how much weight would be ideal?
Thanks,
Bob
I have a JD 4300, R4 tires, with a 66 inch front blade. On the back, I have a King Kutter DS-30 30 inch dirt scoop, which I have loaded with sand bags for traction while pushing snow.
I believe the front blade weighs a bit under 500 lbs.
The dirt scoop weighs about 250 lbs.
I'm looking for the best weight to use for traction on ice and snow.
I'm sure there is some sophisticated formula I could use to determine the ideal weight to use out back, but I have no idea what it would be.
I found that 11 of the 60 lb. sand tubes fit pretty well back there. This would give me somewhere around 900 lbs. Does this seem a reasonable place to start?
I guess the goal is to get the maximum amount of rear wheel traction while not unbalancing the machine to the point that the front end is light and the front wheel drive becomes useless.
Given our lack of snow so far, I haven't had a chance to find out empirically what works best, so I'm wondering if anyone has done something similar, and can give me a ballpark idea of how much weight would be ideal?
Thanks,
Bob