Wheel Weight kits for Kubota TLBs

[davrow]

Thanks for the link rScotty.

 

[JWR]

Good point. I dont know about the other makes ...

Unlike tractors, TLBs traditionally have any additional weight added onto the front of the frame up by the loader. My JD310 TLB has about 2000 lbs of suitcase weights up there. Weight there helps the hoe work better. ...
rScotty

Scotty -- a nitpic on your 2000lbs of suitcase weights on the JD310 (was that a typo?) Anyway, suitcase wts are usually 55lb each and it would take 36 of them to weigh 2000lbs.
Good logic on your post aside from that nitpic.

 

[rScotty]

Scotty -- a nitpic on your 2000lbs of suitcase weights on the JD310 (was that a typo?) Anyway, suitcase wts are usually 55lb each and it would take 36 of them to weigh 2000lbs.
Good logic on your post aside from that nitpic.

Yeah, I thought after I sent it that was a little high! So I got curious just now and went out and measured them. Each weight is about three feet long by 10" high by 3.5"thick .... call it .7 cubic foot & made from some sort of iron or steel at about say 450 lbs/cubic foot....estimate. There are some divots and holes in the shape, so they are just short of 300 lbs each. There are three of these additional weights plus the heavy front mounting bracket - so that comes out to around 1000 lbs; not 2000 lbs.
Thanks for the nitpick.
rScotty

 

[JWR]

Holy cow, Scotty. How does one lift a 300 lb weight to put it on the tractor? My little factory Kubota weights are 55 lbs each. 10" by 3.5" by 3ft is one heavy heck of a weight. I can readily believe the 1000 lb estimate but just never saw a tractor suitcase weight that big. Maybe it was a trunk instead of a suitcase !?

 

[rScotty]

Holy cow, Scotty. How does one lift a 300 lb weight to put it on the tractor? My little factory Kubota weights are 55 lbs each. 10" by 3.5" by 3ft is one heavy heck of a weight. I can readily believe the 1000 lb estimate but just never saw a tractor suitcase weight that big. Maybe it was a trunk instead of a suitcase !?

I have no idea how you'd lift one of those weights. Except that you wouldn't without using another machine just like it.
Of course if you are a commercial machinery guy you might have a yard full of these yellow machines.

But you've put your finger on it....the thing that really stands out between utility tractor or TLB and a commercial duty machine like the JD310 is that the parts and pieces on the commercial machines are just hugely massive. The HP isn't all that different, both worlds run the same hydraulic pressures, and they have the same controls - so the stresses iin the parts are bigger but still understandable.

The big difference is in the way they are built. The shear size of the parts, of things like axles, backhoe pivots, loader pins, and bucket wall thickness, metal for steps, just everything. Even cotter pins are too big to bend with pliers, they must hammer the legs over. I've no idea how to undo one. See photo below.....
The radiator on the 310 has enough steel on the sides alone that I doubt a person could lift it out by himself. Taking a leaky cylinder off to rebuild it is easy - exactly the same procedure as with any tractor - but does require a small crane to lift it into place.

The front end suitcase weights are one more example of this extreme overbuilding for commercial duty that dwarfs big 100+ hp tractors, or Kubotas own TLBs.
rScotty

 

[JWR]

Yep, yeah verily. I utilize a local welding and fabrication shop, run by a really bright and inventive young Mennonite guy, that will tackle monstrous machines that I cannot even imagine. He uses huge steel-wheeled cranes to move things around. Works on hydraulic cylinders that humans cannot begin to move, much less lift, welds stuff far thicker than i ever thought one could weld, has every hydraulic connector type I ever saw, etc, etc. He is also my best source for buying steel and aluminum for anything I tackle myself. The heavy equipment world is , exactly as you say, a whole different world.

 

[Jstpssng]

I was looking to see if the brush guard & hood protector parts for the Kubota's big TLB were available as accessories in Kubota's "Build it yourself" website (they aren't) ....
when I noticed that the kits for adding steel wheel weights are still listed.

Some people prefer wheel weights over loading the tires, and it's nice to know there's an option available. The price seems not too unreasonable at $280/set + $60 for bolts.
rScotty

That's interesting. I need to add weight to the rear of my 3301 as every time that I use it I feel like I'm on a carnival ride; I've never had the rears come off the ground on a tractor as much as I have in the last two years. Yet all that I can find are sets of 1000 lbs, at a buck per pound.

One thing that I didn't see though is how heavy the weights are; if I can get them for my existing tractor for close to what they would be on a new tractor

3 REAR WHEEL WEIGHT$378.00

1 BOLT KIT FOR REAR WHEEL WEIGHTS$33.00

I am going to pick up a set.