Ballast Question on ballast box

[Henri88]

I've have seen some people filling there ballast box with cement. Is this the best way to go. I use brick in mine, but they tend to shift from side to side. I need my ballast box for my 2305 fel and my snowblower. Anybody out there regret using cement.

 

[Gizmo2]

I've have seen some people filling there ballast box with cement. Is this the best way to go. I use brick in mine, but they tend to shift from side to side. I need my ballast box for my 2305 fel and my snowblower. Anybody out there regret using cement.

I am not convinced that concrete is the way to go, 3/4 inch stone works for me. Filled during the summer months and I remove 2 five gallon pails of stone for winter snow plowing. Filled up seems to take to much weight off the front of the tractor for snow plowing which will cause the front-end to slide around.

 

[kennyd]

Mine is filled with concrete, no regrets here.

 

[RoyJackson]

I have between 450 and 550 lbs of sand in mine. That weight, plus the weight of the box itself, gives me over 600# of ballast. For my 790, that's plenty.
Nice thing about sand is you can shovel it out on slick spots, if necessary. And it's not permanent, if you decide to use the ballast box for something else.

 

[JB4310]

For the first year I used 3/4 inch stone, in case I needed the box for anything else, well the only thing I needed the box for was more ballast. So I filled it with concrete to about 2 inches from the top to hold a few loose items, put pvc pipe in to hold tools.

Definitely no regrets. Sand, stone, bricks etc are not nearly as heavy as concrete. you'd have to use steel or lead to to have a removable medium and still be heavy enough. That would get expensive if you had to buy, for 25 bucks you can fill it with concrete.

Well maybe 1 regret, I should of used steel pipe, if I break a plastic pipe I'm stuck.

JB.

 

[Henri88]

I would like to go concrete, but I'm worried how my 2305 would handle the extra weight.
JB4310, what did you do to help the water drainage out of your ballast box? Drill some holes on the sides?

 

[RoyJackson]

I would like to go concrete, but I'm worried how my 2305 would handle the extra weight.

You could always fill the box about ½ way with concrete and see how it works. If not enough weight, add more concrete or fill with another media.

 

[Labrat]

I filled mine with concrete on my 2210. It takes a lot of load off the front axle when you are moving sand or heavy loads. Just be sure to remove the box before the loader otherwise you won't have any steering.
I also have 10 gals washer fluid in each rear tire.

 

[orlo]

I have a small BB filled with concrete (about 700lbs total) for my 2305, and a large one filled with an extension (maybe 1100# complete) I use on my 4720 (used on my former 3720 and 3320 also).

It's nice, compact, doesn't shift. My only caveat is that if you need to move it (I mean long distance site to site off the tractor) it's a pain. It would be a lot easier to dump out my large Balast box, throw the 150lb box/extension in my truck and just transport it.

Once, maybe Twice I've moved my 700# BB from site to site (without the tractor) and strapping it on a trailer or in your truck can be a pain.

Other than that I like concrete.

I do regret not putting PVC pipes in it to store tools like many folks on this site have.

 

[JB4310]

JB4310, what did you do to help the water drainage out of your ballast box? Drill some holes on the sides?

I used a dimpled drain board material on the bottom and drilled drain a hole through the bottom. anything that would leave some air gap and path for water to drain at the bottom, even crushed stone like at the bottom of a flower pot.
For the top I drilled a hole in the side of one of the pipes.

Some guys put a receiver tube in, For myself I didn't think I would use it, figured if I'm pulling a trailer I wouldn't need or want the heavy box on. But I guess in some cases it would come in handy with all the different accessories that go in the receivers now.

JB.