Ballast It must be a conspiracy.

[sbakf]

Bu going by that then the manual shouldn't be giving the maximum lift capacity especially without saying with proper ballast. A lot of new people (I know a few) who got a tractor with a FEL for the first time and used it without any weight on the back and ended up in a bad situation very fast. They said they were under the max weight the loader can handle and can't figure it out cause it doesn't say max weight with counter weights. They see big tractors with nothing on the rear using a FEL with ease and not tipping so the little ones should as well. We of course know different but we were once all there and could have used that bit extra info. From the manual.

You're seeing my point - and I must also agree with TripleR, though I see some of it as a mixture of salesmanship and CWA on the part of Kubota (in my case). My L5740 is the first tractor I've owned. I didn't buy it bear - I got implements for both ends and from the beginning I operated (by default) with a near balanced machine.

The BX2660 I'm about to buy, is another story. I really only wanted the base tractor with a 60" MMM and 42" Land Pride rotary cutter - FEL was to be added later if I could figure out how to attach a fully functional grapple to it. The weight of RC (402 lbs.) is well under the stated lift capacity of the BX's 3-pt hitch (670 lbs.).

Considering what happened when I stood on the raised RC, perhaps it would be best to define 3-pt lift capacity as, such weight necessary to lift front wheels off ground.

 

[corey9212]

That's weird cause when I asked my dealer how much weight I should put in the ballast box he said to not go any more than 200 lbs. If that's the max I should put in then why does it say it can lift way more? Shouldn't I be able to put more in if I need too or am I missing something? By the way the BX2660 is a great tractor lots of power for a little machine.

 

[TripleR]

It does later on in the manual. But at the beginning where it gives the specs it should say with proper counter weights. To cover their butts for legal issues. Some people don't read the manual till it's too late and an incident has happened (it was the case with my neighbor) she bought a tractor and FEL the dealer showed her how to use it, she got it home and started using it and tipped it forward cause of too much weight and no counter weight. She looked at the specs and it said it can lift that much so she called the dealer and they couldn't figure it out why it tipped (they presumed she knew about counter weights so never mentioned it to her) I talked to her and told her about them and showed her in the manual where near the end it talked about using them.

The bottom line is no one should operate a tractor before reading the manual thoroughly. I have been driving tractors for over fifty years and still won't get on new one until I read the manual. I got the manual a week before my M8540 was delivered so I and my sons could study it.

Oh and I agree with another poster, you just can't beat the BX2660, we love ours.:thumbsup:

Gota get back on the tractor now.

 

[corey9212]

I completely agree. I research the tractor and attachments on the net before purchasing so I know what to expect and I read the manuals thoroughly before operating (the manuals actually never leave the tractor and if I'm doing something new or unsure of they are right there to pull out and go through.) plus it helps to have someone experienced to go to for advise (manuals help but nothing beats experience)

 

[jesseb3@att.net]

That's weird cause when I asked my dealer how much weight I should put in the ballast box he said to not go any more than 200 lbs. If that's the max I should put in then why does it say it can lift way more? Shouldn't I be able to put more in if I need too or am I missing something? By the way the BX2660 is a great tractor lots of power for a little machine.

That sounds like a limit imposed by the ballast box itself. What was the explanation from the salesman?

 

[corey9212]

No explanation just said he would not recommend going over 200lbs. I know the rear can handle more cause I have a 60" box scrapper and had it full of clay/gravel mixture and it handled it just fine. Plus I know the box can hold more than 200 cause I had all 4 front weights in it (220lbs) plus 4 cement pads in it (100lbs) and it was fine with 320lbs.

 

[rjkobbeman]

That's weird cause when I asked my dealer how much weight I should put in the ballast box he said to not go any more than 200 lbs. If that's the max I should put in then why does it say it can lift way more? Shouldn't I be able to put more in if I need too or am I missing something? By the way the BX2660 is a great tractor lots of power for a little machine.

In your manual, you should find a section called "Implement Limitations". In that section, the manual states how much weight you can put on the 3-point hitch.

The reason for different weights for different implements in because some implements put some of its weight way out behind the hitch. A bush hog is a good example.

You certainly can use a ballast box equal to the heaviest implement allowed in your manual. (I don't know if a ballast box is listed in the implement list.)

In reality, you can go heavier than most because the ballast box is close-in to the hitch. I would look at your specs and see what the lift capacity if your hitch is and stay at or below that number.

The tractor/hitch does not know the difference between a bush-hog, box scraper or a ballast box. The weight limit your dealer imposed is flat-out wrong -- unless of course that really is the limit of your hitch.

I would say all ballast boxes are designed to be filled with sand or concrete, so there should not be any limit to the ballast box itself... unless you fill it fuller than full.

 

[funwithahoe]

I am no expert - but I would listen to Triple R over a dealer any day!!

200lbs in a ballast box? Must be some sort of miscommunication!

 

[corey9212]

I am deffinately listening to all the information on here. Obviously the dealer left out a lot of information that I should have known. I asked the dealer what the max weight I can put in the ballast box and that was his answer.

 

[nebraskasparks]

Fired off a message to Kubota...got the same old response. Check out my address which is under the safety forum "How to get killed without knowing". The response I got from Kubota using computers and sensors to know angle, weight and moment arms got the brush off till I sent them my credentials. The fact that all these dynamic factors are being used in construction, transportation and the like where the operator can be warned or the engine/hydraulics killed is in fact available today. The response was that they may consider this for future products.
You would think with cars coming up with all sorts of innovations today one company would seize this issue and initiative and use it as a marketing plus versus the stick your head in the sand response.
Anyway...using the stick method to picture your tractor versus slope and checking your loader manual to see where the elevation and weight maxes out at can save you a heart attack. Fastening the seat belt and using the ROPS even when doing the small stuff is cheap and effective.
Maybe we'll see some cool changes in the near future.