You need balast or you will trash your front axle!!!! really?

[k0ua]

Here is another small scale test this time using a toy skid loader. The geometry of the arms on this loader aren't very good, BUT they still attach behind the rear axle. The weight distribution is also poor, but neither of those should matter for this test.


View attachment 458428


Unloaded front axle weight 12.6 oz
Unloaded rear axle weight 9.2 oz
Total machine weight 21.7 oz

Now I loaded the FEL with 5 oz.

Loaded front axle weight 22.6
Loaded rear axle weight 3.8 oz. this is with the arms all the way down.
Loaded rear axle weight with the arms 1/2 way up .3 oz.

I had to raise the arms to this position to get more weight on the rear axle VS the unloaded weight.

View attachment 458427

Do those .45 caliber bullets weigh about 450 grains each?

 

[4570Man]

Do those .45 caliber bullets weigh about 450 grains each?

OK, I admit. That is a different bullet. The bullet in the test weighed 250 grains. I weighed the cup, and it was 5 oz.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

My Daddy always said "never play another man's game".

Using your much more eloquent description, there is a situation where adding rear ballast weight adds to the forces experienced by the front axle rather than lessening it.

I think ovrszd is absolutely correct. There is one instance when adding rear ballast (counterweight) INCREASES the static forces on the front axle...
When the rear tires are off the ground! (am I right ovrszd?)

 

[ovrszd]

I think ovrszd is absolutely correct. There is one instance when adding rear ballast (counterweight) INCREASES the static forces on the front axle...
When the rear tires are off the ground! (am I right ovrszd?)

Correct. Until the rear tires return to Earth, the more counter ballast you stack on the rear, the more force is exerted on the front axle.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Correct. Until the rear tires return to Earth, the more counter ballast you stack on the rear, the more force is exerted on the front axle.

:cool2::drink: Who needs an engineering degree!

 

[ovrszd]

:cool2::drink: Who needs an engineering degree!

Exactly.

 

[gladehound]

I think ovrszd is absolutely correct. There is one instance when adding rear ballast (counterweight) INCREASES the static forces on the front axle...
When the rear tires are off the ground! (am I right ovrszd?)

There is another... when they are still on the ground but have allowed you to lift a weight with your FEL that you could not have lifted without the 3pt counterweight.

And yet another... when you are facing nose down on a steep enough hill with or without weight on the FEL

 

[ovrszd]

There is another... when they are still on the ground but have allowed you to lift a weight with your FEL that you could not have lifted without the 3pt counterweight.

And yet another... when you are facing nose down on a steep enough hill with or without weight on the FEL

Very good Ron!!!!

 

[k0ua]

There is another... when they are still on the ground but have allowed you to lift a weight with your FEL that you could not have lifted without the 3pt counterweight.

And yet another... when you are facing nose down on a steep enough hill with or without weight on the FEL

yes an interesting phenomonen occurs when I have my little light 5 foot scrape blade on my tractor that I use to repair my gravel road. In interesting thing happens if I don't keep the tractor in 4WD. When I go to get a bit of gravel from the gravel pile and I go down the steep hill nose first in 2WD, the rear tires become so light that the compression braking(or stomping on the brake pedals for that matter) wont keep the tractor from going down the hill at a high rate of speed.. Wheeeee.. down we go.

You can hear the rear tires slipping on the gravel because they are so light there is no traction any more. The COG of the tractor has shifted towards the front and with even a light load of gravel in the bucket there is not enough ballast on the 3pt with the light blade to keep the rear tires planted hard on the road surface, so they slip. If I put the ballast barrell on that doesn't happen with light loads. Of course if I keep it in 4WD it doesn't happen either.

Of course If I wasn't an idiot, and backed down the steep slope, it would not happen in 2WD either as the COG would shift to the downhill side once again, but this time placing more weight on the leading axle which in this case is the rear one.

 

[murphy1244]

There is another... when they are still on the ground but have allowed you to lift a weight with your FEL that you could not have lifted without the 3pt counterweight.

And yet another... when you are facing nose down on a steep enough hill with or without weight on the FEL

But how many Beers can you drink?