Any Ideas for a Cheap Compact Rear 3 Pt Counterweight?

[BelarusBulldog]

Here is a link to my 3pt. weight box build. http://www.tractorforum.com/f209/weight-box-build-18890/

 

[bcp]

I'm keeping an eye out for an interesting old wood stove to fill with concrete.

From:
Wood Stoves, Fireplaces, Pellet Stoves, and Masonry Heaters

Removing an uncertified wood stove is not required when you are buying or selling a house. We encourage using cleaner home heating options and recycling uncertified stoves.

Selling an uncertified wood stove is illegal. Selling a house with an uncertified wood stove is legal.

Bruce

 

[moship]

Lots of great ideas. Thanks everyone for your input.

Question: Does anyone have experience with this Titan Ballast Box?

Amazon.com: Ballast Box 3 Point Category 1 Tractor Attachment: Home Improvement


At $255 with free shipping through Amazon, it's hard to justify spending time building one. It seems to be well reviewed but appears to be made of rather thin metal. I suppose it could be filled with concrete if it started to fall apart.

My neighbor just bought one. Ordered on Tuesday at 11am and it was at his door on Wednesday by 5pm with standard shipping. We live in PA though.

The box is very nice and has a number of nice features. Receiver built in. Door to empty. Tubes for shovel/rake/etc. pallet forks fit underneath. Quality and thickness of steel is on par with OEM's.

Suggest ordering direct especially after signing up for their news letter and receiving 5% coupon. Plus it was slightly less on their website.

Bottom line: highly recommend.

 

[mike69440]

Lots of great ideas. Thanks everyone for your input.

Question: Does anyone have experience with this Titan Ballast Box?

Amazon.com: Ballast Box 3 Point Category 1 Tractor Attachment: Home Improvement

At $255 with free shipping through Amazon, it's hard to justify spending time building one. It seems to be well reviewed but appears to be made of rather thin metal. I suppose it could be filled with concrete if it started to fall apart.

Titan seems good value for the dollar, I just bought their 5/16" thick skid steer blank plate. Nice heavy stamping, grit blasted to bare metal for welding and paint, and top edge welds are very well done.
Comparing that to my other 1/4" thick plate, the 5/16 pates seems way thicker , even if is only another 1/16" thick.

$255 is a bargain

 

[Xfaxman]

Lots of great ideas. Thanks everyone for your input.

Question: Does anyone have experience with this Titan Ballast Box?

Amazon.com: Ballast Box 3 Point Category 1 Tractor Attachment: Home Improvement

At $255 with free shipping through Amazon, it's hard to justify spending time building one. It seems to be well reviewed but appears to be made of rather thin metal. I suppose it could be filled with concrete if it started to fall apart.

Might be free if you are lucky: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/376890-contest-giveaway-titan-attachments-one.html

 

[fried1765]

My neighbor just bought one. Ordered on Tuesday at 11am and it was at his door on Wednesday by 5pm with standard shipping. We live in PA though.

The box is very nice and has a number of nice features. Receiver built in. Door to empty. Tubes for shovel/rake/etc. pallet forks fit underneath. Quality and thickness of steel is on par with OEM's.

Suggest ordering direct especially after signing up for their news letter and receiving 5% coupon. Plus it was slightly less on their website.

Bottom line: highly recommend.

It does look nice,.... new.... but ...
I hate rust,... and who is going to store a ballast box inside?
It may be a bit of a nuisance to build one, but I vote for a plywood form with molded edges/corners, and filled with as much concrete as desired.
It will NEVER get rusty!

 

[fried1765]

A co-worker cut a plastic 55gallon drum in half, drilled a hole in each side, ran a drawbar (with 3 pt top part too) through the holes. Then a couple pcs of 1.5" pvc pipe Standinding up in the drum. Filled it with concrete. He uses the pipe tubes to put he yard tool handles ( shovels, hoes, rakes....) in for transporting around his farm. He says he put a hitch receiver in the back too. so he can pull a small trailer. I thought that was a cool idea.

It depends on how much weight you feel you need.
A 55 gallon drum filled with Sackrete @128 lb. per cu. ft. would be 940 lbs. total.
For some that might be enough, but many need 1200 -1400 lbs. or more, and a 55 gal. drum could only do that with a mixture of lead and concrete.

 

[Dan Hunter]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/273082-were-barrel-ballast-started.html

 

[mike69440]

It does look nice,.... new.... but ...
I hate rust,... and who is going to store a ballast box inside?
It may be a bit of a nuisance to build one, but I vote for a plywood form with molded edges/corners, and filled with as much concrete as desired.
It will NEVER get rusty!

Mine does, About 300 lbs of Concrete, +400 lbs of steel. In need to paint the outside of the concrete to seal it.

 

[Musdalen]

I'm with ya.

 

[cat fever]

If you look at post #25 I said I was going to build a ballast box. Here it is, 10 cubic feet so around 1500 pounds plus the steel.
It is now in the barn waiting for a paint job.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

If you look at post #25 I said I was going to build a ballast box. Here it is, 10 cubic feet so around 1500 pounds plus the steel.
It is now in the barn waiting for a paint job.




View attachment 509674View attachment 509675View attachment 509676

Well done.

 

[cat fever]

Thanks, I just did what other's have done. (copycat)

Looking forward to using it.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Yup, but I was pretty proud of my scabbard idea (at least I think it was mine ). :drink:

 

[captronr]

Having sold my 3PT implements, and not having storage space for equipment, I discovered that I can easily mount a 50 gallon trash barrell on my 3PT, plan to fill it with water, and it will add enough weight to make my BX2200 loader lift better.

When done, dump the water and reuse the trash barrell.

Ron

 

[jmc]

Yup, but I was pretty proud of my scabbard idea (at least I think it was mine ). :drink:

That's great! Missed it on the first look. Did either of you have to stuff the scabbard with something to support the wet cement pressure?

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

That's great! Missed it on the first look. Did either of you have to stuff the scabbard with something to support the wet cement pressure?

Absolutely. I believe I used plywood (maybe 3/8" or maybe 1/2"). Also used a lag bolt to hold the bottom in place and also to provide a drain hole once the concrete set and I screwed it out.

 

[Aaron L]

Pretty slick.:thumbsup:

 

[Bronco82]

That chainsaw scabbard is INGENIOUS!!! Thank you for that.

 

[JWR]

Uhhh, Cleveland?
Not going anywhere.


But I have often thought of adding a substantial (1500 lb) weight box to a tractor and haven't because I wasn't sure if it was fully OK to do or just sort-of OK to do. Not sure of the impact on the hydraulics and that invites my question.

I suspect that Luke's puzzling over "where you were going with this" was because there is no other obvious place to mount any counterweight on the rear of a tractor. If not the 3pt hitch then where ? If your 3pt hitch won't stand the counterweight, nothing else back there is going to. Of course size matters (and each person's situation and job to be done differs) but on an 81 horse tractor weighing around 9,000lbs with loader, etc. I have a 1400lb 7ft bush hog that stays on the rear most of the time. Seems to serve extremely well for a counterweight. And I'm definitely not worrying about the hydraulics handling it for the practical life of the tractor. To answer your question, I think it is fully OK.

With some very heavy 3pt mount items (like a 2 ton boom cutter) it is very advisable to make a support structure that allows the load to rest on the tractor frame and tow bar. Initially the load is on the 3pt but after the hydraulics bleed off the load is on the support structure. I don't think we are into that sort of overkill for a normal counterweight, however.