Let's see some homemade 3 point ballast!

[California]

My spur of the moment solution when I needed ballast for tight quarters. (I've posted this photo before).

Thread describing this.

The weights are stored on edge leaning against something. Just back up to them, chain up, and go.

I have two more wheel weights but haven't needed them so far.

 

[Notforhire]

I built this several years ago with the idea of keeping the weight low. I originally thought it was around 800#, but now I'm thinking it's closer to 700#.

I would like to make it a little heavier, just haven't found the right piece of scrap.
I'd like it closer to 1000#
When I'm done a new paint job would be nice.
It gets stored outside and that Kubota orange is really fading.

 

[TractorNH]

I wouldn't worry about the hydraulics carrying your ballast.

With a QH on the tractor you should build your ballast so it can be dropped/picked up without leaving the tractor seat.

Pics of my build are on page 12 of this thread but here are a couple pics of it finished. Being able to use the QH was an absolute requirement when I built mine.

 

[djeeper]

That looks great Notforhire. Compact and low.

 

[djeeper]

I wouldn't worry about the hydraulics carrying your ballast.

With a QH on the tractor you should build your ballast so it can be dropped/picked up without leaving the tractor seat.

I can do that from my seat. the weight just sits on a wood rack so the arms can drop low enough to release. Works pretty well.

 

[ovrszd]

I can do that from my seat. the weight just sits on a wood rack so the arms can drop low enough to release. Works pretty well.

Awesome. That's worth a lot. Limits your flexibility but it's a start!!!

 

[California]

For someone planning a ballast box - here's a photo I took today. A Cat 1, 3-point pin is a snug fit in 1.25 inch heavy wall square tubing. A tube made the width to fit in a qhitch including pins, could be a simple foundation for the welded structure inside a concrete ballast.

I screwed this pin in a couple of turns by hand. Drive it in with a press or sledge then add a tack weld. Weld up a steel structure to bear all the weight on this bar.

 

[parrt21]

12 inch channel welded vertical with 2 inch solid bar stock and 4x4 1inch angle from scrap off a job site. And old plates that hinge because you never back up perfectly squared up .

 

[TimP82]

Just a 55 gallon plastic barrel with a steel frame inside, which weighed in at I think 975 lbs. Total cost was less than $50, since I had the barrel and the steel hanging around. Next time I would make the frame further forward, moving the ballast weight further from the tractor.

 

[Stan B]

Here's my recently completed ballast. It's a 2ft cube with sixteen 60 lb bags of concrete, rebar, several disc brake rotors, angle iron and some other stuff. I'm guessing total weight is around 1300 to 1400 lbs. When I bought the tractor I had them not fill the tires knowing that I'd need ballast of some kind. It was kind of neat seeing the contrast between trying to scoop up dirt with and without the ballast.