Do You Have a Tractor Shed/Barn?

[BoylermanCT]

We built a 30x40x12 barn and the tractor shop is 13x30. I store most my implements on a 12’ wide, 12’ tall pallet rack. It stores my snowplow, snowblower, chipper, rototiller, forks, bucket and grapple.

 

[mapper]

Depends on your climate and quality of finish on your equipment.
A high percentage of automobiles spend their entire time without shelter.

Around here there are a lot of Kubota's, the summer sun fades the paint in just a few years. Tires and hydraulic hoses from all brands will take a beating from the sun.
If you choose not to, it's your money.....

 

[newbury]

We built a 30x40x12 barn and the tractor shop is 13x30. I store most my implements on a 12’ wide, 12’ tall pallet rack. It stores my snowplow, snowblower, chipper, rototiller, forks, bucket and grapple.View attachment 864934View attachment 864935

Nice use of pallet racks. Are you able to put the chipper and snow blower up there using the tractor in the pic?

 

[BoylermanCT]

Nice use of pallet racks. Are you able to put the chipper and snow blower up there using the tractor in the pic?

Yes. The blower is light, 450 lbs or so. The chipper is more of a load, 950lbs. We put the blower up on the shelf yesterday. Chipper will come down in the next couple of weeks. My Montana tractor front end loader is rated to lift 1600lbs to full height. Not sure I would attempt that. At 950 lbs the back end gets really light, even with an 800lb concrete weight on back. Maybe I need a lot more rear ballast. My Montana has a 28hp 4 cylinder Mitsubishi engine.

 

[WinterDeere]

Yes. The blower is light, 450 lbs or so. The chipper is more of a load, 950lbs. We put the blower up on the shelf yesterday. Chipper will come down in the next couple of weeks. My Montana tractor front end loader is rated to lift 1600lbs to full height. Not sure I would attempt that. At 950 lbs the back end gets really light, even with an 800lb concrete weight on back. Maybe I need a lot more rear ballast. My Montana has a 28hp 4 cylinder Mitsubishi engine.

My loader is rated only 1600 lb, and even at that, Deere’s recommended rear ballast is more than triple what you’re running. Total ballast of 800 lb is almost into cat.0 SCUT territory.

Check your manual, but they probably recommend more like 1500 lb on rear hitch + loaded tires + wheel weights, for a loader with that capacity. Usually overkill if you’re on a flat garage floor, that accounts for terrain. But even if you go half that, you’re under-ballasted by maybe 3x with nothing but 800 lb on the 3pt.

 

[pmsmechanic]

If I had 2400 lbs ballast on the three point of my tractor the front end would be in the air. Even with the front end loader attached.

I used to have 1000 lbs of ballast for the three point. It was too much as any little rock would lift the loader out of the ground while digging. 600 lbs is more than enough for all of the front end loader work I do with my tractor.

 

[WinterDeere]

If I had 2400 lbs ballast on the three point of my tractor the front end would be in the air. Even with the front end loader attached.

I used to have 1000 lbs of ballast for the three point. It was too much as any little rock would lift the loader out of the ground while digging. 600 lbs is more than enough for all of the front end loader work I do with my tractor.

Machines and loaders vary. For my 320R on 3033R, they recommend fully-loaded tires + 2 pairs of wheel weights + extended-height ballast box. I think it adds up to somewhere near 2250 lb., IIRC.

I never actually run that heavy, as I'm not doing max loader capacity on anything but totally flat ground. I have my tires filled about 60% with bio ballast, and vary the weight on the ballast box 750 - 1500 lb. by use of suitcase weights. So, a total of up to 2000 lb, but about 400 lb. of that hangs off the back of the ballast box, COG easily 30 inches past pins of hitch, so it has a longer moment arm to act upon. Even with all of that, I've had the rear get a little light when lifting right at max capacity and rolling over a small swale in my yard.

Boylerman's machine is of similar size and capacity, and I stand by my opinion that running nothing but 800 lb. on the hitch is too little for that machine, if lifting near max loader capacity at full height, which is how I read his post. It's a recipe for a bad day.

 

[Oaktree]

As old as I am and not much money here's what has worked for me...........12 x 24 ShelterLogic

I have a couple of those myself for storing smaller equipment like a rider mower, ATV, etc. as well as an antique car plus general stuff you want to keep out of the weather. One thing I learned is to put a sacrificial tarp over it so the fitted cover doesn't deteriorate from UV (even this far north). Also gotta be diligent about keeping snow cleared off it.

I also discovered that leaving the ends open greatly minimized the mouse problem.

 

[Bearsixty7]

If I had 2400 lbs ballast on the three point of my tractor the front end would be in the air. Even with the front end loader attached.

I used to have 1000 lbs of ballast for the three point. It was too much as any little rock would lift the loader out of the ground while digging. 600 lbs is more than enough for all of the front end loader work I do with my tractor.

I agree, I can't see needing any more than what the loader lift capacity is for rear ballast. In actuality probably only needs to be 50-80% as you already have the weight of the tractor engine, rear axle and all the fluids behind the fulcrum of the front axle to counter the loader leverage. Then if you have filled tires you have even more weight.

I weighed my concrete ballast box and it's 990lbs, my loader lift capacity is 2150 and have been able to stall out the loader lifting and the rear wheels did not come off the ground and I don't even have 50% for ballast.

 

[lcalverson13]

I do have a drive through tractor shed for my tractors, and a more closed barn for my welding trailer and CTL.

Have to admit that if everything is dusty, I'm prone to pull them all out to get washed off by an impending rain though.

I've not built anything to house my implements yet... That would take quite a bit of cover to put a roof over harrows, discs, batwing cutters, and on and on...

What do you guys use? (If anything)

I am finishing a SteelMaster Quonset. They said I was out of warrant so a missing piece was going to be another $126. I bent one myself to finish the job. The sent plenty of bolts. Seem knowledgeable, however the price they wanted for the baseplate was crazy high, like 6k. I designed and built my own for $1700. The dimensions are 30’ X 48’. Closing the ends with drive through sliding doors 12’ X 15’.

 

[bigtiller]

I like to vary the weight in my ballast box. For just about every loader job I keep it on the light side. It is 2/3 full of a mix of concrete, scrap steel and some granite boulders.

For heavy pallet fork work I add old wheel weights and suitcase weights. When the rear tires are squatting is how I judge when to stop adding weight.

 

[WinterDeere]

I like to vary the weight in my ballast box. For just about every loader job I keep it on the light side. It is 2/3 full of a mix of concrete, scrap steel and some granite boulders.

For heavy pallet fork work I add old wheel weights and suitcase weights. When the rear tires are squatting is how I judge when to stop adding weight.

Same. That's why I welded bars to mine, to carry suitcase weights. Easy enough with most boxes, mine just happens to be the Deere brand version.

 

[wolc123]

Close call here, I’m thankful that I replaced my worn out 6 ft light duty bush hog with a 5 ft medium duty. I only had a couple inches to spare in my new tractor shed:

Sometimes, you got to size your equipment to fit your shed.

One other nice thing about the 5 footer, is that my old Ford 8n can lift it, while it couldn’t quite put the 6 footer up. Maybe, I’ll have to get an overrunning coupler for it, and see how it runs it. Gasoline has been way cheaper than diesel quite a lot lately, and it might be more economical, cutting with that.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I agree, I can't see needing any more than what the loader lift capacity is for rear ballast. In actuality probably only needs to be 50-80% as you already have the weight of the tractor engine, rear axle and all the fluids behind the fulcrum of the front axle to counter the loader leverage. Then if you have filled tires you have even more weight.

I weighed my concrete ballast box and it's 990lbs, my loader lift capacity is 2150 and have been able to stall out the loader lifting and the rear wheels did not come off the ground and I don't even have 50% for ballast.

One thing I didn't mention is that I have a quicktach which puts the weight out an additional 4". Those 4" makes quite a difference.

 

[gatornapper]

I did for 20+ years.

A friend took down a nice 20' x 24' aluminum carport for an addition to his house and I brought it home for my sweet 2010 JD 5045E I've had since new.

Entrance was on left, large 2x's nailed to front right poles for storage....

But then I began restoring and collecting old Porsches in 2017, and they needed a garage. So not having funds to build a new one for my 3 old Porsches (914, 928, 944 S), I put walls and garage doors on my tractor shed and my poor JD sits in the weather. Our house is large log home I and my sons built so we used log siding for front of garage.

Thinking of putting lean-to roof on left or right of lower garage for the JD.

 

[Dunno]

Previous owner of my place built this barn with overhanging shed roofs to keep equipment out of direct weather. He was good at using old telephone poles. Only thing is the air is salty where I live near the coast. If equipment is not completely out of the coastal air it will start to get surface rust.

 

[WinterDeere]

Only thing is the air is salty where I live near the coast. If equipment is not completely out of the coastal air it will start to get surface rust.

... and even then, some!

Loosely-related story: The neighbor to our beach house had some money, and used to show up with a random fleet of supercars from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, etc. What always amazed me is not that he could afford to buy such a car, that's not such a high bar, but that he apparently had so much money he had very little care for if they got damaged. I remember looking out my window during an absolutely terrible hail storm, at his $200k Lamborghini sitting in the driveway next door, just taking the beating.

We've all heard of "F-you money", the ability to waste money to screw an adversary. But "F-me money" must be a whole other level.

 

[NYlumberman]

I built this pole barn to keep my “stuff” out of the weather. Overall footprint 48’X48’ with 16’ clearance inside, 12’ eaves on the lean to, 12’X12’ doors on each end.

 

[wthforever]

I do have a drive through tractor shed for my tractors, and a more closed barn for my welding trailer and CTL.

Have to admit that if everything is dusty, I'm prone to pull them all out to get washed off by an impending rain though.

I've not built anything to house my implements yet... That would take quite a bit of cover to put a roof over harrows, discs, batwing cutters, and on and on...

What do you guys use? (If anything)

All I have is an old tractor, a few implements, and an ATV, this would work great for me. Did you buy a kit and build it yourself, or have someone install for you?

 

[areid]

I recently have added storage to two of my previously built buildings. The first was an old heritage barn I moved I'm from 9 miles away. I added a 10 wing on that that can shed my L5240 Kubota with cab. Then I added a shed roof on the side of my Quonset. This was initially designed to house my travel trailer but I found it was like having nothing at all unless I enclosed it. Tough to back the trailer in ther now but still doable. I moved the barn in and finished the upstairs for pony club and 4 H events. Also added a stall and hay shelter on the back of the barn last year with used components. Always a project.