3pt ballast box

[GTX4025]

Looking for ideas on building a 3pt ballast box/drum

 

[TBN Support]

Welcome to the TBN forum.

:welcome:

I'm going to move your thread over to where it is more likely to be noticed. Best of luck!

 

[davesl708]

Welcome. Several good designs are on this site. Should be able to get some good choices. Some are simple and others look better than OEM.

Good luck with your project.

 

[George2615]

Welcome to TBN.............

Do a google search at the top of the page for rear ballast to check other members ballast builds. Many Ballast boxes and barrels to choose from.

 

[varmint]

I needed one also, and went for it (this was before I got the rear blade)! I bought a 20' piece of 2 x 2 x 1/4 angle (the yard precision cut it for me for $4... money well spent) and I had the old trailer hitch bar and some steel scrap laying around to finish it. Gave me some needed practice with my newish wire welder. I like the fact I can add or remove rock as needed. I'm guessing around 500 lbs loaded.

 

[ecbaatz]

Nice looking box!

 

[grnspot110]

I started out with a slightly used factory box; added RR rail runners & 2" receiver tube that bolts to the bottom: Filled to about 8" of the top with scrap iron & lead, bolted in a metal grainery door for a tray, plastic conduit on the outside for long handled tools & layered 1/4" plastic chainsaw sleeve on the other side: Also some small "D" rings for tie downs & a lower set of bolt-on 3-pt pins so I can lift it higher when needed: Totaling about 620#, plus whatever tools, drawbar, chains, etc are in the top tray.

 

[varmint]

Nice!!

 

[Leejohn]

This is what I use. I fill it with sand and gravel when doing a lot of loader work, when done I just dump it out. Then have a nice big box or take the gate off and put cut off logs in it or ect.

 

[slackgt]

Just finished mine.55 gallon plastic barrel,8 bags of concrete,140 lbs of steel. Drilled a hole thru the exact center of barrell,ran exhaust pipe thru the holes so I can use my drawbar in it. Concrete seemed dry so I tried it,went up nice,lifted it all the way up,felt good,then I noticed I bent my top link,lower portion.In my genius thinking I wanted it balanced,and putting the pipe in the center seemed stronger to me(more concrete coverage on top)bt I had to put the top link attachment towards the tractor so the top link would reach.T full height,it came towards the tractor bending the bottom part.Time to re engineer,lol. Going to get a longer top link,move the attatchment away from the tractor and try that.

 

[Buggs67]

I used a 50 gal plastic barrel, a piece of black pipe filled with concrete for a lift point and some old scrap angle iron for the top link. I embedded an old trailer hitch in the back so I can move my trailers and log splitter. It's filled with rocks and 7 bags of concrete. Weighs about 650 which is adequite for my tractor. Plenty room in top to add more rock/iron/etc. Slots in side to hook my chain.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Lots of examples on TBN. This is mine.

 

[Paul Thornton]

This was a used pressure tank filled with sand.

 

[N2DFire]

I have some pictures of ours on PhotoBucket but work blocks me from getting there (the devils).

Here's another recent thread on Ballast Boxes that I posted some shot in.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/343125-homemade-ballast-box-2.html#post4217238

 

[katoomed00]

Used a counter weight off a small old forklift and welded a 3 pt set up on it. Cost $200 and makes a world of difference keeping the back end planted, plus no more wheel spin when using my tree puller.

 

[rbtjr]

After considering buying or making a ballast weight, I thought of another approach which I now use: My heaviest 3ph attachment is a 6' Bush Hog pulverizer at 590 lbs. I bought five suitcase weights that weigh 36 lbs each. I put the suitcase weights in the tray on top of the pulverizer and the result is that with the pulverizer and suitcase weights combined I have a 770 lb ballast. Works well.

 

[RPW]

Currently I use my boxblade as it's ~800lbs. Most of the time it's sufficient. If not I strap a tree trunk ~24 x 6ft. for extra weight. At some point I'll build one out of concrete to provide about 2k lbs.

 

[pat32rf]

If you are always in wide open spaces, then using an implement might work, but Greenspot had things worked out pretty good.
You need to position the pins so you can just set it on the ground to remove, without finding a platform. A 2" receiver will let you add a draw bar, winch , platform or whatever. The chainsaw scabbord and some bungee anchor points as well as a top recess to carry chain or chainsaw gas save time and a couple of rear facing chain pull points for skidding logs or just retrieving dead ATVs/Skidoos will never go amiss either.