Am I being a noob about ballast boxes...

[Perplexed]

Erickson 1 in. x 13 ft. Cam Lash Strap - 3013426 | Tractor Supply Company

I figured a strap or something. Is it shown in your pic? Even with glasses, I can't see the strap?

 

[TrenaryDucks]

I figured a strap or something. Is it shown in your pic? Even with glasses, I can't see the strap?

No, the straps aren't shown, and the barrels are currently upside down.

The suggestion you received from Everything Attachments was well meant. I use the carry all to bring water out to my mobile hen houses, hence the barrels. It also serves as a counterweight for light duty loader work. In the winter, the counterweight is my snowblower.

 

[beppington]

How about a narrower box blade, maybe 4' wide, & then affix some additional weight to it at some point, if needed?

Land Pride's 4' wide BB1548 weighs 382 lbs
Land Pride's 4.5' wide BB1554 weighs 402 lbs

Either one would be a good start.

At least you'd have a useful, albeit narrow, box blade, instead of just carrying around dead weight that has no other purpose/ usefulness.

Edit: Land Pride, not Woods ... Sorry

Edit 2: Wood's GB48 weighs 428 lbs

 

[Artesia Aggie]

I am also thinking about a ballast box alternative. My plan is to buy a quick hitch (70lbs). I always wanted a reason to get one and adding weight seemed to be a good excuse

I am also thinking about getting a carry all (another 70lbs). I now have 140lbs of ballast and two useful pieces of equipment. I can add a barrel of sand or blocks of concrete as needed to the carry all.

Haven't bought anything yet so any comments are welcome.

 

[gwdixon]

Make sure ALL of your implements are the same width lift pin to lift pin. Most inexpensive rigid QH frames will accept only one width. Without welding skills you'd only be able to use the QH with what fits exactly.

The carry-all is always a good idea. It does stick out the back a little more than other choices and with a QH it may stick out even more.

Sticking out more will give added leverage to your ballast so that is a good thing - until the space gets tight.

Not to be negative - just some things to consider.

 

[Perplexed]

I have yet to see a carry-all in person, but the pics in the online catalogs make them out to be similar to lift forks, with the platform removed. That got me wondering; is it possible to use the frame of a carry-all with wooden pallets, much like with a fork lift, only with the carry-all's frame bolted to the pallet once the arms had been slid into place under the pallet? Holes could be drilled into the top deck of the pallet to line up with the holes in the carry-all's frame, and bolts passed through those holes. That way, you could have a barrel full of concrete sitting on a pallet, and when you needed ballast, you could slide the carry-all into that pallet, bolt it up, secure the barrel, and you're GTG. The pallet could be trimmed to size so there's no excessive overhang on the back of the tractor. Would that work?

 

[jake98]

They don't come with the platform.

 

[Perplexed]

They don't come with the platform.

If you mean a carry-all does not come with a platform, I gathered that much from the catalog pics. The pics I did see showed a pair of horizontal arms sticking out from a vertical frame, with holes drilled in them. That, I assume, is where you bolt on some boards to create the platform.

My question was, can you leave off the boards, and use the tractor to slide the arms of the carry-all into the holes in a pallet? Then bolt down the boards on the top of the pallet to the arms?

 

[jake98]

Well you could, but boards would be a lot stronger. I never tried mine as a pallet mover but it looks like they would work for that too.

 

[Perplexed]

I understand about the strength of the boards. However, I did not mean to use the carry-all frame to move pallets - I meant to ask how feasible it would be to use the pallet itself as the platform for the carry-all, assuming you found a pallet with thick boards. I've seen pallets that had thin boards, and pallets that had pretty thick boards (3/4" or 1"). What I had envisioned was, using a trimmed-down pallet as the storage base for a barrel filled with concrete; this could be left in a corner of the shop when not being used. When it came time for some rear ballast, the tractor could be backed up so the carry-all's arms slid into the pallet, and the latter bolted to the arms. Then the barrel could be secured to the carry-all with a strap, and off you'd go with the combination as your rear ballast. The pallet would make it easier to store the concrete barrel, and you wouldn't need to use angle iron with hitch points inserted in the barrel as the concrete was poured. Heck, if a pallet would not be strong enough, a beefier version could be made up using 2x4's or such.

Could that work?