Another weight box question.....

[zmansmac]

I finally decided that this is going to be the summer that I make my rear weight box. My particular problem is that I keep my tractor in a shortened garage bay during the winter with my snow blade on and I'd like to keep the rear weight on for traction. During the summer the tractor is kept in a large shed with the FEL on and the overall length is not a problem. Over the years I've seen many interesting and innovative designs here on TBN and plan on using some of those ideas. But in trying to keep the box dimensions to a minimum for my goal of about 800 lbs I was thinking about throwing some scrap steel into my concrete mix. For instance, I have a lot of small cutoffs from past projects and even a couple of old rotors from a recent brake job on the wife's car. Other than the obvious supporting steel needed for the 3 point is there any problem with my idea. I don't know the weight difference between steel and concrete but it seems the steel is heavier. Comments please.

JohnZ
B7500

 

[easygo]

I made a weight box several years ago using the same stuff. I started with an old battered 35 gallon metal garbage can. I determined the position of the lower and top link attachments and placed those in the can first. Started filling with concrete and put in chunks of granite an some scrap iron. It ended up around #600 and worked well. I made it so, that about half of the can was behind the ends of the 3ph lift arms. It only added about 10-12" of length to the whole rig.

ps: I think the factory recommendation for 3ph ballast on the B7500 would be the same as for the B7510. It is around #600.

 

[Zebrafive]

Concrete about 150lbs per cubic foot
Steel about 500lbs per cubic foot

 

[RoyJackson]

If you know of any place (locally or within reasonable driving distance) that has a hammermill, call about any scrap hammers they may have.
These hammers are extremely heavy and compact.
I've got two or three of them (can't recall where I got 'em, but somebody gave them to me)...not using them but they're way too heavy to ship.

 

[easygo]

Concrete about 150lbs per cubic foot
Steel about 500lbs per cubic foot

Care to give a price quote on 600lbs of each?

 

[rockshaft]

Care to give a price quote on 600lbs of each?

Isn't 1cuft ~2.5x 80# sacks? so that would be around 10-12$
My local steel place charges .80cents/# of scrap (probably high, but that's what I get for living in the last frontier!) = 400$