Ballast Anyone Use Bar Bells as Rear Wheel Weights????????

[Dave___in___CT]

Hi...


Sharp eyes !

Valve stem guard was added by the Kubota dealer... a short length of iron pipe welded to the wheel...

Believe tire had to be removed from that part of rim before welding...


Think the valve stem guards on the front wheels are from factory... they have about 1/4 of the pipe cut out of the side... unlike the full-circle ones on the rears...

Hopefully they will prevent an accident like yours... whch can be pretty expensive if the tires are fluid loaded ! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif


Dave...

 

[rozett]

While it is probably not as protective as your guards, we turned the rims around on my Cub, so that the valve stems are on the inside of the rims. There, they are much less likely to get clipped by something and cut or knocked off.

It is no fun trying to remove a loaded wheel with a flat. Mine was in the gargage when it happened. I'd hate to be out in the woods.

 

[5030]

Mike:

Olympic plates have 1-1/2" diameter holes (new style). Old style have 1" through holes. The nice thing about olympic plates is you can get them in 50 pound increments. Nice for larger tractors like my 5030.

 

[centex]

I broke my valve stem the very first time I used the tractor after turning the rims so the stems were to the inside. I had cleared and piled a lot of brush with the stems to the outside without a problem. I think they are a little more vulnerable when turned to the inside because brush can get caught against the axle or other tractor part and the wheel and it is harder to see what is going on. I thought at first that I had punctured the tire and ruined it because it went down so fast. I sure was glad it was a front tire and not a rear.

 

[RalphVa]

I found out on my Gravely that you need to protect stuff from brush. Early on, I was bush hogging and all of a sudden had oil spraying all over the place. Some brush had speared the loop on the oil dip stick and had removed it. I've learned now to turn it around to be up against the block.

Also, you need to know where all your wiring goes. The wiring got ripped out of the Gravely with some brush, too, just came unplugged from a couple of switches, etc. I knew where it all went back, luckily. Did no damage otherwise. Did shut the engine down because it pulled it from the key switch.

Ralph

 

[keeney]

<font color="blue"> To continue....How do you mount weight on the 3-point? </font>

I have a weight block cast out of concrete around a cat-1 drawbar. It is made out of 11 80-lb bags of concrete, so with the steel drawbar and some additional rebar in it, it weighs about 900 lbs.

Another option would be to use a weight box filled with dirt, concrete, or scrap iron.

Other people like to leave a heavy implement on the back like a box blade or a back-hoe.

Maybe a bit of overkill, but I really like the feeling that the loader cannot pull the back wheels off the ground.

I would not use the loaader for anything other than light materials without the rear weight on my particular tractor.

My JD 4100 only weighs about 1600 lbs without the loader. The loader can lift about 1500 lbs net, plus the bucket and loader itself all hanging out over the front axle add maybe another 900 lbs, two thirds of it in front of the axle.

For simplicity of estimating, lets do the math in fractional wheel-base units referenced from the front axle.

Loader Net payload: +3/4 x 1500 lbs
Loader Bucket + arms in front of axle: +1/2 x 600 lbs
Loader portion behind axle: - 1/2 x 300 lbs.
Tractor: - 1/2 x 1600 lbs
Wheel weights: -1 x 250 lbs
Driver: -1 x 250 lbs
3-pt weight: -1.5 x 900 lbs.

Resulting loaded center of gravity position is approximately: 25% of the wheelbase back from the front axle.

If we leave off the weight block and wheel weights, the max payload before the CG goes in front of the axle is about 1200 lbs.

With just the 250lbs of wheel weight, the machine is just balanced on the front axle with the max payload.

With an unloaded bucket and the wheel weights and 3-pt weight, the center of gravity position is 64% of the wheelbase back from the front axle.

- Rick