Ballast box questions

[SmallChange]

Old tainter gate chains, broken hydraulic breaker, rebar, some gym weights - pretty much anything steel. Heavier than concrete but doesn’t fit in as well.

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I think I bought the same box you did. I put a couple pieces of 3" steel plate and some old chains and such into it, and poured concrete into the whole thing. The last concrete pour was the self-leveling stuff (which is really great!) after I'd carefully leveled the box. Then I poured a bit of FlexSeal liquid rubber on top and brushed it up the sides inside. I got the box total right up to 800 lbs this way, which is its rated max. I also have a bar across the top with an eye nut for lifting it. I have an I beam trolley and chain hoist above it, and I store it off to the side or trolley it in to mount it. I have an extension spring for lifting it so the hoist doesn't act weird when I trolley it around.

 

[pokey1416]

Wow sounds great. Take a pic please.

 

[RoyJackson]

I used sand...easy to fill, easy to empty and a good amount of weight (I estimate the Ballast Box (Deere brand) and when filled with sand does 600-700 pounds.
I've used it to carry tools (both when filled or empty of sand). Owned it for more than 10 years. I don't use it as much as I used to, but I won't sell it

 

[Fallon]

I built mine out of a 60 gallon air compressor tank. Used it maybe twice in 8 years. I just use whatever impliment I have on these days. Much more convenient & I rarely need the smaller footprint.

 

[mike69440]

Not the easiest solution.

Custom 3 point attachment 2" reciever, Weight Box, Tool Carrier/work table.

I designed a combination weight box, with 2 receiver and provisions for a workbench / tool carrier specifically to fit my newest tractor, a little Mahindra Max 28XL. I think the design is slick. There are lots of places to buy tow bars, tool carries, and weight boxes for Ag tractors, but I...

www.tractorbynet.com

Max 28XL Custom 3 point attachment 2" reciever, Weight Box, Tool Carrier/work table.

Max 28XL Custom 3 point attachment 2" reciever, Weight Box, Tool Carrier/work table. I am putting forth a group buy offer for a custom fit 3 pt. hitch combination weight box, heavy duty 2 hitch receiver, work platform designed to fit the Mahindra Max 28XL. What is unique about the attachment...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[dennis103]

I've had this on 3 tractors now. I keep adding weight as the tractors get bigger. I added a hook to tow logs, etc. The wing plates are so I can pick it up with my forks. Last add was the bracket to add suit case weights. The box is filled with old wheel weights and I keep my favorite chain and 3 trailer ball adapters in the top. You can't see it in the picture but there is a reciever hitch welded to the back that accepts a 2" or 2 5/8" ball for towing trailers.

 

[Popgadget]

Here is an old one that I modernized.
Relocated the bottom pins to work with my quick hitch and welded a top pin in place as well. It’s filled with 2A 3/4” modified gravel so that it weighs about 900lbs. I bent up a cover out of galvanized sheet metal to keep the rain out of it.

Here you can see where the old ear was cut off and a new one relocated.

 

[SmallChange]

Here is the ballast box improvement I mentioned a little while ago. It's a common and less expensive standard ballast box, but I filled it with big steel scraps, regular concrete mix, self leveling concrete, and "Flex Seal" pourable rubber, in that order. I kept it shimmed up and level for these last two pours. It's waterproof and won't rust out if it gets rained on. I also added a bar across the top with an eye nut, carefully placed above the center of gravity. It's 800 lbs. I can lift it with my overhead chain hoist and trolley. It's funny moving the trolley because the height of the box has to change suddenly as the angle of the chain changes, which makes the whole setup shake, so I added the spring to smooth that out. I don't have to lift or shift anything heavy to mount and unmount this. I also usually store my wheel chocks in it so they're handy.

 

[mo1]

Looking at getting one so I can lift more with my loader. Question is what should I fill it with? If not concrete, I suppose I need to drill holes in the bottom to let water drain. How thick of metal would I be drilling through?

Thanks.

Many people just put some heavy mounted implement on the 3 point as a counterweight if they have something sufficiently heavy to use. Often that implement is a 3 point bale spear stuck into a round bale or two or a heavy mounted rotary cutter, the latter tend to have the advantage of being long and thus exerting more counterbalancing force on the tractor than a similar weight held closer to the rear axle, like a bale on a spear.

The common inexpensive purpose-built counterweight is simply a rectangle of concrete cast in a plywood form, or if you want a 1000 pound counterweight, a concrete-filled 55 gallon drum. The lower link pins are made from a 3 point drawbar embedded in the concrete and the top link holes are often a couple pieces of angle iron with a hole drilled in them attached to the top of the concrete block in either case. A barrel is a fixed size so all you need to do is put the drawbar through the barrel at the right height from the top. If you make a cast rectangle weight, the width is the width of the rectangular part of the drawbar between the pins, the height is short enough that the box has sufficient clearance over the ground, and the length is determined by how much weight you need, concrete is about 145 lb/ft^3. You can build one of these counterweights for a tiny fraction of what a factory-made ballast box will run.

The other common counterweight is a 3 point carryall (if you need <1000 lb) or a set of 3 point pallet forks (if you need >1000 lb) loaded up with concrete blocks strapped to a pallet, a full poly water tank, or something else fairly dense. These are more expensive than the cast concrete weights above, but a carryall is noticeably less than a factory ballast box. A set of 3 point pallet forks is about the same cost, but they are more versatile than a ballast box.

Personally, I use a heavier rotary cutter on the tractor I use the most. Between that and the fluid in the tires, the loader goes into relief before the rear end gets light or has any issues with traction (it's a 2WD so if there were rear axle traction issues, I'd know right away.)

 

[Popgadget]

One consideration about using an implement is the added overall length (and possibly width) for maneuvering in tight spaces.