Ballast Box vs Filled Tires?

[Bob_Young]

I got both, but I use the ballast box as a carryall. When heading out for some tree trimming or cleanup of a deadfall, it's a great place to put the chainsaw, sledge hammer, wedges, chains, fuel and whatnot. The rest of the time it's off the tractor.

For FEL counterbalance, filled tires are much more practical for me. The tractor is much more maneuverable and it'll fit and turn in tighter spaces with nothing hanging off the back. That's a big advantage of a CUT. Why give it away by locking yourself into always having to carry an implement or the box? For really heavy lifting the box or implement can be added, but 98% of the time it's not needed

The first time you forget that it's there and back into Mama's Buick, you'll wish you'd filled the tires.
Bob

 

[BenA]

A ballast box would be handy for carrying things in as well as the extra wt. Hadn't thought of that. My dealer loaded my rears...said they always do with a FEL and didn't offer me the choice. However, I purchased a box blade, primarily as counterweight initially, but found how useful it is for moving dirt around. My 7800 does not dig very well in the hard soil around here, so the box blade helps by breaking it up first. If I need more weight hanging off the rear, I put one to four 5 gallon buckets of gravel on top of the box blade. I figure hanging weight off the back takes some of the stress off the steering when moving full buckets of dirt or gravel. Loaded tired does nothing to take stress off the front axle. Maybe that's not all that important, but it seemed like a good idea to me. Lots of ways to go about it, and what works for you is the right way.

 

[Nuru]

I got both, but I use the ballast box as a carryall. When heading out for some tree trimming or cleanup of a deadfall, it's a great place to put the chainsaw, sledge hammer, wedges, chains, fuel and whatnot. The rest of the time it's off the tractor.

For FEL counterbalance, filled tires are much more practical for me. The tractor is much more maneuverable and it'll fit and turn in tighter spaces with nothing hanging off the back. That's a big advantage of a CUT. Why give it away by locking yourself into always having to carry an implement or the box? For really heavy lifting the box or implement can be added, but 98% of the time it's not needed

The first time you forget that it's there and back into Mama's Buick, you'll wish you'd filled the tires.
Bob

Good Point. I got the box, and I recently got my tires filled. And the big thing about the filled tires is that I have some much more stability on the slopes in on my mowin' part of the property. I have one spot where the grade is approximately 22 degs, and that scared me big time to even go up until i got the rears filled, now it does not seem so bad at all - won't try it sideways though!

 

[Nuru]

Stress onj the front axle, that brings up a question, should one fill all four or just the rears - Dealers in my area and the places where you can get a tire filled all say no to front fills, especially on the smaller CUTs like mine. Anyone else know why a lot of folks shy away from front fills other than potential front axle/steering mechanism issues?

 

[Nuru]

3RRL, you got all 4 filled - the locals, the local dealers, and the places where one can get tires filled all said no to front fills -I was wondering, are front fills for really heavy loader work or more stability on slopes?

 

[Sully2]

3RRL, you got all 4 filled - the locals, the local dealers, and the places where one can get tires filled all said no to front fills -I was wondering, are front fills for really heavy loader work or more stability on slopes?

Not sure exactly WHY...but my owners manual for a B3030 says NO WAY to front filling of tires...

 

[Micg]

I just filled my tires this weekend on my L3400. What a difference. I bought the adapter kit from Napa and filled them with a garden hose at the 12:00 position then added 20 psi air to my R4's. Wish I had done this months ago.
Brian

Hi Brian,
reading my manual says that rear tires should not be fully filled but only 75% should be water & then air is compressed.
The correct position should be either 10:00 or 2:00

The reason given is that if the tire moves over a rock, then air will act as a cushion.

regards
Micg

 

[Mavrik02]

In my case I can lift the full capacity of the FEL with my 60" BB on the rear. With the BH on a full bucket won't even make the back end light (even when I bounce the bucket). Also my land is mostly woods with lots of wet springs...filling the tires in addition to all of the other weight wouldn't work out well for me.

 

[3RRL]

3RRL, you got all 4 filled - the locals, the local dealers, and the places where one can get tires filled all said no to front fills -I was wondering, are front fills for really heavy loader work or more stability on slopes?

Nuru,
I filled the fronts for several reasons:
-to maintain proper weight distribution when carying or pulling an implement because I have 4 wheel drive and want to get as much traction as possible with the fronts.
-for more tire stability (reduced flattening) under loads of heavy FEL work
-for more over-all stability, rigidity and less "bounce" during all operations and working on slopes.
-for overall added weight to the tractor thus less bearing load on axles as opposed to "hanging" extra weight on the tractor for the same reasons.

I used a tractor ballast guide Ballast guide to help attain proper weight distribution. The guide refers to ballasted weight (static) but I figure the theory should still apply when filling tires...I know it's a little different than hanging weight on, but weight is weight and benefits from adding weight should be along the same line. There's also a section that tells you how to determine what proper traction is and how to achieve it. Regardless how you do it, the whole idea behind adding weight is to acheive traction and balance.
There's an interesting example of adding 100lbs in front of the axle.
"Adding ballast to the bracket on the front of a tractor reduces the weight on the rear axle. For example, adding 100 pounds on the front increases total tractor weight by 100 pounds but may increase the weight on the front axle by 150 pounds and reduce the weight on the rear axle by 50 pounds."

Table 1. Front and rear weight distribution.
Tractor design / Implement type Front Rear
Two-wheel drive / Trailing implement 25% 75%
Two-wheel drive / Semi-mounted implement 30% 70%
Two-wheel drive / Mounted implement 35% 65%
Front-wheel assist / Trailing implement 40% 60%
Front-wheel assist / Mounted implement 45% 55%
Four-wheel drive / Trailing implement 55% 45%
Four-wheel drive / Mounted implement 60% 40%

It's obvious many will dispute front tire filling for fear of hurting the front gear drive train, but I doubt many will dispute the advantages gained by having more front wheel drive traction that is desired and beneficial when working the tractor. Personally, I use the heck out of my 4 wheel drive option...I'm in 4 wheel drive all the time. I have it so why not use it to it's fullest extent? To me, it's much like a buddy who buys a brand new truck but doesn't want to load anything it or take it hunting for fear of scratching it?
I WANT to use it. If it breaks... well then it breaks and I'll fix it....that's just me. Filling the fronts gives me that much more traction (undesputible) and also for the reasons stated above.

 

[fishpick]

I have a BX24 - new - and don't plan on getting the tires filled...
The family JD 4310 has the rears filled for FEL work and STILL needs a BB.

Just as an informational FYI - in my recent tractor purchasing endeavours... I was given a really informative brochure from the JD dealer about ballasting (title was something like "How smart is a box of rocks") - It had a lot of good info - you might want to check it out. If I recall it was within there they talked about the science between a BB and filled tires.