Ballast Box vs Suitcase Weights - HeavyHitch Inbound!

[deathtoblackberries]

Robert if craigslist has none then local dealer. Some charge full boat retail for the weights, some will discount a bit. The big savings on buying from the dealer is no shipping, they bring them in with larger shipments. If you order online the shipping gets ridiculous due to the weight.

I just finished waxing the cart and hitch, about to load the hitch onto the cart and add the weights, pic in a bit fully assembled.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

Slim yes the cart will hold the weights...correction, here you see I set the weights on the floor, then lowered the cart down over the top of the weights and lifted the weights up onto the cart bar. I had thought this was the only way to get them onto the cart. Later though when I was loading the weights onto the hitch bar I found I had to tip the weights straight down, nose down, then rotate them onto the bar. I had not tried this with the cart so it 'may' be possible to load the cart the same as the hitch. But the first method works at a minimum.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

Hitch, cart, weight assembly. Here's the hardware, stainless bolts are 5/8 bolt 8.5 inches long, I ordered them and the stainless washers and lock nut from McMasterCarr. I found the thick rubber washers locally at Wilco Farm Store.

Here it is assembled, that's about 500 lbs but rolls smooth and easy.

WARNING see those two inside weights on the left side, notice how they don't quite align with the rest of the weights. Those seem to be some earlier Kubota weights, they are not branded Kubota, I think they are numbered 5501 or something, INDIA. Avoid them if you can. They were part of the 5 I purchased from a local dealer, old stock obviously. Nothing wrong with them except the bolt holes don't quite line up with the Kubota branded weights. Initially I had them ordered Kubota/old weight/old weight/Kubota but could not get the bolt through the set and the hole in the weight is pretty large, 3/4 or larger. I re-ordered Kubota/Kubota/old weight/old weight and the bolt went through fine. Not exactly centered in the hole on the old weight side, but worked fine.

The bolts worked great, KLINK CLANG free I just snugged them together.

 

[robertm]

So, aparrently the receiver of the Heavy Hitch slides on the drawbar of the cart. Then, removing the weight of the Heavy Hitch from the tractor by relaxing the 3 point actually slightly bends the drawbar portion of the cart to put the weight of the Hitch on the crossbar of the cart. Is it going to become difficult unhooking the Heavy Hitch over time if this cart is flexing? Is it difficult to align the drawbar to the receiver on the Heavy Hitch, or is the cart light enough to lift it to accommodate the Hitch.
Sorry for all the questions. Just looking for an easy way to hook and unhook ballast so that there are no excuses to roll the cart out and snatch it up with the QH10.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

Yes the cart slides into the heavy hitch receiver and the weight is carried by the cart's cross bar which is directly under the hitch 3x3 tube. Its a pretty close fit, so close that I wanted to put some of that 1/16th inch rubber over the cart weight bar to protect it, but even that was too thick so less than 1/16 inch gap, under weight it flexes a bit and rests on the cart weight bar.

Now lets say you have a quick hitch on your tractor like the Land Pride QH10 I purchased, and you want to install the heavy hitch and weights. You roll the cart out to the tractor, pick the whole thing up off the ground cart, hitch, weights with the quick hitch and tractor 3pt, then just unpin the cart from the heavy hitch and pull it off it doesn't weigh that much. To remove the heavy hitch with weights from the tractor and put it back on the cart, just raise it up, slide the cart onto the heavy hitch receiver and lower to the ground and roll away. That's how it works.

To be clear there is no weight on the cart when you install or remove it, the tractor 3pt has the hitch and weights lifted in the air. You lift the cart into the air and slide it in/out of the hitch receiver. The "flex" so the hitch and weights rest on the cart cross bar really is the wiggle room in the receiver its not that tight of a fit.

 

[ovrszd]

Very nice. So how much did you end up with in this whole arrangement?

 

[deathtoblackberries]

$289 Heavy Hitch HH1UOB hitch for Kubota suitcase weights plus shipping
$249 Heavy Hitch HHCC-B hitch and suitcase weight cart plus shipping
$425 Land Pride QH10 quick hitch (discounted, another dealer wanted $479) no shipping was in stock locally
$513 Kubota suitcase weights - 5 at $60 from my dealer discounted, 3 at $71 from a 2nd dealer.

Total $1,476

Plus change I splurged on stainless hardware and the adhesive backed rubber for the hitch weight bar. Heavy Hitch liked that idea Greg at Heavy Hitch is posting to face book.

 

[robertm]

Thanks Death. Great write-up. Just what I figured... down to the flexing of the setup on the cart. Thank you. Now, to sell my ballast box.

Oh, last picture request... I think...

Hitch with weights on QH10.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

Thanks Death. Great write-up. Just what I figured... down to the flexing of the setup on the cart. Thank you. Now, to sell my ballast box.

Oh, last picture request... I think...

Hitch with weights on QH10.

I have to spray some weed DEATH today then I'll install the QH10 with hitch and weights and post a pic.