Cheap tractor weights - 10 cents a pount

[sleepgsr]

Hello all,
This winter I bought my first tractor, a 1969 Massey Ferguson 40 Industrial with loader and backhoe..
First thing I noticed is that it is back heavy with the backhoe attached. The front end almost floats and steering is iffy so it was time for some weights.
It came with 1 suitcase weight and after finding prices to be about $1 a pound I decided to make my own. I got my inspiration from rgs03833 in this tread. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/238804-my-cheap-tractor-weights-72-a.html
I went a little further and made a form for the weights. I made it as big as possible with clearance for the loader and reasonable ground clearance.
I used some scrap metal for the brackets and bent and welded a piece of rebar to loop through the weight and attach to both brackets.
I also used a piece of 1" copper piping to make a hole through the middle so that I can run a threaded rod through to tighten them together once mounted on the tractor.
I just finished pouring the last one (1 a day) and am keeping them wet for 5 days until the concrete cures.
I'll post some pics next week once they are cured and on the tractor.

 

[sleepgsr]

10 cents a pound came from 5 bags of quickcrete and a stick of rebar.
They will weigh about 100 pounds and I'm making 3 of them.

In the pictures you can see that I oiled the box before filling it with concrete.
To get the block out of the form I still had to unscrew some of the sides to make it looser.
The tube was a pain to get out as well. I ended up using another piece of 1" copper to hammer out the piece in the concrete

The form is made out of a piece for plywood and 2x6 edged. I ripped the once piece in half (.75x6) so that the brackets would not stick out so far.
The sawzall was used to vibrate the box to get bubbles out.

 

[creekbend]

Well done.

 

[Xfaxman]

:thumbsup:

 

[Gary Fowler]

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I would wait a bit longer for the concrete to cure especially in winter. 7 days is minimum we allowed in construction prior to removing the forms and 14 days before loading it (light construction traffic) If you put them to stress, as in tightening bolts, bouncing around on the tractor, you may end up with some broken pieces. Bagged redi-mix is not the strongest concrete even when cured for 28 days.

 

[sleepgsr]

Thanks for the advice.

They are in my basement at room temperature.
As I'm not is a rush, I'll probably just leave them inside for another week.