Cheap Wheel Weights

[jimmysisson]

Concrete weighs about 130 lbs per cubic foot give or take. One thing I'd be careful about is having a way to remove the concrete weight without breaking it or your leg. Maybe some kind of ring cast in you can hook a come-along onto. Also figure a way so that when the weights shifts a little on its bolts it doesn't grind the paint then steel off your wheels. I like the loaded tires myself, but I'm not mowing lawns either. Please post pics of your finished product.
Jim

 

[chanceu]

I originally picked up four 50lb weight plates at a local used sporting equipment store (Play It Again Sports). The plates ended up being too big to go inside the wheel and too small to hit the outer rim. I exchanged them for 25lb plates which fit nicely inside the wheel, against the lug bolts and are just larger than the weight bolt holes.

I am planning on adding up to 100lb max to each wheel and four 25lb plates will fit just inside the plane of the outer rim of the wheel. Four plates on each wheel should give me a lot of flexibility with the amount of wheel weight depending on what's on the back.

The first problem with this is that I was only able to get two 25lb plates and am at the mercy of what other people sell to the store to get the remaining MATCHING six.

The second problem was figuring out how to mark where the holes needed to be drilled. I finally took the wheel off and centered (eyeballed) the weight plate on the back wheel to get this done. I just did this last night, so it will probably be this weekend before I finish.

There are so many different brands, weights, sizes, and shapes of these plates, it's pretty easy to find something that will work. The used plates, no matter what size, were $0.34/lb. I figure by the time I'm I collect all eight plates plus the nuts/bolts/washers, I will spend $0.40+/- per pound versus $1.00+ per pound for factory weights.

 

[goaliedad]

I've used bar bell weights to help hold down a cheap back blade- I have a paved driveway, front mount snowblower and back blade, but the back blade is pretty light- I picked up about 100 lbs of bar bell weights from a thrift store- mounted a bar across the frame, and now the blade has some bite!