Counterweight

[GaryM]

Having a new JD4100 with FEL, and not wanting to pay JD $200 for their metal box, a different solution was needed. I had read several posts about making your own weight and thought that there were excellant ideas.

Here's my version:
A Rubbermaid 22 Gal. storage tub, some 7/8 steel rod and some 3/16 plate. Also 4 eighty pound sacks of Quickcrete. It weighs about 360#. Heavier would be better, I think, but I couldn't find a bigger tub to use as a mold.

I love the tractor even though I only have 12 hours on it.

 

[Golfgar4]

That's a nice job! What did it cost in the end? Did you have any problem getting the tub off the concrete, or did you have it coated with something before you filled it?

 

[JonLeonard]

Excellent solution. To my newbie way of thinking anyway /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Alot cheaper than building a wooden box as a form too.

Jon

 

[Inspector507]

Jon,
But the box could be built to whatever size you wanted

 

[GaryM]

Yes, the box could be bigger, or I could have hunted for a larger tub. Lowe's had a spot on the shelf for a 31 Gal. tub, but none were in sight. I figured 360# would be good for now. I wonder how much concrete the JD ballest box holds. I only spent$3.47 for the tub. No release agent was needed. Just slit the plastic with a utility knife and peel it off.

I should have made the top link attaching point higher. If I raise the 3P too high I can bend the top link. I know that's the case because I did it already! Now has a nice curve in the middle.

 

[beenthere]

Does that mean you now have to add the cost of the top link to the total cost? At least you have a dedicated top link for your ballast weight now.

 

[rf33]

Was the small notch in the concrete at the front of the counterweight in the design specs, or is that a result of the reshaping of the top link? I think that with an angle grinder or an abrasive saw blade, you could probably get rid of that "feature". Just not raising the thing up all the way would probably be OK, but if you are anything like me, you will probably forget sometime again, and then you might just have two dedicated counterweight top links.../w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

 

[mbsil]

Re: The notch in the front...

Before putting the cement in the tub, screw a small piece of wood block to the inside of the tub in front of the top link.

When the cement is dried and the plastic tub removed, you will have a nice notch in the cement where the block was.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

If the rod and top bracket is located closer to one side, rather than in the middle of the concrete block, then a notch is not needed for top link clearance.

http://www.mgsweb.com/tractor/hacker/trweight.htm

Andy.

 

[Ozarker]

Looks like about 12" from the top attaching point to the front edge of the weight. Just weld two new straps to the old ones and position the attaching point at the front edge of the weight.

If I can figure out how to post it, I did a modification of your picture to show what I mean.

 

[Mark_in_NH]

I paid $167 for the JD green ballast box. My figuring was that by the time I drove around and gathered up the necessary parts, bought the parts, invested the labor to put it all together, after all Time is $$$$$$$. I was better off buying the factory box.
I know the factory box will hold up to 1250 lbs. of lead weight and still leave plenty of room for chains, tools etc.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Darn, I wish I could do that, with the camera--puter.

As for weights, a good scrap yard is not a bad place to start.

A bud has a Honda lawn mower and power center. I've repaired and replaced the entrance to his place I'm not sure how many times. It seems the only thing thieves have more than stupidity is audacity. He got hit three times in as many months where they'd back through the gate and then grab everything handy and haul.

The last time I put in a new gate and then I built a barrier in front of it. It's very similar to those at the RR crossings. But it is not made to breakaway if you hit it.

The barrier is three and half inch schedule forty pipe with eighteen feet on one side of the fulcrum and two feet on the other. An average man has to work to lift it up. If an unaverage man got it almost up and collapsed it would hurt something fierce.

So I went to my favorite junk yard and picked out this piece about twelve inches around and eight inches thick. It was two hundred and fifty pounds. The barrier is now a one hand up and down for even an unaverage man.

My cost for that piece was twenty five cents a pound, sixty two fifty?

My anvil stand is a piece of steel approximately sixteen inches by eighteen inches by ten inches. A geek bud with a tape and a calculator figured it out to nine hundred and thirty seven pounds. My bud at the scrap yard charged me two hundred dollars for it. I'd picked it out and they had to get the excavator with the magnet into pick it up. Neither one of us could guess what the weight was so we agreed twenty five cents a pound or two hundred dollars which ever was max.

If you're digging post holes in clay there's this time when it's perfectly wrong. What happens is when you get down about eighteen inches to two feet the clay wants to stick to itself and it gums up something fierce.

The secret is to water the hole. A half a gallon occasionally will be oiling a sticking hinge. More and it gets sloppy. Also one of the secrets to success with digging post holes is what the professionals call "crowd". Crowd is down pressure.

So when I have a bunch of post holes to dig in clay I strap a hundred gallon propylene tank full of water on the top of my JCB165HF. It adds about eight hundred pounds to the tractor and I drop down a short hose so when it starts gumming up and I can "oil" it.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/wroughtnharv/lst?.dir=/Iris&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/>Iris, my tractor</A>

 

[GaryM]

My neighbor brought back the now straight top link. I need to apply a little paint and it will be like new.

The notch in the front was added by the top link. As mentioned, I should have made the attach point higher or moved it forward. Maybe next time.

BTW, I used Unibits to make the 3/4 and 7/8 holes in the 3/16 steel. They do a nice job. If you don't know about Unibits, check here; http://www.unibitstepdrill.com/pi/toolsrch.asp

 

[Freds]

I'm in the process of making one of these Rubbermaid/concrete counterweights. I was moving around the flatbar that will be attaching to the top link to see where I like it and started to wonder, don't you still need one of those swivel pcs. ("U" shaped flatbar) that come with brush hogs, RFMs... that the toplink pin passes through? Even if you move the flatbar forward so the toplink is out of the way when you lift the counterweight, doesn't something still have to "give" to allow for the difference in distance between the two attachment points of the toplink as the weight is raised?

Or is this a given and it just isn't shown?

Fred

 

[chim]

It'll just rotate a teensy bit on the way up and down. The U-thing allows an implement to float........chim

 

[MrP]

I'm working on one too. However, I would like to make one about 800lbs or so. Any suggestions for a contianer that would work?

 

[GaryM]

As I mentioned in the OP, there are a variety of Rubbermaid containers available. They make one that looks kind of like a footlocker that's about 50 gal. size. It would probably weigh in at 600-650 lbs. or so. but you'd need a much stronger carrier than a piece of 7/8 rod through the middle. Perhaps you wouldn't if you managed to get the arms located close to the concrete. I really should shorten the rod and drill new holes for the retaining pins.

If you are going to have to make a more complecated mounting system, a rubbermaid container might be hard to use because of the possible odd shaped penetrations through the sides. All I had to do was drill two 7/8 holes and slide the rod through.

And yes, it does tilt a little as it raises. That's not an issue unless you try to detach it at a different level than you attached it at. In that case it puts a load on the top link.

The reason a mower has the swinging link is so it can give as the angle between it and the tractor can change as you travel on uneven ground. Otherwise the rear of the mower could lift as you crested a hill, or jam when you went down in a low spot and the front of the tractor started up the other side.

 

[knucklehead]

MrP with the icons:

Looks like you got that bucket on, now that you need a counterweight. We'd like a couple pictures, when you get time. My Father had an old L285 before he got his 3010, and he used a 55 gal drum cut down about 2/3 height, with a piece of channel iron stuffed through the bottom with a rod welded under that for the pins. I was also thinking you could use one of those poly barrels. I don't have any sacks of concrete lying around right now, so someone else will have to figure weight/volume.

 

[Freds]

I'll be storing the counterweight on uneven dirt. I suppose I could always add one of those swivel links later if disconnecting it becomes too much of a pain because I don't back up to the exact spot I connected it and the weight lowers to a different angle. I can see now that not having the swivel link would only cause the weight to rotate on the lower pins.

Thanks,
Fred

 

[MrP]

Knuck,

I am working on the pics. I have just been swamped at work and have only had time to use the loader for about 2 hours since I got it.

I need to pick up some batteries for my digital camera (it's plumb dead).