I used to easily lift my rear tires off the ground, even with a heavy counterweight. Then I got my rears filled with 1100lbs of
ballast, and with no counterweight I can still lift my rears off the ground, however, with a 1400lb implement on the back, in combination with 1100lbs of ballast, I can use the full capability of my loader now-all without worrying about the rears coming up. It's important that the needed lift capacity of the job at hand is properly matched to the ballast on the back, or rather, vice versa.
LD, I don't remember if you mentioned it or not, but are your rears filled with ballast? I would take a guess that they are not, but of course I could be wrong. It's not surprising that the rears can come off the ground with 1,100lbs of rear implement on the back, and no ballast in the tires. However if your rears are filled with close to 1k lbs of fluid AND you have the brush hog on the back, and your still lifting the rears off the ground, then I'm going to agree with you and say that your loader is very well matched (if not a little large) for your tractor.
