Hiya Ryan, how goes it? OK, here's my take on it. The upsides to ballast are obvious, so have as much as possible while weighing the downsides. The downsides: the heavier the tractor: 1) the more ground damage it does, 2) the more time and money you need to add weights, attachments, etc. 3) the harder it is for the engine to move it around (traction goes up of course). Please don't take this as anti-ballast, it's not. It's just a look at all sides of the issue. For example, I didn't fill my tires because I need to be as light as possible, but I can get heavy if I want to because I have front and rear grapples.
Then take into account that everyone's situation can be different, so there there are universal guidelines but no universal rules. Time and time again you will hear of dealers who will not sell a tractor with a loader unless the tires are filled. A friend of mine practically called me an idiot for not filling my tires because "the farmer next door says you're a fool if you don't". I have grapples on the front and back of my tractor, and operate in a "target rich" environment where I can almost always grab something with the rear grapple to balance any size load in the front grapple. It all depends, but it's not rocket science - only physics. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
That is not a slam on physicists of course, just pointing out that if you sit down and think really hard about what makes sense to you, for the tractor that you own, for how and where you operate it, under what conditions, for what attachments you have, and what you do with them, with everything that has been said in this thread alone, I would think that anyone can figure out what makes sense for him.
One last thought: I was carrying some pretty big logs out of a back yard tonight with my front grapple, in the dark, traversing a snowy slope that pitched toward a ravine, while trying to avoid the house, while also having to lift the loader up about five feet on each trip to keep from flattening this stupid little bush. I had it in 4wd of course, with a big log in the rear grapple for counter-weight, and my turfs were doing a darn good job even without the chains on. (We're getting 10" tonight, so I guess they'll go on tomorrow).
And no, I didn't wipe out. Everything went fine, loaded about 10 nice big hemlock logs onto the crane/log truck. The point of my story is that I was thinking about this thread as I went through varying degrees of tipping over as I went about my business. I start to tip over every day that I use my tractor, it's part of using a tractor. You're almost always going to start to tip over at some point, no matter how much ballast you have. It struck me that one of the big keys is just to be as aware as possible of what is going on with your tractor. And don't fear tipping over, just learn how to avoid it. I haven't tipped over yet in 570 hours of sometimes hairy operation on all different types of terrain and ground conditions, but I have probably started to tip over more than a thousand times. Using a loader on a tractor and starting to tip is a lot like walking - with each step, you're basically just falling until your foot hits the ground.
You just have to develop a feel for your tractor, become a part of it, feel its every movement in the seat of your pants, and don't be afraid of it, just respect and understand the forces at work. When you know your tractor really well, the experience of starting to tip will become second nature, to the point where it will probably take some good old-fashioned bad luck or something truly unforeseeable to make you go over. Of course, I could fall prey to good old-fashioned stupidity or absent-mindedness any day now too, there's always that.
And be especially cautious when you're in a very vulnerable position, like when I have my loader at its maximum height as I'm loading a 2,000 lb. log onto my log truck. Little room for errors, so don't make any. Be sure of your footing, watch out for holes, rocks, obstacles, slope and terrain. And get ready to drop the loader FAST. Have an "escape route" planned out. Pay attention, feel the movements that your inner ear are detecting and sending to your brain. BE the tractor, as Chevy Chase would say.
Because I climb trees (my record height is 110 feet in a BIG white pine) people often ask me, "Aren't you afraid of heights?". I tell them "No, I'm not really "afraid" of heights - but I am concerned about them". I'll close (do i detect loud cheering? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif) with this: don't be afraid of using your loader, but be very, very concerned about it.
