Homemade Front or Rear Ballast Box

[LD1]

They just looked bigger than that. The beauty of pics

I could have swore they were at least 16 x 16 x 8 or so.

Have you put them on the scales??? I bet there still closer to 50-60 lbs each cause concrete retains a lot of water. Cured concrete i think has like a 40-50% moisture content.

 

[GPintheMitten]

I haven't scaled them yet. Maybe later when my wife leaves for the day so I can take the bathroom scale to the garage. They do feel pretty heavy, especially at the end of a busy day.

Speaking of my wife, when I was in the middle of the project she asked me how I was going to make concrete in the middle of winter in Michigan. Before I could answer she said "And don't even think about doing it in the basement."
I asked her when was the next day she was going to be gone for the day.

But I ended up mixing it in the garage with hot water from the house and had the kerosene heater on.

 

[GPintheMitten]

LD1, you're right. I weighed one on the bathroom scale and it is 44 pounds. So it does retain moisture. And there is a small amount of re-rod in it.

GE222, Regarding steering. I was out today and moved it off my trailer and drove it back to the barn to park it. I put it in 4wd Hi Range. There was a dusting of snow on the drive and yard. It steered very easily with the 4 blocks in (250 pounds total on the front).

This is so much better with the extra weight on the front. It was too light before and I was having trouble getting it to behave and steer where I told it with the heavy 3pt blower on the back. I was kidding my wife about just building a seat up front for her to sit on and then I would also have a 'wench' on the front. But she didn't like that idea much.

Also I used the receiver mount with a trailer hitch on it and moved my boat into the recently completed barn. That trailer hitch will be a handy thing to have.

 

[jas67]

Nice work. Well thought out.

What he said!

 

[Roger270]

That sure is nice work GP.
Everything is clean, and well thought.

Roger270

 

[GPintheMitten]

Thanks again, guys. It was fun. Went through a few changes on paper before I built it. Next project....(after fluid/filter changes that I'm doing now) ......... Front End Loader!

 

[seriousfreedom]

what size of steel did you use?? i need to fab something up for the rear to have ballast for when i use my fel. any suggestions would be helpful

 

[creekbend]

Well done.Innovative. :thumbsup:

 

[DABSGT]

Nice job I was just listening to the weather and snow Saturday and thinking I need weight in the rear of my 855 reading your post I remembered I had some cement blocks I can run the draw bar through lift the hitch and off I can go. Thanks for thr inspiration

 

[pak7819]

I also recently made the discovery of how well ballast can improve the capability of a small utility tractor. I run a FEL on my New Holland TC40DA so am already running weight on the front axle. I needed ballast on the rear so I fabbed a similar concrete 3pt ballast box. I used some 3/4 plywood that had been laying around to frame it, plenty of screws, and some ingenuity to hold my top link mounting and bottom link mounts with steel I grabbed from the scrap pile.

Turned out really nice, I built it to give 1,800 pounds of ballast using just a hair under 1/2 yard of concrete. Only difference is I took my empty form on a trailer to a local concrete plant and got some left over mix at no charge. I had a cap premade for the ride home so it wouldn't slosh around. Re screeted the top as soon as I got home and let it set for a few days. Used it a few times already, and it's a world of difference. I recommend it to anyone with a FEL and some spare time to fab it up.