Is my backhoe ballast enough?

[burnieman]

Hey. I have a 955 with mod 70 FEL and a mod 7 backhoe. The hoe stays on the tractor all of the time. My question is do I need to think about adding Rimsaver for extra ballast or is the backhoe good enough. I do run side hill quite a bit but I go slow and haven't had any problems yet. The hoe weighs about 1000 pounds. Thanks.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Our JD 310B 2WD is heavier and our tires are all dry. On slick gound it is hard to get around but on dry ground I will back up a steep hill well. I have use a hoe bucket full of dirt too.

When try to roll something out with the FEL mainly with one corner of the bucket under the load it will lift the opposite rear tire. Because this creates stresses not designed to occur I try to get off of it when I realize it.

My BH tires seem to have been dry forever. Too much weight makes one get stuck worse in my experience.

 

[Cidertom]

The answer: It depends. If you can pick the max load of your FEL and not have steering/ movement issues then the answer is yes, the BH will do it. If not...

On my 4520 with 400cx, I need loaded tires, backhoe to pick a ton. When I picked the 2700 lb culvert sections, I had to extend the dipper and put lead bricks in the bucket to keep the back end down when I stopped. The owners manual will give you the factory reccomendations. The book value for the 400cx is laoded, wheel weights and a ballast box.

 

[boggen]

filling rear tires gives ballast. but it can help lower the center of gravity of the tractor as well. so less chance of tipping over on its side.

when liquid is in the tires. the actual weight is not transferred to tractor and then to ground, but directly to the ground through the rear wheels themselves.

on a different note: i have from time to time been known to move the backhoe so it is on the upper side of the hill. and extended out. to help deal with ugly hills i have needed to go across.

and i have more times "backed" up a hill than what i prefer todo. part of it is because backhoe when in transport position raises center of gravity place the weight on the rear. and i am afraid on some hills i might flip backwards. so i turn around and go up the hills backwards. with mention above of filling rear tires. again helps lower center of gravity of the tractor.

another thing to think about. is tetter tottering effect. when you load the FEL up with heavy material rock to wet dirt. your rear end will become light weight. if you go down dirt road, or over rock drive way. i end up causing mini speed bumps. the rear end will bounce up and down and act like a large dirt compactor. when i load the backhoe bucket up with dirt, and FEL up with dirt. there is less tetter tottoring effect. and less clean up of the dirt road and rock driveway here on the farm. filling rear tires, is lower down the list of were cash needs to be spent at moment, and reason i have not filled the rear tires on the 555C TLB.

if you have R4 backhoe tires on, they will slip and slide, in mud. not much can be done about that. and if you do get stuck, the FEL and backhoe should be able to have enough reach in a direction to pull the tractor out of a muddy situation. been there done that to many times.