Soon rear ballast blade was finished and it was attached to tractor first time.
I welded in a receiver tube in the middle of the blade to fasten factory trailer hitch that was normally placed under the rear axle. It is removable and length can be adjusted.
This way I can use same hitch with or without the blade or use some other device in the receiver.
Now everybody wants to know the weight of the blade...?
Before the fabrication I did a rough math and had an idea of what the number would be...about.... When the blade was completed and tested I took it to my friends grain elevator where they have a certified truck scale. Lifted it on the scale and there was 730 kg or 1609 lbs which is bit more than I expected but super OK for me. With trailer hitch and some small add-ons it will be 750 kg thats half the lifting capacity if the 3pt. Seems perfect to me!
There is 720 kg on the photo but the digits were pending between 720 and 740 as one step of the scale is 20 kg, so 730 is about the right.
Next day I took it to sandblasting and after that some epoxy-primer and industrial paint was put on.
I used front loader without any rear ballast for lifting the blade on and off my trailer, attached straight to quick-attach frame and must say that 1600 lbs is absolute max the tractor can handle without lifting rear wheels. I had to lock in the front axle, in rwd it was only spinning the rears.
Color is about matching the Branson undercarriage, front bucket and wheels.
I made some extra fastening system to the rear side of the blade so I can bolt different bars, hooks, chain-holders, toolbox, shovel or rake holders etc to the blade.
Pretty happy with the end result. Tractor feels super safe and solid with that ballast, I can use maximum lifting power of the front loader without hesitation and I have never used 4wd when the blade was attached.
I also had a chance to test the max lifting power of the loader when I had to load a pallet of welded stuff on the trailer. I had the weight of each item on the pallet, did the math and got 1100 kg or 2425 lbs + two pallets+ pallet forks 140 kg or 300 lbs = about 1280 kg or 2820 lbs.
The load was evenly placed on the pallets, mass center 600 mm (2 ft) off the pivot point. It could lift it about 4 feet off the ground which was enough to place it on the trailer.
I dont plan to abuse the loader to often with that kind of loads but it was nice to know what it is capable of. Must say it really exceeded my expectations.
I welded in a receiver tube in the middle of the blade to fasten factory trailer hitch that was normally placed under the rear axle. It is removable and length can be adjusted.
This way I can use same hitch with or without the blade or use some other device in the receiver.
Now everybody wants to know the weight of the blade...?
Before the fabrication I did a rough math and had an idea of what the number would be...about.... When the blade was completed and tested I took it to my friends grain elevator where they have a certified truck scale. Lifted it on the scale and there was 730 kg or 1609 lbs which is bit more than I expected but super OK for me. With trailer hitch and some small add-ons it will be 750 kg thats half the lifting capacity if the 3pt. Seems perfect to me!
There is 720 kg on the photo but the digits were pending between 720 and 740 as one step of the scale is 20 kg, so 730 is about the right.
Next day I took it to sandblasting and after that some epoxy-primer and industrial paint was put on.
I used front loader without any rear ballast for lifting the blade on and off my trailer, attached straight to quick-attach frame and must say that 1600 lbs is absolute max the tractor can handle without lifting rear wheels. I had to lock in the front axle, in rwd it was only spinning the rears.
Color is about matching the Branson undercarriage, front bucket and wheels.
I made some extra fastening system to the rear side of the blade so I can bolt different bars, hooks, chain-holders, toolbox, shovel or rake holders etc to the blade.
Pretty happy with the end result. Tractor feels super safe and solid with that ballast, I can use maximum lifting power of the front loader without hesitation and I have never used 4wd when the blade was attached.
I also had a chance to test the max lifting power of the loader when I had to load a pallet of welded stuff on the trailer. I had the weight of each item on the pallet, did the math and got 1100 kg or 2425 lbs + two pallets+ pallet forks 140 kg or 300 lbs = about 1280 kg or 2820 lbs.
The load was evenly placed on the pallets, mass center 600 mm (2 ft) off the pivot point. It could lift it about 4 feet off the ground which was enough to place it on the trailer.
I dont plan to abuse the loader to often with that kind of loads but it was nice to know what it is capable of. Must say it really exceeded my expectations.
