Rear Ballast Close to or Far out from the tractor??

[ArtMech]

With a quick hitch I recommend something with square sides rather than a barrel. And with a 1025R it does not need to be too big, maximum of 600 lbs should do it. A standard ballast box or a heavy box blade, rear blade, land plane will all work better than a barrel.

A barrel (42 gallons) of concrete weighs about 842 lbs. for the concrete only
A drum (55 gallons) of concrete weighs about 1100 lbs. for the concrete only.
Both are too heavy for a 1025 or 1026R.

Just from my experience.
I don't have many cases to use rear counterweight. These are just when I need to pull another tractor or lorry when stuck. To increase traction of rear wheels, I'm usually scooping in some 750 kg of sand into my 3 pt bucket (empty weight 250 kg) to make its total weight about 1 metric tonne. I have no FEL, empty tractor weight is about 3 tonnes with constant front end ballast. I may fill in 3 barrels (about 200 kg each) with water or load a piece of concrete or whatever else heavy material into the bucket, and this rig works well for me.
I just wanted to say, that I'm using multipurpose tool - 3 pt dump bucket - which meets many requirements, and I avoid to keep an attachment (counterweight) dedicated just for one purpose.

But each of us makes the best decision on his own .

 

[jenkinsph]

Just from my experience.
I don't have many cases to use rear counterweight. These are just when I need to pull another tractor or lorry when stuck. To increase traction of rear wheels, I'm usually scoop in some 750 kg of sand into my 3 pt bucket (empty weight 250 kg) to make its total weight about 1 metric tonne. I have no FEL, empty tractor weight is about 3 tonnes with constant front end ballast. I may fill in 3 barrels (about 200 kg each) with water or load a piece of concrete or whatever else heavy material into the bucket, and this rig works well for me.
I just wanted to say, that I'm using multipurpose tool - 3 pt dump bucket - which meets many requirements, and I avoid to keep an attachment (counterweight) dedicated just for one purpose.

But each of us makes the best decision on his own .

Yes I would much rather have a useful heavy implement on the back than a simple weight. Looking back to my quote I failed to say I agreed with your post. My tractor does not have a fel on it as I do not want it in my way for three point work. The tlb handles those jobs. The 4520 has six 70lb. front weights, six 110lb rear wheel weights and the WWF half full in the rear tires. I am around 6,000 lbs for this tractor and will try it out next week. Just added the fluid to the tires.

 

[ovrszd]

In confined spaces it's hard to use an implement because of it's size. A rear blade for example is horrible ballast. Takes up wayyyyy too much space. A BB is also ineffective unless it's a very heavy duty one.

Someone mentioned earlier using 3pt weight racks. I built one to store my suitcase weights on. Total weight is around 1600lbs. I used it this morning to do a 10 minute task. Picked it up, did the work, set it back in the shed and never got off the tractor.