The Real Problem With the Titan Ballast Box

[Suburban Plowboy]

I got my Titan ballast box painted and attached. I had 700 pounds of sand waiting. The ads say it has an 800-pound capacity, and they say you can fill it with rocks or sand.

Guess how much sand it holds?

I have 350 pounds in the box right now, and it's nearly full. I believe it would hold 375. Add 375 to the weight of the box, and what do you get? Answer: 505 pounds. That's not 800 plus 130. It's not even 800.

Based on figures from a person who knows a lot about sand and concrete, at best, concrete would weigh 1.5 times as much, so I could conceivably get 560 pounds in there. That brings the total weight up to 690. That's a best-case scenario. It could be a lot less.

In order to equal the manufacturer's stated capacity, I would have to use metal. I could combine metal and other materials in order to avoid buying hundreds of dollars' worth of steel, but there is no way to do it without metal, if the figures quoted to me are right.

Gravel would presumably be the worst thing to use, because it would contain a lot of air.

I kind of think the ad should say something like, "Capacity (sand): 375 pounds." It never occurred to me to take the capacity of the box, look up the density of sand, and see if it would fit.

Still better than dragging a bush hog around everywhere.

 

[Einthewoods]

If it is the one I am seeing it has 5.3 cu ft of space in it. If a cu ft of concrete weighs 150 lbs., that would get you pretty close to the 800 number (795). So, I would go with concrete if you want to get to that weight.

 

[treedawg]

Might consider adding water to the sand.

Wet sand is a whole lot heavier than dry sand.

td

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I am suspicious of the volume claim. The lightest figure I have for sand is 100 pounds per cubic foot, so 530 pounds for the box. I didn't get anything close to that.

 

[Einthewoods]

I am suspicious of the volume claim. The lightest figure I have for sand is 100 pounds per cubic foot, so 530 pounds for the box. I didn't get anything close to that.

It's a bummer for sure, sorry it isn't working out for you. Any sizeable rocks around your place you could add in? I assume they are heavier than sand?

I know a few people with lead in their arse I would be happy to have you haul around on your 3 pt. LOL :laughing:

 

[oosik]

The dimensions stated for the red box actually come out to a little more than 5.6 cu ft. You could get approximately 840 pound of concrete in the box plus whatever the box weighs. However - I would not want to put concrete in the box.

Whoever wrote up the ad for that box did not understand the vast difference - volume wise - between 800 pounds of concrete or sand or gravel.

 

[dadster4]

Somebody did not know how to do volume to weight calculations. Maybe didn't even know how to calculate volume.

Not very nice :thumbdown:

 

[ruffdog]

The box is 24"x 24"x 15.7"= 2 x 2 x 1.308= 5.23cuft

concrete=150lbs/cuft x 5.23 = 785lbs
sand=120lbs/cuft x 5.23 = 628lbs

empty it weighs 132lbs

All info is subject to old guy calculations and internet info.....

 

[oosik]

Your calculations are correct - ruff dog. Unfortunately - those are not the dimensions listed in the ad for the red ballast box.

25.5" x 24.25" x 15.75" =9740 cu in. There are 1728 cu in per cu ft. 9740/1728 = 5.637 cu ft

 

[ruffdog]

I was going on the dimensions Amazon had for the green Titan box. I wonder what the dims of the OP's box??? Just a mistake? I know i'm having way more brain farts the older I get...I figure it is a good day when my feet are flat on the ground! :dance1: