Weight of FEL load

Bilser · Dec 1, 2003

Krusty my trusty Kubata BX1800 FEL is rated to lift just under 500 pounds. Problem is I don't know how much that would be in volume. I have lifted and hauled the bucket stuffed with field stone to overflowing and wonder if I am exceeding the safe capacity. Can anyone tell me how much sand weighs 500 pounds? In other words how many cubic feet of sand weighs 500 pounds. That will give me an idea what is too much. Thanks

Egon · Dec 1, 2003

Sand should be about 3500 pounds per cubic yard +/- 300 or so pounds depending moisture content and sand composition.

Egon

MikePA · Dec 1, 2003

Welcome to TBN, Bilser! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

With most FELs, if you attempt to lift too much the hydraulic relief valve will open. The 'problem' with coming up with a single number for the cubic weight of sand is whether it's dry or if there's water mixed in, is it packed, etc.

Here's a link that lists the weight of various construction materials. According to this site, sand ranges from 90 to 120 pounds per cubic foot.

No matter what you're lifting, always make sure you have enough ballast on the rear of the tractor,

frank_f15 · Dec 1, 2003

in my experience, if u exceed the lift weight of the fel, it just wont lift it,

grandad · Dec 1, 2003

You can get a rough idea from the 50lb bags of sand sold at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. One of those sacks probably fills a 2 1/2 gal pail (I'm guessing, but you could check it out yourself), so 500 lbs would be about 10 of those.

One of the sponsors (Carver's) used to have a page on their web site with the weight/yd. of different materials.

Your seat-of-the-pants sense of whether the back end is getting light is probably more important than the pure hydraulic lift capacity of the FEL. Keep some kind of weight, such as an implement) on the 3pt, keep the bucket low when moving and go slowly over any uneven terrain. Be safe!