Wheel weights

[Delaware Devil]

Easygo,
I love the weight set up you have. Can you give a little info on them? I'm interested in how you attach them to your wheel. I use a similar set up on the rear 3 point arms. I use an old bar that I had the ends shaved down on and ad weights to it. Not bad when I'm using front attachments only. Trouble is when I want to use the back blade and need a little extra traction. Thanks for posting.
DE Devil

 

[easygo]

Crazyal, What if you made "slices of concrete? Just put some plastic tubes in that will serve as bolt holes and then the bolts can hold the "slices together. Fasten the first slice to the wheel and the rest to each other. When casting the concrete just simply lay a sheet of plastic after every 80-100 lbs of concrete. Regardless ho the plastic lays they will fit together perfectly and will be easy to separate along the plastic dividers. Reinforce each slice with some steel mesh and bits of barbed wire and what-have-ya. Just an idea.

DE Devil, I will take more pictures tomorrow. That will be better then any explanation I can come up with.

 

[Don87]

Anyone ever think about making wheel weights out of sheet metal and cement? I was thinking that if I made two circles out of 1/8" plate. By drilling holes that are the same as the wheel where the weights bolt on simple threaded rod could be used to bolt the 1/8" plate to the wheel and it could extend into the area to be filled with cement to reinforce the cement. I could cut up an old 55 gallon drum to make the outside of the form.

To fit my wheels with some clearance around the outside the weight would need to be 10" thick, half would be a diameter of 20" while the other half would be 14". If I leave an 8" hole in the center I can get to the lug nuts.

If I remember correctly an 80 lb bag of cement is .6 cubit feet. If I've done my math right each weight would be 3.34 cubit feet and when filled would weigh approx 400+ lbs.

Well, do my numbers add up?

This is not a great image but it's close. The blue lines would be the threaded rod. The lightest orange would be the 55 gallon drum shrunk down to 20" and 14". The medium orange would be the the 1/8" plate while the dark orange would be the inner 8" hole to access the lug nuts.

You can do it, but as said earlier you need 'stud grade' threaded rod, which is going to add to the cost(cement hanging that far out will need major support).

I filled my tires with Rimguard. It's expensive, but well worth the price.

Ya don't need tubes(as it's non-corrosive), if ya get a small hole(as in a nail or thorn) the tire can be plugged on the tractor. But the best feature I've seen, is that with small punctures..........the rimguard will ooze out slightly, the hardens up(which happens quickly), and seals the leak by itself.

 

[easygo]

Here is the picture of the wheel weight holder I came up with. The piece of flat plate with the holes is 1/4" a well as the pipe you see the studs in. The rod in the center is 1". The rod goes through the plate in the center and is braced in the back with more 1/4" plate. I wanted to make "room" behind the plate to clear the other wheel bolts and also to make room in the back of the plate to brace the 1" rod. I will have to come up with a better way to secure the weights onto the rod as the clamp is from the weight set that I bought at a yard sale and I'm worried it might get loose some day. Hope this helps. When I take the thing off the wheel during my next hydraulic filter change I will take more pictures.

 

[Car Doc]

My 2c on wheel weights since thats the ballast I decided on rather than fluid...I used 350# harmonic balancer's from oil field nat gas compressor engines and thats not even my point just a reference to the amount of weight I used. (the rear 1/2 of mine is maybe 1200-1500 lbs as a guess w/o the weights)

And here it is right or wrong you guys tell me- the weight of the tractor is putting leverage on the axle bearings and side gear journals and the wheel center constantly right?

Well then by putting extra weight outside the bolt circle should theoretically take away some of that leverage and balance it somewhat and theoretically ease the load on all that yes/no/maybe? My theory on fluid is it causes uneven torque on the wheel center and axles fwtw.

Just throwing that out to the mechanical minds here as food for thought.

 

[Car Doc]

Here is the picture of the wheel weight holder I came up with. The piece of flat plate with the holes is 1/4" a well as the pipe you see the studs in. The rod in the center is 1". The rod goes through the plate in the center and is braced in the back with more 1/4" plate. I wanted to make "room" behind the plate to clear the other wheel bolts and also to make room in the back of the plate to brace the 1" rod. I will have to come up with a better way to secure the weights onto the rod as the clamp is from the weight set that I bought at a yard sale and I'm worried it might get loose some day. Hope this helps. When I take the thing off the wheel during my next hydraulic filter change I will take more pictures.

Very nice job!

I wasn't able to find the plates used otherwise I was thinking along those lines myself.

Wonder if by drilling a hole part way in the shaft where your end clamp bolt goes you would feel better about them staying put or a bolt clear through with a nut or cotter key?

 

[pat32rf]

I have solid center (non-adjustable rims) and was thinking of coating them with a release agent (grease) then adding a tube in the center to give access to the wheel bolts and pouring it full of concrete. Maybe even pouring in 3 layers with plastic between....Just hate to have to tie up the tractor for a couple of days to do it.

 

[easygo]

Very nice job!

I wasn't able to find the plates used otherwise I was thinking along those lines myself.

Wonder if by drilling a hole part way in the shaft where your end clamp bolt goes you would feel better about them staying put or a bolt clear through with a nut or cotter key?

You could buy the plate at a local steel place. If I remember right they were 11"x11"x1/4" and I cut the corners off with the angle grinder and a cutoff blade. The holes were cut with a hole saw in the drill and the pipe I used was 1 1/2" ID 1/4" wall mechanic's pipe. I should have used 2" ID so the socket would fit in there easy instead of barely.

I have thought of trying to drill the hole in the shaft you mentioned. Either part way or all the way through and use a pin. Will do that as soon as I run into some problems with current (lazy) setup.

edit: I forgot to add that if I had filled tires that would be 230lbs of juice per tire. Now I only have 115lbs of weights per side and if I had custom cut steel It could probably reach about 200lbs.

 

[crazyal]

I like your set up eazygo. I'm looking for about 400 lbs per wheel so I'm not sure if lifting weights will be enough to get me there. But I might be able to use it as a starting point.

 

[Car Doc]

Al, here is what I did its close to the weight you want the weights are used harmonic balancers from natural gas compressor engines.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/yanmar/195653-new-use-old-parts.html