B2650 Ballast Box(Overkill!)

Well after checking out what various poster/ fabricators have come up with for ballast boxes I came up with something that I'm pretty happy with. Of course it's sheer overkill but it looks like it'll work well. I used 3/16" plate that I had sheared at a local trailer fab shop. It's 26" wide, 20" tall, and 16" deep. An online concrete calculator I found said if I added 8-60# bags of concrete I'd have right at 500 lbs. I'm figuring the steel weighs about 80-100 lbs so I think it's pretty good. My dealer had discouraged me from tire weight so this is all I plan to use and so far I'm very happy. I added some wheels so it moves easily on the garage floor or driveway and is a snap to hook up. I tilted the box as I filled it with concrete so once it had cured the top surface slopes from rear to front. Then I drilled a couple of weep holes in the side facing the tractor. That way water won't collect on top of the concrete and will drain out the side you don't see. 16" of concrete left me with a shallow shelf where I can carry log chains, spare chains for my saw, and other sundries. The two rod holders, also have weep holes at the bottom. A 2" receiver and some chain links welded here and there to attach bungees and a lid that gives me a table to change saw chains etc round out the project. Oh, and lots of primer and paint! Time to put it to work! George

Wow! You folks are great ! Thanks for the help! George