Ballast box

Are you using a FEL or just for traction? I just have filled tired and wheel weights,, and never have a problem

I know a couple folks that made rear weights out of a 50 gallon drum, an old draw bar and a couple pieces of angle iron. They tide the piece of angle iron to the draw bar to attach the top link, and then mounted the draw bar inside the drum with the posts sticking out the sides. They dropped the set up off at the local concrete plant and had it filled with concrete when a concrete truck came back with extra they had to dump. Concrete plant gave them a deal since the stuff was gonna be wasted.

Well the beet juice is around 12 pounds a gallon so those rear tires should weigh in the neighbor hood of 80 pounds a piece so say 160 pounds plus you on the seat figure almost 400 pounds, ad if you look around for a set of wheel weights you could add another 160 pounds to that, so that like almost 500 there,, and if you have the weight box on every time you want to put the BH on you have to take it off store it some place out of the way,, Just MHO but with what you have I would look to the wheel weights,, and if your lifting the assend off the ground with the FEL, I think your pushing it harder than it was designed to do. And one other thing, and this came as a real pucker your sphincter ,, carry every thing in the buck LOW but Im sure you already know that

That dealer must live in100% flatland. There's no way I'd use an fel without a ballast box , even with tire weights. One rollover was enough for me.

I have approx 350lb in each rear tire = approx 700lb total. For my usage, this has proven to be inadequate. I have been attaching an impliment to the 3pt for extra weight. Then made a counter weight out of an old cast iron boiler filled with 200 lb of concrete for a total of approx 850lb. This does a good job anchoring the tractor to the ground and improves traction.

Get the ballast box, or build one, or leave the hoe on.

Loaded tires & wheel weights do nothing to 'Counter' the FEL!

With FEL & nothing on the 3 pt hitch, these small tractors have very little traction at the rear!!!

Wrencher2423 said:

Very true the tractor just spins with out the hoe on. The tires loaded make 0 difference. I like leaving hoe off cause it makes it more moveable in the garage and shed. Talking implements off and on doesn't really bother me that much. I have watched wildfires video and like the idea, plus in the thinking stages of getting a blade for the bucket and know it will not push snow without weight in back end.

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Yep and beside the no traction at the rear, using FEL with no counter weight
will kill the front axle components over time.

Bluegill said:

Get the ballast box, or build one, or leave the hoe on.

Loaded tires & wheel weights do nothing to 'Counter' the FEL!

With FEL & nothing on the 3 pt hitch, these small tractors have very little traction at the rear!!!

Click to expand...

Exactly, I agree 100%. You must get weight BEHIND the rear axle to unload the front one. Think of a see-saw at the playground, you want the pivot or "fulcrum" to be the rear, not the front.

Here's mine on my L175.
6 80lb. Concrete blocks.



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Kennyd4110 said:

Exactly, I agree 100%. You must get weight BEHIND the rear axle to unload the front one. Think of a see-saw at the playground, you want the pivot or "fulcrum" to be the rear, not the front.

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Nail on the head!

Wrencher2423 said:

Well I ordered it yesterday so we will see it in a week or so I get some pics when it comes in.

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You will notice a huge positive when using the FEL.

You guys who argue about where to put the weight should remember where your fulcrum is. The farther away from that fulcrum you are, your lever arm becomes longer. Let's say you have so much weight in your bucket or you lift a planted tree that is stuck in the ground. With sufficient lift capability, what happens? The rear end tires lift off the ground. Where is that fulcrum? the front axle!!!

So the more weight you have and the farther back it is fulcrum (that front axle), the better is the resisting moment (hey for a definition of moment, look it up under engineering) you have, generally measured in foot-pounds.

Thus, any weight, whether in tires, a belly mower, fat driver,etc. will help in resisting that bucket lift tendency to lift the rear tires off the ground.

In Summary: one of the most efficient ways is with that rear ballast, but you can't say fluid in tire or a fat driver or a full fuel tank won't help. They all contribute.

Put enough weight in the tires and that would do it, but less efficiently than the rear box.

Tire ballast does help keep the rear on the ground, but

We do not want the front axle to be the fulcrum!

Unfortunately the front axle is where it must be when figuring moments. If you have not had the luxury of lifting too much in the bucket and have had the rear end lift up while on a side hill, then you will know the fright that develops. pivoting on that front axle.. The tractor then pivots around down hill. Try it some time and that rear axle statement will change in a hurry.

On the other hand, yes the rear axle is only the fulcrum if you load so much in the rear box that the front axle comes off the ground, then yes you also have the problem, but I surely doubt that that has ever happened to any one with such a ballast box.

While you are adding up the contributions to the resisting moment around the front axle, I didn't list all those other things that contribute, each according to its weight and distance from the front axle, all measured in foot ponds. They are, in part, the transmission, the engine, the hood, even the arms of the bucket behind the axle.

Those that run loaders without a ballast box or other rear weight, but with or without fluid in tires get by, but any extra farther back weight of course gives more ability to do some heavy work with the bucket. I don't have a ballast box, but a heavy blade back there does pretty good for me. On one tractor, I have done very heavy bucket work with rear tire fluid plus about 500 pounds of steel hanging inside each rear wheel rim. No rear blade or ballast. Great rear traction also. Tractor was blue 28 HP.

In summary, You want your resisting foot-pounds moment to be much larger than the bucket and its load moment of foot-pounds. How you get it is up to you, but measure from the proper place, not the rear axle.

Sorry about that "moment" word, but being an old civil engineer, I can't help but use proper terms and proper static analysis.

Unfortunately with FEL work the front axle is often the fulcrum, but that is far
from ideal. Its always best to have the rear axle be the fulcrum, have more
weight on the rear than on the front axle and that means substantial ballast on the
3 pt hitch.