Just purchased an LX2620, land pride 50” rotary cutter and 0660 Grapple. Only used it about 6 hours but love it….pushed over some good sized cedars and picked them up with ease…..I figured the cutter would be good rear ballast…..it is but really hard to swing when in close quarters. Was wondering what kind of DIY ballast, if any, ya’ll use……shoulda got the box blade…..but hind sight…..any ideas would be appreciated!
Need advice on rear ballast
- Thread starter Echo154
- Start date
Elliott in GA
Well-known member
Equipment
LX 2610SU w/535,LP RCR1860,FDR1660,SGC0554,FSP500, DD BBX60005
You could buy or make something like this:
You could add whatever for ballast, and use it to move/carry stuff.
I have an LX2610 with filled rear tires, and my box blade is all I have ever needed for grapple and loader work (leveled several sites in hard clay with lots of rocks, moved/spread over 100 tons of crusher gravel and etc.)
You could add whatever for ballast, and use it to move/carry stuff.
I have an LX2610 with filled rear tires, and my box blade is all I have ever needed for grapple and loader work (leveled several sites in hard clay with lots of rocks, moved/spread over 100 tons of crusher gravel and etc.)
Elliot's got the near perfect solution !
Just grab a couple of skids, add boxes to them, fill one full ( heavy) the other not so much(light).
It's EASY to install the carryall, THEN chose light or heavy, based upon the task, back up, slide the skid on and go do the job. when done, remove the ballast skid, then the carryall.
if you're moving HEAVY things, like full bucket of gravel, use the heavy skid, just mulch, use th elight skid. It'll save the lawn ,fuel and wear and tear on the tractor.
Just grab a couple of skids, add boxes to them, fill one full ( heavy) the other not so much(light).
It's EASY to install the carryall, THEN chose light or heavy, based upon the task, back up, slide the skid on and go do the job. when done, remove the ballast skid, then the carryall.
if you're moving HEAVY things, like full bucket of gravel, use the heavy skid, just mulch, use th elight skid. It'll save the lawn ,fuel and wear and tear on the tractor.
You can find a decent ballast box on Amazon for under $200 delivered (if you have Prime). I filled mine with sandbags.
My concern on the Amazon boxes…not sure if they’ll work on a Q15 quick hitch. Anybody have one of them on a land pride quick hitch……if so what brand? Thank for all the replies!
I built my own! 
Your tractor is a tad bigger and stronger than mine, so ... I'd recommend a little more weight ...
I designed mine to be compact and close to the rear of my tractor axle, concrete weighs roughly 145 Lbs per cubic foot. I wanted my quick hitch to be recessed into it, which also allows for some weight to be carried outside of it, but still narrower than the tires.
I bought a sheet of 1/2" plywood, 6 - 80 Lbs bags of concrete, and a quart of paint, (and used other stuff I had) cost me less than $100 2 years ago ...
I built a frame out of the plywood and some ripped down 2X4's, added in a couple tie downs, a couple of pipes ... I used a piece of 1/2" black iron pipe that I hammered a piece of 1/2" rebar through for lower pins, and welded some stuff to make the top "pin" ... Added a 2" receiver hitch ...
I collected some rocks from my property to "stretch" the concrete ...
I had a bunch of old nails I had pulled out of a bunch of old decking previous owner had left in a pile, before burning the wood, plus some scrap bolts and metal bits ...
The plan was once the concrete was set, to remove the two spacers with the purple "X", and the red circles are little pieces to screw the sides to. Blue masking tape was to just hold it in place until concrete was poured, they yellow tie down was left behind in my semi-trailer, they have a metal "E-Track" fitting on the other end, the screw not only holds it out away from the wood wall/form, but aids in it not getting pulled out.
Started filling with concrete, rocks and metal bits ...
The sides and back are higher to have small walls, so I can carry small stuff on it ...
I was mixing the concrete with a paddle mixer in my drill, and added the nails, that didn't work very good, I do not recommend! Should have just dumped them in the box!
Had some free rocks left over!
Let it cure a couple of days, and added paint!
Your tractor is a tad bigger and stronger than mine, so ... I'd recommend a little more weight ...
I designed mine to be compact and close to the rear of my tractor axle, concrete weighs roughly 145 Lbs per cubic foot. I wanted my quick hitch to be recessed into it, which also allows for some weight to be carried outside of it, but still narrower than the tires.
I bought a sheet of 1/2" plywood, 6 - 80 Lbs bags of concrete, and a quart of paint, (and used other stuff I had) cost me less than $100 2 years ago ...
I built a frame out of the plywood and some ripped down 2X4's, added in a couple tie downs, a couple of pipes ... I used a piece of 1/2" black iron pipe that I hammered a piece of 1/2" rebar through for lower pins, and welded some stuff to make the top "pin" ... Added a 2" receiver hitch ...
I collected some rocks from my property to "stretch" the concrete ...
I had a bunch of old nails I had pulled out of a bunch of old decking previous owner had left in a pile, before burning the wood, plus some scrap bolts and metal bits ...
The plan was once the concrete was set, to remove the two spacers with the purple "X", and the red circles are little pieces to screw the sides to. Blue masking tape was to just hold it in place until concrete was poured, they yellow tie down was left behind in my semi-trailer, they have a metal "E-Track" fitting on the other end, the screw not only holds it out away from the wood wall/form, but aids in it not getting pulled out.
Started filling with concrete, rocks and metal bits ...
The sides and back are higher to have small walls, so I can carry small stuff on it ...
I was mixing the concrete with a paddle mixer in my drill, and added the nails, that didn't work very good, I do not recommend! Should have just dumped them in the box!
Had some free rocks left over!
Let it cure a couple of days, and added paint!
I then moved it to the barn ... My little tractor had a tough time lifting it! My forks weigh 347.4 Lbs!
After a couple of weeks I weighed it, 707 Lbs!
And tried it out! You can see the notches I cut out, so I could drop a trimmer or pole saw on top of it ...
I built it to haul water, and for compact rear ballast while moving stuff in my over filled barn! (The trailer doesn't supply enough ballast for the water in the front tote, so I needed rear ballast, plus was able to pull the trailer.)
Here you can see how compact it is, and the tie downs come in handy!
It acts like I have the BH on which weighs 651 Lbs, as far as how it handles, which I figure is a good measure, the oversized 5' wide, 8' long brush hog weighs 518 Lbs, but makes the front a bit light with just the bucket on!
After a couple of weeks I weighed it, 707 Lbs!
And tried it out! You can see the notches I cut out, so I could drop a trimmer or pole saw on top of it ...
I built it to haul water, and for compact rear ballast while moving stuff in my over filled barn! (The trailer doesn't supply enough ballast for the water in the front tote, so I needed rear ballast, plus was able to pull the trailer.)
Here you can see how compact it is, and the tie downs come in handy!
It acts like I have the BH on which weighs 651 Lbs, as far as how it handles, which I figure is a good measure, the oversized 5' wide, 8' long brush hog weighs 518 Lbs, but makes the front a bit light with just the bucket on!
Paul Allwood
Well-known member
Premium Member
Equipment
Kubota B7200HSTD, RC60-72H MMM, homemade FEL, forks & ballast box, rotary hoe
Here's one I made a while ago using bits that I had laying around. Nothing too fancy - steel RHS frame clad with steel filled with old heavy bricks. It weighs a bit under 180 kg which is about the limit for my tractor.
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I used an adapter for the top link. Works fine. At some point I planned to weld a new bracket lower on the box, but so far procrastination has taken over.
I just made one yesterday! I have a Kubota B2401DT tractor and I had not thought about needing one until I had a near rollover incident!
I had an old metal box that was just collecting spiders under my shop lean to. It’s about 20” long x 36” wide x 12” thick or weight wise with cured concrete in it around 800 lbs. It is not fancy but it’s seems to be doing a good job. I posted picture.
