OP
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
time will tell. When lifting the generator i had no lift in rear end at all. Ill have to wait and see if i ever get anything heavier yo lift.
Ballast box
- Thread starter grsthegreat
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CJONE
Veteran Member
1000 lbs at about 24" or so behind the 3 point with loaded tires will max out the loader. The bucket will lift the back end but you have to be using the curl function like digging out a stump. My grapple will lift the backend with the rollback or if I can get the load close to the pins otherwise 1k seems to be sufficient. CJ
OP
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
I was lifting 1800 pounds of concrete yesterday (30 x 60# bags) plus pallet, plus weight of forks (275#as i recall). Lifted with no effort. Worked great. If i had more bags i could have kept adding them till tires lifted to see.
powerscol
Veteran Member
That makes sense as my tractor has about the lift capacity he is doing and with my 970lb tiller on the back, when I max out a lift it behaves just as described.
KennyG
Super Member
Nice setups, but whenever I see a metal ballast box filled with concrete, I wonder why not just form a block out of plywood with a drawbar and top connections and pout it as a solid block?
Buggs67
Veteran Member
This is the BB I made for my tractor. It's filled with cement and some steel pates and reinforcement. It has a tow point imbedded so I can tow my trailers/log splitter and it weighs 650 lbs w/out including the chains or tools carried in it. I have room to add more sand/gravel/cement or carry tools. In winter I had a 5 gal pail of sand/salt mix.
I only paid for the cement mix and the pipe used as the lift pins.
countrybumpkin
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2005
- Messages
- 3,248
- Tractor
- Kioti, kubota
According to kioti web site for a kl401 loader they recommend 1047 lbs ballast box for the 3pt hitch.
CJONE
Veteran Member
And if someone is wondering about the lift capability of the 3 point, I can lift a loaded dump trailer filled with wood or sand. Guessing a added 1500 to 2k on top of the 1k of the box blade. CJ
Buggs67
Veteran Member
Interesting. Many people weighing in on this site have said that if your loader goes into bypass w/out lifting the rear wheels the BB is heavy enough. And this does that. During plowing/snow moving I didn't lift the wheels. I didn't make it heavier cuz I didn't think I need to. I can easily add 300-400 lbs.
IIRC my 3 pt is rated at 1,200 lbs.
OP
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
I just lifted 2200# of concrete and loaded pallet into truck. Rears stayed on ground. Everything worked as it should. With 2200# crete, 450# forks, pallet i had to be at lifting near max for my DK45. If i remember right its 2,700#.
Felt like i could keep adding more. Easily lifted load.
Felt like i could keep adding more. Easily lifted load.
Buggs67
Veteran Member
My manual say I need 600 lbs for my tractor/loader.
PSEbowhunter
Silver Member
Where did you find that in the manual? I've read both the loader and tractor manual and couldn't find a number, just both of them saying to use ballast with the loader. I was hunting for a number because i was in the process of building mine. I decided to just wing it. I think i went a touch heavy though.
Buggs67
Veteran Member
Actually it was in the sales brochure for the CK series. It specifies 600 lbs for the KL120 (CK20 FEL which is close to CK2510 specs) and 700 lbs for the KL130 which is for the CK27/30/35. I could scan the page and post it if you want. I couldn't get it to down load from Kioti.
How heavy did you make your box. Also I think you're better off heavier than lighter.
PSEbowhunter
Silver Member
Well that would explain why i couldn't find it. I thought for sure i was just missing it. And I'm honestly not sure how heavy the thing is. But when i lift the 3pt i can see and feel the weight come off the front end. I'm sure I'm losing traction ability with the front but man alive is it ever more stable with a load in the bucket now. I'm going to try to get it over to the local ag scales at the elevator and get a solid number on it.
The base is made out of I beam, and the sides out of what was left of a car dolly after i made my cultipacker. Then i put 8 brake rotors in it and filled with ready mix. Four 60lb bags and one 80lb bag. (it's what i had lying around.)
It needs another coat of paint but i had stuff to do.
The base is made out of I beam, and the sides out of what was left of a car dolly after i made my cultipacker. Then i put 8 brake rotors in it and filled with ready mix. Four 60lb bags and one 80lb bag. (it's what i had lying around.)
It needs another coat of paint but i had stuff to do.
Buggs67
Veteran Member
That is heavy duty. And the fact that it extends past the lift arms probably make it more effective. Mine is centered on the lift arms for compactness. I weighed each rock and steel plate as I added it and it comes up to 635 IIRC. With the chains and tools I figure 650. The bucket can't lift the rear wheels off the ground so I figure it's enough.
Which also makes me wonder if my hydraulic valve relief is set correctly. But I have no way to check. I assume it's set at the factory. If it's set by the assembling dealer than it needs checking. Cuz the set-up dealer sucked.
Which also makes me wonder if my hydraulic valve relief is set correctly. But I have no way to check. I assume it's set at the factory. If it's set by the assembling dealer than it needs checking. Cuz the set-up dealer sucked.
These are known for not being set accurately by any OEM, I think. They seem to maximize their warranty potential instead of maximizing the performance they advertise. I built a test gauge and mine was low ~ 10%, as I recall.
PSEbowhunter
Silver Member
My original plan was to have it more centered on the lift arms and more compact but i wasn't thinking right when i made the spot for the top link connection and put it right out at the edge so i had to make the lower link spots out the front too. I'll admit though, having the slide through pin set up like i do for the lower links makes hooking up to it a breeze.
And again, had i been thinking i would've weighed it all as i put it together like you did too so i would know. I just got too wrapped up in getting to the finished product i didn't even think about doing that.
KennyG
Super Member
It's not quite that simple. You can be fine on a level balanced lift. Then if you lift something off center or with the tractor pointed downhill, things will change drastically. I know because I've had the experience of being unable to lift something, moved to get a different "bite" and suddenly found a back wheel off the ground. A bit of margin on the ballast weight is prudent.
Buggs67
Veteran Member
Thanks. I'll do some more experimenting (carefully) and see if I can lift even one wheel. Then I can add weight. My aim was to keep it compact and with a low center of gravity. If I really need weight I can attach the BH which I think weighs in at 1,100 lbs.
My tractor and Grapple are arriving this week. I knew I needed some serious ballast for the grapple work I'm about to do and came up with a FREE solution to weight. Waste Granite from my local Granite and Stone fabricator.The largest pieces 2 ft square X 1" are about 60# each the smaller pieces about 40#. I had a massive piece of slate (I think) that was also 2X2 but 2" thick that weighed in at 100#, a grand total of 400# plus the weight of the carryall and 100# of clamp on forks. The beauty, of coarse is that I can easily adjust the weight as needed.View attachment 428953
