3pt Ballast Ideas and Amount?

[Scotty Dive]

3pt Ballast Ideas and Amount on YM202D?

I was thinking about how to ballast the back of my 2020D. Besides adding rim guard to the tires I was thinking of taking a 55 gallon drum and putting a 7/8 inch bar horizontally to attach to the the 3pt. How much weight in cement bags should I be thinking about?

 

[deepNdirt]

do you have any idea on your tractors 3-pnt lift capabilities? I would estimate that 55 gal. could hold 8- 80 lbs. dry bags, so that will give approx 640 lbs, you will need estimated 12/13 gals of water when mixing, the weight of this amount of water would be estimated another 100 lbs. giving a total weight of 740 lbs, plus of course the weight of the 55 barrel we could safely say you would have a 750 lb. ballast,
This was just some quick calculations, I'm sure someone else will chime in with being more accurate,

 

[shawnjvl]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/164889-simple-three-point-counterweight.html

 

[Scotty Dive]

thanks for that link - I have a place where I can get those blue barrels and it would work great.

I was also thinking about running some PVC pipe in the barrel before I pour the cement in. This would allow me to carry a shovel and broom etc.

Now - 1000 or more pounds seems like a lot of weight. I do not know what my YM 2020D 3 pt capacity is but I do know a YM 220 and YM 226 has a lift capacity of 1168 pounds and my guess is my tractor is probably similiar in size and capacity.

But - what amount of weight should I be shooting for in a counter weight? Is there any rule of thumb?

 

[jerrybob]

Scotty........I have a 186D and did something very similar. I used an old washing machine tub I had laying around. Drilled holes in side......ran a rod through it and filled it with river rock. Probably weighs somewhere around 350-400lbs. This solved my problem when I was moving around quite a bit of gravel with my FEL and kept lifting the rear tires off the ground. Didn't cost much either! Good luck!:thumbsup:

 

[284 International]

I would shoot for 85% or so of rated capacity on the ballast box, but that's just a number I came up with, not based on any formula. My thinking is that would keep from overloading the tires or hitch when bouncing over rough terrain, as well as accounting for any degradation of lifting capacity.

55 gallons is a little over 7 1/4 cubic feet. I've seen the number of 150lbs/ cubic foot as the weight of concrete used, and I think that's pretty accurate. I think with your PVC pipe inserts you would be safe to just fill a 55 gallon drum, and maybe leave it 3 inches down from the rim or so to give a place to carry chain or straps. That would give you right around 1000lbs.

The 2010D I've looked at is a lot brawnier than my YM240, and it will lift 1100lbs or so. I imagine the 2020 will be fine, and may not even know it's back there.

Make sure to put a top link mount on, so you don't have a thousand pound pendulum going on behind you.

Out of curiousity, why not a box blade or something that can do work? You could put weight on the blade, too, and then have a tool that can do something.

 

[Scotty Dive]

284 - thats is great info and I will think about it.

I have a back blade (200#'s?) and a 42 inch woods rough cut mower (350#). I was thinking that the tractor would be pretty long with the FEL and the RCC mower attached to it for working around the house

I am new to tractors and really not sure what a box blade could do for me.

Primarily, I want to use the FEL and back blade for snow removal. I have a steep hill on my property (45 degree at its most aggressive) and on the bottom of this hill is a small skating pond that I want to be able to get up and down to drag logs up for firewood and drag branches and what not down to get out of view. The RCC will help mow down around the edge of the pond.

Anyone have the spec's on a 2020? I was surprised to hear that the 2020 was beefier than the 240 because I thought the 240 was pretty beefy!

 

[284 International]

You can just add a bunch of suitcase weights to the back of the blade. A box blade works a little better for moving material and leveling, rather than grading it off to one side or another. As a result, they're also heavier. A concrete bin will be heavier, and a bit more compact. But a 45 degree slope is STEEP. I don't know how to advise you on that.

 

[deepNdirt]

You can just add a bunch of suitcase weights to the back of the blade. A box blade works a little better for moving material and leveling, rather than grading it off to one side or another. As a result, they're also heavier. A concrete bin will be heavier, and a bit more compact. But a 45 degree slope is STEEP. I don't know how to advise you on that.

You've seen my Box scrape havn't you

That hill sounds to be rather steep, but being you have 4 wd it should be a problem on solid soil, I wouldn't do it on ice or snow with a lake at the bottom at any risk,

 

[nealfris]

I've been thinking of making a box myself. I had an old Ferguson way back when and did the steel drum thing. I had to bring the tractor to a mechanic for tranny repairs. He chewed my *ss up for putting that kind of weight on back. I believe one yard of concrete is 2500 lbs., not sure. Turns out the weight on the lift arms and momentum was such a stain to interior components, it ripped up the tranny.
As mentioned by others, I was going to use pvc for shovels etc. I thought of also forming out a few different spots in the concrete for chains, cooler*** I mean tool box and don't forget hitch receiver.

 

[Mighty Dodge]

Mine weighs about 530lbs. I also have wheel weights that are about 320lbs.

 

[jtokc]

I posted this photo before in a different thread about counterweights.

It contains 7-80lb bags of concrete: 2 bags on each end and 3 in the middle formed around a steel bar. Total weight is about 570

 

[Car Doc]

I had a similar need recently and at the same time didn't want to be switching attachments all the time or have to have something on at all to do loader work was my goal.

So I came up with some big 24" x 3.5" 350# each harmonic balancers off huge NG compressor engines to use as rear wheel weights and they work superb I am real happy with them!

But on a smaller scale junk yard flywheels can just as easily be used they are typically 40-50# and can easily be stacked up especially if they are the same. fwtw a Yanmar flywheel would make an excellent wheel weight they are THICK!

The ring gears just drive off with a punch real easy leaving a nice machined round chunk of heavy steel with 6 perfectly centered mounting holes and a perfectly centered hole in the middle. :thumbsup:

I have several mounting ideas if interested let me know.

 

[shawnjvl]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/164889-simple-three-point-counterweight-3.html Nice 55 build with pics.

 

[284 International]

K0ua's build is really nice. There isn't a picture of it, but he mentions having a 2 inch receiver placed in the box as well. That's an ingenious and handy addition, because it would allow you to insert hitches, tow hooks, or whatever, and still do some other tasks without having to drop the ballast box. He's got contained storage for straps, tools, or whatever else, too. That's a neat setup. Good find, Shawn.

 

[Reg]

Re: 3pt Ballast Ideas and Amount on YM202D?

I was thinking about how to ballast the back of my 2020D. Besides adding rim guard to the tires I was thinking of taking a 55 gallon drum and putting a 7/8 inch bar horizontally to attach to the the 3pt. How much weight in cement bags should I be thinking about?

How about leaving the last implement you used on there ?
The chances are fair that it will be the next one you want to use anyway, so you can save yourself the trouble of taking an implement off, putting ballast on, taking that off, putting the frequently used implement back on again.

To say nothing of the hassle of creating an otherwise useless weight just to hang out there - broom and rake handle holders don't seem worth it (-:

If you do go that route be sure the tubes you set in there can drain, wood handles soften up real quick when left in rain water.

 

[Scotty Dive]

Reg -

Its a fair statment but what ever implement I am using (the only two I have is a RCC and a back blade) have to come off anyway due to my storage constraints. The RCC is 350#'s but really makes the tractor long and while working in the woods I know I will damage it with a tree. The idea of having something tucked in and provide a bit of storage for tools, chains, shovels and can be made cheaply is an attractive solution.

Good idea with the drains for the PVC. We used to have aplace around here that gave away the blue 55 barrels but they moved. So I am on the hunt. Where have other folks gotten theirs?

 

[Reg]

Reg -

Its a fair statment but what ever implement I am using (the only two I have is a RCC and a back blade) have to come off anyway due to my storage constraints. The RCC is 350#'s but really makes the tractor long and while working in the woods I know I will damage it with a tree. The idea of having something tucked in and provide a bit of storage for tools, chains, shovels and can be made cheaply is an attractive solution.

Good idea with the drains for the PVC. We used to have aplace around here that gave away the blue 55 barrels but they moved. So I am on the hunt. Where have other folks gotten theirs?

Ahh, THAT is an easy one.
SMALL local car washes have them for detergents and they don't turn over enough of them to be worth returning.
I have got them for free, though I had to accept a couple that I really didn't want.
If you want ADJUSTABLE ballast on the back get the ones with 2 bung holes and figure a way to make a 3pt drum carrier - now THAT can be a useful attachment in its own right.

You're looking at 440 lbs in water for a 55 gallon drum, maybe twice that for concrete, you might not always need that much.
Sand is another attractive adjustable choice, you can poke handles into that and it won't slosh around.

Yeah, I think a drum carrier would be handy.
I roll them onto their bottom rim and then into the loader bucket, but then I have to tie them in.

 

[shawnjvl]

Reg -

Its a fair statment but what ever implement I am using (the only two I have is a RCC and a back blade) have to come off anyway due to my storage constraints. The RCC is 350#'s but really makes the tractor long and while working in the woods I know I will damage it with a tree. The idea of having something tucked in and provide a bit of storage for tools, chains, shovels and can be made cheaply is an attractive solution.

Good idea with the drains for the PVC. We used to have aplace around here that gave away the blue 55 barrels but they moved. So I am on the hunt. Where have other folks gotten theirs?

Check Craigslist in your area for the barrels, I see them all the time for $10-$20.