55 gallon drum weight?

[F350Lawman]

No reason, I just had the chain so i was going to use it. Using the toplink is probbaly better so i will.

 

[ns_in_tex]

I really like the pvc pipe idea for storage. Wish I had thought of that. I really like the barrel for counterbalance if you do not need another implement back there. You can pretty much forget about hitting something like you might with a swinging mower or other big implement.

Attached is picture of mine. Few things I did & wished I did.

Forgot till afterwards I needed a hitch, so I installed one with 6 hilti masonary anchors, fully expecting to have to run a band around the barrel to hold it on, when I jerked it off. So far it is still on & have been jerking a 7000 lb roller around with it.

I made my knotch for the top link a little too small & bent the top link when I raised the barrel all way up.

I took a 1" round rod, cut the ends down to 7/8" & drilled the holes for lynch pins & ran it through the center of the barrel. Then welded flat bar to it, running up top for the top link connection. Welded a little junk iron to hold it in place while pouring.

Works really well. I store it on a Harbor Freight car dolly. If I remember correctly, I did spread the casters out a little. Use a hay hook to drag it and other implements around to store or install.

 

[ns_in_tex]

Before I poured

 

[Henro]

F350Lawman,

Can't remember if it was mentioned or not, but I would drill a hole in the bottom of the barrel below the pvc pipe to let water drain out, just in case you leave it outside in the rain sometime... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[F350Lawman]

Thanks for the ideas guys. Henro, I will put the rain hole, iIrpobably would have forgotten.

ns,

Nice barrel, thanks for the photos.

 

[rambler]

You will want a hitch on it. This is a darned if you do, darned if you don't thing. Have a hitch sticking out, & you will back into everything & leave an ugly mark. Don't put the hitch on, and you will miss it almost every day. If you can engineer a quich-tach or low profile hitch onto it.... now's the time.

I would not want the floppy chains, I'd want a solid top link. You can custom make a short one from the front of the barrel, but realize how that drastically changes the 3pt angles and get it right.

However, you can put 2 limiter chains from near the bottom of the barrel, up to the top link, in addition to the solid top link. Then the chains will carry the weight of the barrel, not your hydraulics. Many mowers have this type of limiter chain to keep the front of the mower from dropping too far. Know what I mean, check it out.

My uncle built one long ago for his IH 404, he intentionally put the lower pins in too low so the barrel would not scrape on the ground if the 3-point was lowered. He parked the barrel on a block of wood. Me, I would prefer the limiter chains....

Now, a person kinda gets up to rammimg speed once in a while with a loader, & you might be using this thing for a decade or more. With a 1/2 a ton back there. I'd reather have a solid shaft through the barrel, rather than a couple flimsy rebars welded onto some short ears. Consider a decade or 2 of stress.... But you might be building this part more robust than I am picturing in my head.

Some good ideas in this thread.

--->Paul

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> I'd reather have a solid shaft through the barrel, rather than a couple flimsy rebars welded onto some short ears. </font>

I would have to add a "me too" to Rambler's comment here.

You might consider a cross drawbar for that bottom cross piece. TSC sells a Cat 1 cross draw bar with 7/8" pins on the ends for $21.19. It is 26" long...don't know if that is overall lenght or length of the bar between the inside pin ends though...

 

[Henro]

DavidJ,

Are you sure you are not confusing strength ratings of concrete with weight?

Now I don't know a lot about concrete, but I can't imagine normal concrete that they sell around here having that great of a weight difference.

Actually the only time I heard of concrete being made really heavy was in the construction of the Hoover dam, where they used steel in place of stone as the aggregate...

 

[GaryM]

And you don't need the 3 Pt. ends either! Just use a piece of 7/8 steel rod stuck through the drum. Drill a cross hole at each end to take the lynch pins.

I poured my weight in a 33 gallon rubermaid storage bin. Then peeled off the bin when the concrete was set up.

Oh, and if you use a top link, be sure the attach point on the weight is far enough forward so the link clears the weight when the 3 point is all the way up. Don't ask how I learned that!

 

[DavidJ]

Henro,

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I was looking at some info on the net and misquoted some info. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

According to the cement manufacturing org, concrete mixture should weigh approx 145 lbs/cu ft, so the 148 I quoted should be close. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

The 2000 psi concrete I got from another site and after looking at it again I realized that it was air-entrained and ultra light aggregate. I'm sure that will not be used so just disregard that weight.

 

[F350Lawman]

Good idea with the 7/8 stock, should save me some dough /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[wng-2]

Here's what I came up with.

 

[g2boy]

I have an old 3pt rotary seeder implement I never use since found out I could rent seed drill from Extension cheaply, so wondered if I could use it for weight instead of making a concrete barrel? Would already have the toplink in place, provide weight, etc. Would this be a workable solution? I don't know how much it weighs, but could add concrete blocks to make different weights if needed.

 

[J_J]

Water

1 Gallons [US] = 8.345 264 109 3 Pounds

55 Gallons [US] = 458.989 526 01 Pounds

plus the weight of the drum.

2 drums about 917 lbs.

Cement

Cement block Size: 8"x 8"x 16" Weight: 71 lbs

Stocker Concrete Co

Normal weight concrete -- a mixture or sand, cement, and stone gravel -- has an accepted density of 145 pounds per cubic foot. Since there are 27 cubic feet per cubic yard, a cu.yd. weighs 3915 pounds, or almost two tons.

Steel has a density of about 490 pounds per cubic foot, which is more than three times the density of concrete, so the generally accepted density of normally reinforced concrete is 150 pounds per cubic foot which results in a cubic yard weighing 4050 pounds, but this depends on the quantity and grade of the rebar used.

 

[Yamezz]

Water

1 Gallons [US] = 8.345 264 109 3 Pounds

55 Gallons [US] = 458.989 526 01 Pounds

plus the weight of the drum.

2 drums about 917 lbs.

Cement block Size: 8"x 8"x 16" Weight: 71 lbs

Normal weight concrete -- a mixture or sand, cement, and stone gravel -- has an accepted density of 145 pounds per cubic foot. Since there are 27 cubic feet per cubic yard, a cu.yd. weighs 3915 pounds, or almost two tons.

Steel has a density of about 490 pounds per cubic foot, which is more than three times the density of concrete, so the generally accepted density of normally reinforced concrete is 150 pounds per cubic foot which results in a cubic yard weighing 4050 pounds, but this depends on the quantity and grade of the rebar used.

Time for America to embrace the metric system? :confused3:

Good ideas here though. Time to build my own.

 

[CurlyDave]

Time for America to embrace the metric system? :confused3:

Good ideas here though. Time to build my own.

A 55 gallon drum is actually a metric sized drum. In most of the world it is a 200 liter drum.

Notice how 200 liters is a nice, round number. 55 gallons, not so much.

 

[PACountryGuy]

That metric drum is about 4 percent less volume than a 55-gallon drum.

How many people believe that American business would decrease the price
4 percent on a drum of something after conversion to metric?

That may be one reason for the reluctance to convert. Hidden price increases
imposed when a business surreptitiously reduces container sizes is common.
Hidden price increases probably would be imposed in a conversion to metric.

Who can tell us what really happened in those countries that converted
measure systems? Did you see hidden increases?

 

[ray66v]

Time for America to embrace the metric system? :confused3:

Don't let us stop you. You can switch any time you like. :thumbsup:

 

[ray66v]

That metric drum is about 4 percent less volume than a 55-gallon drum.

How many people believe that American business would decrease the price
4 percent on a drum of something after conversion to metric?

When I bought materials in 55 gallon drums, the only price that mattered, was per gallon. Anyone who is at all interested in the bottom line is going to be watching that.

The products I bought in 55 gallon drums, actually came in between 52 and 53 gallons. This was primarily to allow for thermal expansion. Like any product, they could decide to decrease this amount any time they wanted, and hide a price increase.

We have not converted to the metric system, because we don't want to. Anyone who does, can do so tomorrow. Nearly everything you buy already has metric weight or volume on the label.

 

[Yamezz]

Don't let us stop you. You can switch any time you like. :thumbsup:

We did, in the early '70s.

You know, when I lived in America for a time I coined a phrase: If there's a more complicated or more difficult way of doing something, America will find it.