Ballast/15gal barrel

[flyingcow]

I have many 15 gals barrels. thinking about using one of these for ballast. Will it be enough? My rear tires are loaded with Rimgaurd. I also have access to 35 gal drums. Thought 35 gals might be to big and cumbersome. Actually as i type this i think 2(15-gal) barrels might fit side by side in between the bottom 2 links. Too much?

How much does a gal of cement weigh, approx.?

I have a TN75D. Plan on handling pallets of firewood. Might have a 1/2 cord stacked on pallets. Approx 2500lbs, closer to 2,000lbs. Won't be doing a lot of moving around much. Pile on pallets right off of the splitter, move to middle of field, approx a yr later move into garage, next door to boiler.

 

[J_J]

26.27 for 1 gal cement, so 35 gal would weigh about 919 lbs.

Portland Cement has a specific gravity of 3.15. Water weighs 8.34 pounds per gallon, and so the problem set up to determine the weight of one gallon of Portland Cement is as follows:
8.34 x 3.15 = 26.271 pounds

A 55 gal drum of water will weigh about 459 lbs.

1 cubic foot of water weighs 62.37 pounds.

55 gal of cement weighs about 1138 lbs

 

[gerard]

2 ton /cubic yard, = 18.5lbs per gal (approx) so 15 gal =277lbs, not all that much but if your rear tires are loaded already you may not need much extra weight back there. Don't you just have an implement you can put on?? Most would weigh more than 277 lbs.

 

[flyingcow]

7ft bush hog but it's a bit cumbersome.

I probably won't need that much extra weight, but it won't hurt. These barrels seem like a simple and quick way to get ballast. I figure mount some iron thru them, a little welding and fill with cement. A couple of the 15 gal barrels will help. Just like to know what others think.

These pallets of wood will be kept low anyways. Don't plan on stacking them, or loading them onto anything. But chances are, I'll be trying to pick stuff up, way too heavy and way too high.

 

[Soundguy]

I've used old tube that were cattle feed tubs and then filled them with crete' worked out good for an old ford..

soundguy

 

[Hozen]

Before I created my 3pt weight bracket for suitcase weights, I threw around the idea of creating my own ballast box... One idea I had to keep it small, while still heavy was to add reclaimed lead shot to the cement mix. It's not the cheapest way to roll, but lead weighs more than cement for the same size. Here is a website I found awhile back.

Magnum lead shot, Reclaimed Lead shot, Ballast / Fishing Weight From RotoMetals

If you could get a tire shop to give you old wheel weights, throwing them in the mix would work too.

According to the following website (and, if my math is right), your 15 gal drum filled with lead would be around 1400 lbs. So, a small 15gal drum of lead would weigh a decent amount more than a 55gal drum full of concrete.

Specific Gravity Weights Of Materials from READE

That website is actually fairly helpful. Any scrap steel you had laying around could significantly add to the weight too. If you could somehow fill the 15gal drum with steel, you'd have just under 1000 lbs.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Be careful you don't get too much.

I've just recently done some of that weight via concrete work. A five gallon pail took exactly one 80 pound bag of redi-mix. They both are 0.66 cubic feet. So 15 gallons should be right around 240 pounds plus any steel you use in fabricating plus any lead that you add if you follow one of the suggestions. The concrete after mix and cured might be a little more than above calculation due to moisture retention.

If you don't have to man handle the weight and can back up to it and hook it on your three point hitch, 250-300 pounds is ok, but if you have to move it by hand, it is going to be a pain.

I recently built a combination front or rear ballast box that uses 4 concrete blocks that I made forms for and put rings in to handle them. Each block weighs about 44 pounds and the steel frame weighs 80 pounds so I can handle each piece without a problem. If it were only going to be used on the rear 3pt hitch I would have just made it one solid piece. But putting it on the front I have to lift it and bolt it to the frame.

 

[The Haymaker]

That's quite a disparity in weights!

 

[hankus]

That's quite a disparity in weights!

According to Wiki.answers.com "Normal weight concrete -- a mixture or sand, cement, and stone gravel -- has an accepted density of 145 pounds per cubic foot."

THUS:

1 gal = .133680556 cubic feet

@ 145 lbs to the cubic foot

1 gal = 145 X .133680556 = 19.38368062 lbs

15 gal = 290.7552093 lbs

Just my 2 cents.

Hankus

 

[George2615]

If you are talking rear ballast for your TN75D I don't think a 15 gallon barrel (or two) would be enough. I use a 55 gallon plastic barrel for my 26 HP tractor. With the steel framework and filled 3/4 full of ready mix it weighs about 800 lb. Your backhoe weighs more than that and is plenty of ballast but I guess you don't have that on which is why you need the ballast.