Ballast Ballast for JD855 with 52 FEL

shooterdon · Sep 19, 2018

The owners manual advises that proper ballasting for the 855 with the Model 52 FEL and turf tires requires 75% calcium chloride (I figure 250 lbs per tire), 3 rear weights per tire (no idea what they weigh), and 225 lbs in the ballast box.

I have turf tires and loaded them with WW fluid - 23 gal each - so about 190 lbs ea. I have been using a King Kutter brush hog as ballast and it weighs about 500 lbs. I understand that adding weight further back is advantageous to ballasting but I do not want to go overboard. I am building a ballast box using the TSC carry all. Most of the weight will be about 24"-30" behind the pins. My thinking is to add about 500 lbs of lead. Is there any downside to adding more weight and how much is too much? The TSC carry all is rated at 1000 lbs so it has plenty of capacity.

BTW, the reason for using lead is that it is very dense so I will free up a lot of the space in the ballast box to carry tools, chains, etc. I cast bullets and have over 3000 lbs of the stuff laying around. It is expensive but I will be replacing it with zinc scrounged from tire shops as time allows.

Thanks for any advice.

larboc · Sep 19, 2018

shooterdon said:
The owners manual advises that proper ballasting for the 855 with the Model 52 FEL and turf tires requires 75% calcium chloride (I figure 250 lbs per tire), 3 rear weights per tire (no idea what they weigh), and 225 lbs in the ballast box.

I have turf tires and loaded them with WW fluid - 23 gal each - so about 190 lbs ea. I have been using a King Kutter brush hog as ballast and it weighs about 500 lbs. I understand that adding weight further back is advantageous to ballasting but I do not want to go overboard. I am building a ballast box using the TSC carry all. Most of the weight will be about 24"-30" behind the pins. My thinking is to add about 500 lbs of lead. Is there any downside to adding more weight and how much is too much? The TSC carry all is rated at 1000 lbs so it has plenty of capacity.

BTW, the reason for using lead is that it is very dense so I will free up a lot of the space in the ballast box to carry tools, chains, etc. I cast bullets and have over 3000 lbs of the stuff laying around. It is expensive but I will be replacing it with zinc scrounged from tire shops as time allows.

Thanks for any advice.

I've got a TSC carryall on the back of my 4300 with a pallet that has the wheel off of a boxcar laying down on it and then a half dozen old semi truck batteries a some brake drums strapped on top of that. I'd estimate that it's around 1100 lbs ~28" behind the pins (have a HF QH).
That seems about right weight for mine, maybe even a little on the light side, but it's a little heavier tractor. It reduces how much I have to use 4wd and speeds things up because im not spinning as much.
I'd use as much as the 3pt is rated for, and keep your sway chains tight.

I would like to make one that is a little shorter, but keep a low CG, and add a 2" receiver to the back, and some shovel and chain mounts. Zinc wheel weights are a good idea. Those are worthless and just make a mess when smelting lead, I've got a pile of those. Mix them in with concrete.

Zebrafive · Sep 19, 2018

Rear ballast is great for unloading the front axle, think of the rear axle as the pivot point. Down side of too much rear ballast; is the front can be too light to steer, but only when the loader is off. With the loader on, unless you overload your 3pt hitch, rear ballast is not going to hurt.