Ballasting calculations

[oosik]

I've looked for over two hours and can not find anyhere that tells me how to calculate how much ballast - either in my tires, on the 3-point or both - I need for my tractor. I have no problem with creating ballast - I just want to know how to calculate how much I need. Thanks

 

[arnoldziffel]

Nothing in your tractor owner's manual?

 

[oosik]

Naa - - just max capacities for the 3-point and the loader & various common attachments.

 

[George2615]

On April 1 you posted you have 68 gallons of Rimguard in each rear tire. 746 Lb. plus a 675 Lb rear blade. How much more do you need? Is the rear still too light when using the loader?

 

[pmhowe]

Hi Oosik,

Your loader manual should give you some recommendations. For example, I have the LA 854 loader on my L4240. It says: " For tractor stability and operator's safety, rear ballast should be added to the rear of the tractor in the form of 3-point counter weight and rear wheel ballast. The amount of rear ballast will depend upon application." It also adds that a 6' box scraper has a counterweight of approximately 990 lb, a rotary tiller is approx. 530 lbs, etc. I have a cement counterweight I made for my 3-point hitch. It weighs 1200 lb.

 

[oosik]

George,
That is exactly correct(1500 lb of rim guard & a 575 lb rear blade). In a week or so I will be having a grapple installed. I really do not want to find out if what I have now is sufficient or not by trial & error. I will, with the grapple, be able to put a significantly heavier load on the front than with the bucket. And no, the tractor has never been light in the rear using only the bucket.

pmhowe
My owners manual says basically the same thing. I love the phrase - "The amount of rear ballast will depend upon application" - - NO KIDDING.

Is it so very difficult for the manufacturers to at least indicate a ballpark calculation or are they concerned about liability?? Let me ask - - how did you know that 1200 lb was the correct amount of weight for your tractor and its various front end implements??

I'm not trying to be a smart a-- or anything close. I just would like to know how much ballast I need before my tractor becomes loosey/goosey lifting a load.

 

[George2615]

Well then, I guess to be safe you'll need to put about 3K on the 3 pt. Not trying to be smart but if you think you are going to increase what you lift with the loader then max out the 3 pt. ballast. In all seriousness probably 2K on the 3 pt. would suffice.

 

[oosik]

Somewhere, I have two pages of formulas & intense calculations that will allow you to determine how much can be safely lifted up front(bucket or grapple) when you have X amount of weight on the 3-point and in the tires or both. I haven't found them yet and I was kinda hoping somebody had some easy way to figure this out. Believe me, the calculations I had were intense to the extreme. I know by running these calcs, about two years ago. that my current ballast - rim guard and rear blade - is sufficient for anything I would be lifting with the bucket. Unless it was something like wet concrete and I'll never be there. However, a lot of the ponderosa pines I have would easily max out the FEL with a grapple on it.
My 3-point can handle up to 4200 lb. If there is no quicky method of doing this I will have to do some serious digging and then run those nasty calculations. If I find I will need added weight I could modify the rear blade to hang something like suitcase weights on it.
Thanks for your input guys. Oosik

 

[Oldtink]

I'm sure someone smarter than myself can give you a better idea of how to calculate that but take a look at Levers
and I think you'll see that it takes an enormous amount of weight on the 3 pt hitch since it's "lever" is only 2 or 3 feet behind the fulcrum to unload the front axle but anything helps counter act on the additional load that maybe picked up in the bucket.

 

[whis]

All that paper work don't mean nothing, put a couple thousand on back and if that aint enough add somemore

 

[oosik]

Oldtink,

Yes, that is exactly the case. That's what made the calc's I have, somewhere, so unbelievably complicated. The calc's had the FEL as a lever and the fulcrum point on the tractor body was an extremely important determination as was the fulcrum point of the 3-point. What took me so darn long to figure it out a couple years ago was they went so far beyond my understanding. I just plugged in numbers until the outcome looked "nice". Later my son looked at it and he wondered how I had figured it out. He actually understood it - I never told him that I just kept plugging in different lengths & measurements.

 

[oosik]

Whis -
I know you are correct. Especially when I start entering random length and measurements to the formulas to get an answer that looks "nice".

 

[ovrszd]

All that paper work don't mean nothing, put a couple thousand on back and if that aint enough add somemore

I was reading down thru the posts toward the end, so I could post what you just said.The amount of "ballast you need" exactly equals the amount of "ballast you need". That amount depends on application. Funny how that works out. With my Grapple, filled rears, an additional 300lb of cast wheel weights and a 1500lb BB on the back I can still lift the rear tires off the ground. Depending on application of course.

 

[ovrszd]

Here's an example of the loads you can put on your tractor with a Grapple.

 

[Underdog57]

My loader is rated for 2500#. My 3pt is rated for 2600#. I have loaded tires = 1200# my ballast box is 1800#. It works quite well for me.

 

[RG1]

I went to JD's site because I know they show ballast recommendations for their tractors/loaders. This was lifted from the loaders for the 5XXX series machines, and maybe it will help you if your tractor is approx. the same size-

"Front Tire Load Index and Rear Ballast Requirements (5R Series Tractors)

Minimum Ballast for Non Self-Leveling Loader

Ballast Recommendations

Ballast

Regular Duty Front Tire Load Index

Heavy Duty Front Tire Load Index

Option 1

3-Point Hitch

800 kg (1764 lb.)

106

117

Rear Axle

0

Option 2

Rear Axle

1400 kg (3086 lb.)

111

120

Minimum Ballast for Mechanical Self-Leveling Loader

Ballast Recommendations

Ballast

Regular Duty Front Tire Load Index

Heavy Duty Front Tire Load Index

Option 1

3-Point Hitch

1000 kg (2205 lb.)

109

121

Rear Axle

500

OUO6064,0000C38-19-20130607



"


http://manuals.deere.com/omview/OMW54462_19/?tM=FR

 

[Ted Summey]

Here is a chart based on tire size and water at 8 pounds per gallon. From here the calculation is capacity of your tire in gallons times weight of fill material per gallon

Liquid Tire Ballast Chart

 

[Baby Grand]

Someone on here put together an excel spreadsheet for calculating wheel loads & ballast.
Anybody remember who did that - it was a pretty nice tool as I remember.

 

[puckgrinder85]

I know how to figure it out. Common sense. Go out and use the tractor, they give plenty of fair warning when they are unstable. I use our grapple sometimes without ballast at all, you can feel the difference and yes you have to be cautious but that's just a common sense thing again.

 

[oosik]

Thanks all for the advice and assists. I do have 1500# of rim guard and a 575# rear blade already. Like most have indicated - start with this and if I need additional I can add. I'll use a little common sense and what is currently on the tractor and go from there. Besides, I've had no luck finding the formulas and calculations. I did find a site that indicated that there were no formulas for an answer.