Cheap and Easy rear ballast

[Rick Moen]

I know there are several different methods of building a rear ballast but I wanted to show what I did for mine to share ideas. I went to my neighbors (old trucker buddy) and got two old rear brake drums from his truck (0$). I took them home and welded them together with an old stick welder. Then I went to the hardware store and got two of the longer three point pins with two bushings ($15) to space out the pins so they would reach my quicktach 3 point. Got 5 bags ($15) of Sakrete from the lumberyard and filled the drums with concrete. They took a total of 5 1/2 bags of concrete to fill them. Altogether I have about $30 into the ballast and it weighs right around 530#. Each drum weighs about 100# and the concrete was 330#. With the quicktach 3 point I just back up to it and lift. Easy hook up.


Make sure you line up the bolt holes on the drums straight across from each other before welding. If you don't have a welder you could also use ready rod and bolt them together before filling.

 

[Billrog]

Good idea, looks good but it will be much better after it's painted.

 

[disney]

nice, but what keeps it from rolling around?

 

[Rick Moen]

nice, but what keeps it from rolling around?

Where I will unhook it will be in a gravel area so it shouldn't roll around too much. If it does I will just get a couple scraps of 4X4 and put on each side. When I had it sitting on my shop floor it didn't move without help.

 

[Woody65]

Great idea!!!! I like it. Simple and easy

 

[Thomas]

Now how does that old saying go... One man junk is another man treasure. :thumbsup:

 

[4get gto]

Cool idea. Do you find that it swings alittle without the top link ?

 

[pmsmechanic]

I'm thinking that the bolts are gong to break off or bend. 550 lbs is a lot of weight to hang off of two unsupported bolts.

You have a great idea here.

 

[Fallon]

I'm thinking that the bolts are gong to break off or bend. 550 lbs is a lot of weight to hang off of two unsupported bolts.

You have a great idea here.

That's not going to be any more load than your average back blade, probably less when pulling a load of snow or dirt. Most lighter back blades are unsupported pins not clevis. You are well under Cat1 lift capacity & Cat1 pins should be rated for well over 1k lbs.

 

[Rick Moen]

Cool idea. Do you find that it swings alittle without the top link ?

It does not swing much at all. I even tried to get it to swing by backing up fast then going back forward. Not much movement at all.

 

[4get gto]

How did the brake drums weld together for you ? Seem to remember them being kinda like a cast steel. And remember all the rust and scale to chip off.

 

[PILOON]

I got lucky and don't even remember where I got it but my rear weight is an elevator weight of pig iron and clearly marked 300 lbs so that with my loaded rear tires is just right for my needs.
The beauty is that it is so compact that it simply sits between the lower 3 point arms not adding any length to the tractor. (well about 3.5")

 

[pmsmechanic]

That's not going to be any more load than your average back blade, probably less when pulling a load of snow or dirt. Most lighter back blades are unsupported pins not clevis. You are well under Cat1 lift capacity & Cat1 pins should be rated for well over 1k lbs.

Take a look at the third picture. I would consider a blade with the pin right against the steel to be a supported pin. These are sticking out another two inches or so.

 

[RNeumann]

Poor design- should have been filled with beer as it looks like a keg! Lol

Those drums a good to have around. We would make stands for vises and other things around the shop. They have to weigh about 80# or so.

 

[k0ua]

Cool idea. Do you find that it swings alittle without the top link ?

It can't swing because the side sway is controlled by the tractors turnbuckles or telescoping stabilizers which ever the tractor has. It can't move forward or backward as it is captured in the quick hitch. It cant move up either for the same reason. Bottom line, it can't move.