Homemaid Weight Ballast done

[RobR]

Here are some photos of the weight ballast I made.

I added:

• 2 1/2" PVC to slide the draw bar in and out.
• 2 pvc pipes for holding shovel/rake.
• 2" reciever
• And a piece of metal for a hitch to pull our lawn trailer below the reciever.

4 1/2 bags of Concrete
20w X 14d X 18H

Lessons learned: Don't use a bag of old concrete that was partially ok.
I ran out of concrete and was looking around for some more in the shed and found one that was partially hard on one end. So I thought I would use the other half - mistake. The little bit on top falls apart but the overall weight is ok. I may need to remove some add add more on top later if it becomes a problem. Otherwise it works good... Just thought I would share.

 

[gordyy]

how much did it end up weighing
I like been thinking about doing the same thing for mine

 

[RobR]

It weighs around 350lbs. It definitely helps when using the Loader.

 

[Soundguy]

Sweet.

soundguy

 

[wftree]

We used a 30 gallon drum and found out that concrete ways about 20lbs per gallon.

In case you were curious

wftree

 

[JB4310]

Looks good, never seen one in the raw like that, must be deceiving cause it looks like it would weigh more than 350 lbs.

 

[carpenter383]

effective and cheap, Cool!! You should paint it orange!!

 

[flusher]

Looks good, never seen one in the raw like that, must be deceiving cause it looks like it would weigh more than 350 lbs.

At the nominal 140 lb/cu ft, the concrete weight should be about 408 lb plus whatever the steel weighs. Which turns out about right for 4-1/2 90 lb sacks of concrete mix.

 

[JB4310]

We used a 30 gallon drum and found out that concrete ways about 20lbs per gallon.

In case you were curious

wftree

Sounds about right, we usually figure concrete at ~150 lbs per cubic ft so there ~7.5 gallons in a cubic foot x 20 = ~150 lbs.

JB.

 

[radioman]

very nice. now you need to paint it orange. One thing that did concern me though is that I hope you have some sort of a drainage hole in the bottom of the pvc pipe for tool holder otherwise you might end up with a wet handle everything you use it . During the cold months if the hole is filled with water, it could weaken the pipe holder over time from freeze and thaw of ice in there.

 

[RobR]

Yes, I will be drilling some holes in the bottom. Have about 3 inches from the bottom of the pvc pipes to the bottom of the weight. Just gotta borrow buddies hammer drill to do that. For now it is stored inside so it doesn't fill up with rain water.

It is heavy though - trouble moving it without the tractor. Even just tipping it over is a task.

 

[TomOfTarsus]

I have a little homemade wheel platform for my attachments. A little one for that you could probably get from a local moving company.

Looks nice!

 

[kebo]

very nice. now you need to paint it orange. One thing that did concern me though is that I hope you have some sort of a drainage hole in the bottom of the pvc pipe for tool holder otherwise you might end up with a wet handle everything you use it . During the cold months if the hole is filled with water, it could weaken the pipe holder over time from freeze and thaw of ice in there.

Ooops!!! Rob might not have thought that one all the way through! But, good point. Even if he didn't put drain holes in it, I'm sure Rob can get a mortar bit and a bit extension and drill a couple holes in it now.

 

[jas67]

Very nice.

I definitely regret having not put a receiver in mine when I made it. When I do firewood, I need to put my receiver hitch on to move my splitter to where I want it, then remove that and put my counterweight on for moving the pallets of wood. Then, at the end of the day switch back to tow the splitter back to the barn.

I like the tool-holder pipes!

I am going to try to add a receiver to mine (with metal, externally), I'll have to put tool holders on it too.

J.

 

[JB4310]

Very nice.

I definitely regret having not put a receiver in mine when I made it. When I do firewood, I need to put my receiver hitch on to move my splitter to where I want it, then remove that and put my counterweight on for moving the pallets of wood. Then, at the end of the day switch back to tow the splitter back to the barn.

I like the tool-holder pipes!

I am going to try to add a receiver to mine (with metal, externally), I'll have to put tool holders on it too.

J.

Yup, I regret not putting the receiver in mine as well, thought if I had such a heavy weight on the back I wouldn't be towing anything, but now realize that even just for moving stuff around the yard it would be handy.

I did the tool holder pipes but even before the concrete set up I realized I should have used steel pipe cause now if a pipe gets snapped off I'm stuck with a much shorter hole. The 3 and 4 inch pipes are pretty tough but the 1.5" pvc pipes would not hold up to very much abuse at all.
Before I filled the box with concrete I had the pipes just set in loose stone so changing one would have been simple.

JB.