how much ballast for L3301?

[tradosaurus]

Now that I have bought my first tractor I've been researching tractor ownership.

One item I see is ballast. I'm getting the rear wheels filled so would just carrying around a box blade in the back be enough ballast for most of my work?

Or would I need to buy a 3 pt ballast box?

 

[Ortimber]

It really depends on how much weight you intend to lift with the loader. These tractors (I have one) are very light in the rear. Dare I say almost dangerous. A heavy box blade and filled tires is the minimum that I have on mine when doing any loader work. Even that isn’t enough at times. I live on a hill, that contributes to the need for a lot of ballast as well.

 

[jeff9366]

Box Blades and PTO-powered Roto-tillers are implements often used for Loader counterbalance.

Box Blades vary considerably in weight. Buy heavy, eighty pounds per foot of width. You will probably want a 66" or 72" wide Box Blade. Research Rollover Box Blades too. PHOTOS.

A Box Blade and filled rear tires will be ample ballast for any/all L3301 Loader work. LA525 lift capacity = 1,400 pounds.


Ballast Boxes are mostly for garage stored tractors used for Landscaping, where storage space is at a premium and implements other than a Loader are not contemplated.


Insert L3301 into your T-B-N PROFILE.

 

[LD1]

1000# if the weight is in close.

700# if its a few feet back

 

[oosik]

I would not waste my money on a ballast box. It won't do any work for you. Get a heavy box blade. At least, it can do work. Need more weight than the box blade - add bags of sand, chunks of RR iron, etc to the BB when doing heavy FEL chores.

Also - don't go overboard and exceed the limits of your 3-point system.

 

[s219]

I have 800-900# total for the ballast box on my L3200, which is similar to your 3301. It's a good amount overall. I tend to leave it on full time unless I have to use an implement instead.

I used to rely on my box blade for ballast, but it was large and unwieldy in many situations, and not heavy enough (I was always having to pile additional weight on it, which made it even more unwieldy to use). The ballast box is a lot more compact sitting behind the tractor. The increase in traction is amazing.

 

[4570Man]

My L3800 has a box blade that’s probably 500 pounds and loaded tires. It’s still a little light. I use the box blade all the time. I can’t imagine trading it for a useless ballast box.

 

[Fallon]

I'll concur that a ballast box is of limited practical use. I made mine a couple years ago out of a leaky 60 gallon air compressor tank. I've used it a few times on my former L3200 & now L4060. But really it just sits. I use an impliment as it does something useful in addition to being heavy. Generally a box blade or mower.

The Economy L machines can lift more than they should for their weight. The back end of the L3200 got really light moving some hay bales that were as much as the loader could lift. I had a LandPride RC1860 rotary cutter on the back, which supposedly weighs 600lbs. That weight is far back to, making it even more effective ballast. I tossed maybe 200lbs of junk on the back of that mower for even more ballast.

The good rule of thumb is put as much weight on the 3pt as you plan to lift on the loader. By that mark the 1,200lbs bales were more than the ballast, even though it was a ways back. It definitely felt under ballasted.

Loaded rear tires help keep the rear tires on the ground, but make life worse for your front axle. Do you want all the weight over the huge dumb simple axle? Or do you want it over the small, complex, expensive front axle? Ballast on the 3pt not only keeps the back end down, it unloads weight off the front axle. Ballast in the rear tired will let you overload the front axle easier.

Think of a tractor like a teter toter with 2 pivot points. Put the fat kid on the end of the teter totter with the simple & strong axle, not the expensive weak one he'll crush.

 

[4570Man]

It takes an enormous amount of rear ballast to “save” the front axel. Adding 1000 pounds or less loads the front axel heavier than if you did nothing. It’s impractical to get enough weight on the back of little tractors to lighten the axel past the starting point.

 

[Fallon]

It takes an enormous amount of rear ballast to “save” the front axel. Adding 1000 pounds or less loads the front axel heavier than if you did nothing. It’s impractical to get enough weight on the back of little tractors to lighten the axel past the starting point.

You arent lightening the weight on the axle to less than before you picked the heavy load on the loader. You are just taking a percentage of the load off.

There have been several threads on here a year or 2 ago on this debate. If I recall the skeptic was going to prove us all wrong. He ended up posing some good numbers indicating a reasonable reduction in front axle weight regardless of a load on the loader or not when proper ballast was used. I'm sure you can search up the thread with some digging.