Ballast How much weight do I need on the front?

[johnrex62]

My manual says to keep 20% of the weight on the front axle. Does that mean I can consider the tractor with no 3pt or fel is already balanced to have 20% of it's weight on the front axle and I need to add 20% of the weight of any 3pt implement to the front?

How does the fel weight affect that equation? Some of its weight is behind the front axle..(mounted midway between front and rear axle as it is)..I would expect that to mean it is support partially by the rear axle as well, so how much front axle weight does the fel add if it weighs 895lb plus 222lbs for the bucket?


I have not been moving anything especially heavy, mostly small buckets of dirt is the heaviest, and usually keep the both the mower and fel attached out of convenience. 550lbs on the back, 1117lbs on front plus whatever the load weighs. So far, no loads lifting the rear end, but I have no idea how much effect this is having on my traction.

 

[megaboz]

I guess depending on situations the weight bias is going to be situational.

When using 3pt hardware I like a heavy front end. At times the 3pt equipment is going to be lifting the front, so for me the heavier front makes it safer.

When running the fel, I prefer a heavy rear that way the fel when loaded is not loading the front axle. Makes steering easier and keeps from binding the front wheels.

In the end how much weight when and where is all dependant on what you are doing and the landscape of your property.

In the end sometimes you just have to "do" and observe your tractor to see if you have it right. There is not a blanket answer that will completely and correctly help in all situations.

 

[Lumberdink]

Thanks all! I've never had the FEL off, so that will be a project in itself. I'll give it a go without anything on the front and see how it behaves---in the driveway first. I may post a pic if I get to it today. I use the FEL pretty regularly and I hate to take it off but it's really a PITA around the trees.

 

[Bluegill2]

Thanks all! I've never had the FEL off, so that will be a project in itself. I'll give it a go without anything on the front and see how it behaves---in the driveway first. I may post a pic if I get to it today. I use the FEL pretty regularly and I hate to take it off but it's really a PITA around the trees.

Takes me about 5-10 minutes to take the FEL off my L3800 and about the same to put it on. So it stays off unless I need it.

You may not need any extra weight. We have a MF 2300 with a 5' finish mower that does fine with no extra weight up front and no FEL.

You will like mowing a whole better with FEL off!!!

 

[Bluegill2]

Close to the same weight as the mower will work good.

I always take my loader off when mowing, but my tractors are heavy enough not to need any extra weight up front.

My reply above was based on me thinking you had your loader off and were having trouble with a light front end. So disregard the "same weight as mower" until you try it with FEL off...

 

[TripleR]

In case you haven't seen it, here is a video; works the same on all of our Kubotas and is amazingly simple and easy.

Removing a loader from the Kubota BX24 - YouTube

 

[Bluegill2]

My manual says to keep 20% of the weight on the front axle. Does that mean I can consider the tractor with no 3pt or fel is already balanced to have 20% of it's weight on the front axle and I need to add 20% of the weight of any 3pt implement to the front?

How does the fel weight affect that equation? Some of its weight is behind the front axle..(mounted midway between front and rear axle as it is)..I would expect that to mean it is support partially by the rear axle as well, so how much front axle weight does the fel add if it weighs 895lb plus 222lbs for the bucket?


I have not been moving anything especially heavy, mostly small buckets of dirt is the heaviest, and usually keep the both the mower and fel attached out of convenience. 550lbs on the back, 1117lbs on front plus whatever the load weighs. So far, no loads lifting the rear end, but I have no idea how much effect this is having on my traction.

Most of, if not all the loader weight is on the front axle. This is why it's so important to have ballast on the 3 pt. Not just for safety, but to keep from breaking, or wearing out your front axle!

 

[Lumberdink]

Excellent video! I had that thing off in just a few minutes. :thumbsup: I did hook up the hog and yes, I will definitely need some weight on the front. Almost no steering control/traction going up hills. I found some suitcase weights on CL and my hogging is on hold till I can hook up with the seller and weigh 'er down.

 

[megaboz]

Excellent video! I had that thing off in just a few minutes. :thumbsup: I did hook up the hog and yes, I will definitely need some weight on the front. Almost no steering control/traction going up hills. I found some suitcase weights on CL and my hogging is on hold till I can hook up with the seller and weigh 'er down.

Well remember that your tractor is like fulcrum, so the further the weight is out front, the less you will need. So while the loader bucket can be a pain, sometimes it will do a better job.

If your fel has a removal bucket, you might consider making a weight box that would go in place of the bucket.

In the really bad spots you might consider dragging the brush hog just far enough off the ground so that the weight is riding on the rear drag wheel. That will help keep some of the load off the tractor.

But if you had no steering control in your driveway then you might need the fel and some extra weight or a lighter brush hog.

 

[megaboz]

I just saw a bx 2660 today (also reread your first post), that is a pretty short tractor. I would definitely leave the fel on and maybe add the weight to the bucket if you have steep hills. I don't think weight just on the front end would do enough good in my humble opinion.

I know on my bx24 it really didn't do much good when I added 90 lbs to the front.