Just picked up my L5740 - how much counterweight do I need?

tdan300 · Mar 29, 2009

Traded my B7800 for a used L5740 with 204 hrs on the meter

. I am feeding Haylage to my livestock now - the B7800 was not quite enough tractor to handle them. Got the L5740 with 204 hrs for same price as new L4240. Put hay spear on the front QA and was able to pickup the 1200lb round haylage bales with no issues. I have not had time to make a proper counter-weight for the 3 Pt yet, so hooked up to my 60" bushhog for weight on the back. I was able to raise the bale about a foot off the ground, cut the plastic of and pull the strings, then lift up and dump into the feeder. No more having to take a side off the feeder to load. My question is this - to handle the 1200lb round bales, what would be an adequate counter-weight to use. I plan on filling a 55-gallon drum with concrete to get proper weight, then cutting it down to proper height. Any feedback would be appreciated.

irwin · Mar 29, 2009

Union Farm Equipment - Tips

If you're picking up 1200 lbs with the loader, you should have about that weight in the rear for ballast.

Congrats on the new addition.

George2615 · Mar 29, 2009

I don't use mine for picking up hay but I do have a 55 gal plastic drum with steel supports inside and filled 3/4 full of ready mix. Mine weighs about 800 lb. (12 - 60 lb bags of mix plus welded in steel supports). I use it for rear weight when pushing snow. I only filled mine 3/4 so I had room to carry some extra chains.
A full 55 gal. drum should get you just over 1000 -1100 lb.

nobull1 · Mar 29, 2009

I have a 55 gallon drum filled to the top with concrete with a slot grooved out for the top link. I also have my tires filled as well. When I am carrying 1200 lbs of haylage on uneven ground it is what's required. The pic shows the spear on the bucket. I now use a quick attach and still need the weight for safety.

tdan300 · Mar 29, 2009

Thanks. One thing more, I do have Bio-ballast in the rear wheels, but have no idea what they weigh. I will go with filling the barrel with concrete, should eliminate any potential for a problem to develop. I also have a set of Rankin Pallet Forks for the tractor QA in the front. I buy grain from a local farmer in 1,000 lb bags, but have had to unload it by hand. They always put it on a pallet and load it with a forklift. I will now be able to unload it with the new tractor.

Thank you all for your input!!

nobull1 · Mar 29, 2009

I also now have a set of forks for my tractor since I went to the quick attach. I purchase my haylage and use the forks to pick up and cradle bales to our storage area.

tdan300 · Mar 30, 2009

I guess I should have read the manual sooner. It says that with my tires on the L5740, the Bio-ballast adds 475 lbs for each tire. So I have 950 lbs ballast in the tires. With that much weight, maybe I only need to put about 750 lbs of concrete in the balast barrel. What are your thoughts?

texasjohn · Mar 31, 2009

I have a L5030. Have determined that I do numerous different tasks... thus rear weight requirements vary. Loaded tires is a good start. I have a carry-all that adds another 400 or so lbs which is OK for moving bales of hay with a FEL spike. Additional weights can also be added to the carry-all (or box blade, other implement) I find when I get in a hurry and am without the carry all/rear implement (happens rarely) that trying to pick up stuff with the FEL gets super tippy, do forward wheelies or turns the vehicle into a tricycle ....

I have 6 separate weights of about 100 lbs each... this way I can move them between implements (which are of different weights) to get the right weight for the task. For my use, having movable weights is better than a dedicated 3pt hitch weight only. I find that I need implements both on front and rear to attack the variety of tasks that come up.

You definately want sufficient weight so that when you lift an immovable object with your FEL the hydraulic relief valve will operate rather than lifting the rear of your tractor. This is a minimum.

Maximum load I can pick up is a 2800 lb concrete culvert. I can only lift it about 2 feet off the ground before the relief valve goes, To do this I have to drop the bucket (unproductive weight) and use only the quick attach to chain the culvert to.

If you are going to be lifting much heavy stuff, suggest you get your relief valve pressure tested.... mine and several other folks have indicated that their factory setting was UNDER the minimum factory specifications..... Cost me $35 at the dealer to get this tested (about 400 psi low) and get shims inserted to bring it up to the upper end of the specification. I think that Kubota does this intentionally (unsupported opinion) because you MUST, MUST, MUST have proper rear weight when using the FEL at its upper PSI specification /lift capacity. This change made all the difference in the world to me... and it was important to be able to list those culverts!

Congrats on your purchase... good buy.... and superb tractor.

and, I see your post count is single digits...WELCOME TO TBN....
May I strongly suggest you take a trip thru the safety threads... some good info there..stay safe!

nobull1 · Mar 31, 2009

I will say that you cannot have too much counter weight when lifting heavy loads. So long as your not overloading the 3 point hitch, more is better IMO.