John,
I had my dealer do the ballasting in the rear tires, but one can do it, I just never have. The dealer did mine for free since I bought the tractor there, so you may want to check that out. I understand the thoughts about weights on the back quick tatch bracket, but wheel mounted weight is better I think than is ballasted frame weight. The brackets are easy to install, but for the money buy one of the Quick tach weight boxes and fill it with your choice of ballast, especially if you do not want to pay for the weights. Sand, cast iron weight plates, etc. are all reasonable. My opinion is to still have wheel mounted weight in snow, it really makes those HDAP tires go well. JD makes a 72# starter weight that is cast iron and will add 144# to the rear wheels. It also blocks the valve stem and scratches the rim when it comes on and goes off. I did not like that. They also make a 50# plastic weight, which does OK, but 100# of weight is not that much. I would suggest filling the tires and adding the 50# plastic weights in winter. That will give you 200# + of wheel mounted ballast and not get the bracket. I found that my tractor did not compress the ground any more with the ballast than without, say for mowing. Keep in mind these tires have very low ground compaction anyway and that extra weight, if anything made mowing rough terrain smoother and hill negotiation easier without tearing up grass. All ideas here are great, I just found this to be the most effective for me, so wanted to share.
John M
