Looking for some rear ballast ideas

[TMGT]

Maybe some one will post a picture of some mounted on a CUT. My LS rear wheels just have 3 holes around the wheel disk and just didn't seem like enough for mounting weights but maybe they are or they mount differently than what I've seen on bigger tractors.

Most weights on the smaller tractors only use 2 or 4 bolts, I will say it seems like some of the Korean brands use an odd wheel that may not accept standard weights for some tire styles.

Most of the Kubota, JD, Kioti etc. I'm more familiar with will typically accept wheel weights.

 

[sliderbuck]

A guy near me looks as if he made his own. It looks as if he`s got a 45 gallon barrel, cut one end off, and got a bar through the middle, then filled it up with concrete to the width of his draught arms. He just backs up to what looks like a flat roll, slips on the arms and lift. I`ve no idea how much it weighs but concrete is a good bit heavier than water. It doesn`t matter how he drops it, he can pick it up, just as long as it doesn`t roll away.

I like that idea. Would easy to do plus easy to put on and take off.

 

[California]

Here are a couple of ideas.

Something like this might be the starting point, to cast a concrete rear weight around. Or weld a steel box.

Go up from here for the top link, and back to a 2" receiver at suitable height. Cast some PVC pipe in the concrete vertical to carry shovel, rake, etc, or other shapes for a chainsaw or whatever. Maybe cast in a chainsaw sheath. Cast in some bar magnets to hold hitch linch pins while you hook up. Be sure to have these 3-point pins as high off the ground as most implements, so you can drop/lift the ballast without needing a dedicated platform to park it on.

3-point pins fit snug in this square tubing with a little hammering. I drove in headless nails along with the pins, to fill the corners. Then welded the pin shoulders to the tubing.
Here's where that was used, an ancient back blade I adapted recently to fit QuickHitch.


And here's what I used for rear ballast in a tight space to backfill a water line between the barn and the fence. Overall it's hardly longer than the tractor itself. I have four of these 77 lb wheel weights but using two was sufficient for this. It's easy to park the weights leaning against a tree then just back up there to attach one or more, no lifting.

If I'd thought about it I should have put on the drawbar before picking up the weights. I do this now. The weights don't swing, and they're a little farther back.

 

[ning]

There’s probably been a dozen “rear ballast” or “rear weight” threads on TBN in the last year alone.
Which got me to wondering, why so many new tractor buyers frequently seem to forget to order cast rims or wheel weights?
With the amount of front end loader work done with little tractors, one would think wheel weights were a no-brainer.
Loader = Ballast

Wheel weights do nothing to counterbalance loader weight; they're purely for rear wheel traction and anti-rollover lower CoG.

Ballast behind the tractor acts as a lever with the rear tire contact patch as a fulcrum and will reduce the load on the front axle as well as fulfill the traction role, though it may or may not lower the CoG depending on the ballast weight distribution and position.

 

[Hay Dude]

I put wheel weights on 2 farm tractors and they are more stable now picking up hay bales.
Please explain to me and thousands of others who have experienced same.

 

[ning]

I put wheel weights on 2 farm tractors and they are more stable now picking up hay bales.
Please explain to me and thousands of others who have experienced same.

It certainly adds stability to have wheel weights/loaded rears; nobody has stated otherwise and I apologize if you find yourself feeling insecure due to my not expressly stating this beforehand. Any weight placed behind the pivot of the loader will make loader work more stable; the farther back it's placed, the greater the stability increase

Wheel weight just doesn't actually counterbalance the loader to remove weight from the front axle. It's quite likely that your large tractors have a strong enough front axle that this isn't an issue, but with CUT's, picking up a heavy load can put excess strain on the weaker front axle, and many people find it substantially easier to slap a ballast load on the 3ph than to put wheel weights on temporarily.

 

[California]

It certainly adds stability to have wheel weights/loaded rears; nobody has stated otherwise and I apologize if you find yourself feeling insecure due to my not expressly stating this beforehand.

Wheel weights do nothing to counterbalance loader weight ...

Ballast behind the tractor acts as a lever with the rear tire contact patch as a fulcrum

Wrong on two counts. 'made you feel insecure' isn't the way to discuss a technical issue.

And ANY weight behind the FRONT, not just rear, tires will counterbalance the tractor wanting to tip forward if the loader's lifting force exceeds the counterbalance. Rear wheel weights are behind this fulcrum point. That's simple physics.

 

[ning]

Wrong on two counts. 'made you feel insecure' isn't the way to discuss a technical issue.

And ANY weight behind the FRONT, not just rear, tires will counterbalance the tractor wanting to tip forward if the loader's lifting force exceeds the counterbalance. Rear wheel weights are behind this fulcrum point. That's simple physics.

I didn't say that wheel weights don't help stabilize a loader (pretty sure I explicitly stated the opposite).
I said that wheel weights don't reduce the load on the front axle.

Also, consider this thought experiment:

• Hold a weight out in front of you with your hands. You'll note that your shoulder is the loader pivot point, and your entire body leans back to keep your center of mass behind the front of your toes.
• Now attach a weight to your belt in front of your pants. Note how this weight is behind your toes, but in front of your loader's pivot point (your shoulder)
• What happens to your balance point? It moves forwards and requires yet more force to balance the loader's load

So perhaps you don't need the load to be behind the loader pivot, but it does need to be behind the combined tractor/load's CoM to help with stability; practically speaking, this means more weight at the rear wheels, or a ballast.

Ps: the "insecurity" I was writing about has nothing to do with the tractor operator, but with the poster's confidence in his posting.

 

[Hay Dude]

It certainly adds stability to have wheel weights/loaded rears; nobody has stated otherwise and I apologize if you find yourself feeling insecure due to my not expressly stating this beforehand. Any weight placed behind the pivot of the loader will make loader work more stable; the farther back it's placed, the greater the stability increase

Wheel weight just doesn't actually counterbalance the loader to remove weight from the front axle. It's quite likely that your large tractors have a strong enough front axle that this isn't an issue, but with CUT's, picking up a heavy load can put excess strain on the weaker front axle, and many people find it substantially easier to slap a ballast load on the 3ph than to put wheel weights on temporarily.

Trust me, you dont make me feel insecure
Ever.
What you just backed up your original statement with above regarding "excess strain on a weaker front axle" or "substantially easier to slap a ballast load on the 3ph" although true, has little to do with your original premise that "Wheel weights do nothing to counterbalance loader weight; they're purely for rear wheel traction and anti-rollover lower CoG".
The positive effect wheel weights have in making a tractor with a loader more secure are impressive.

 

[CalG]

People need to do a good search (on this forum) Of BALLAST, and COUNTER WEIGHT.

A big heavy tractor can lift greater loads than can a smaller lighter tractor. That's Ballast!

A tractor that Carries a counter weight aft of the rear axle pivot point can lift greater loads without extra loading of the front axle.

This applys right up to the point of infinite load!

Speaking as an owner with a broken front axle casting due to excessive loads, I can attest to this! ;-)

Right now, I'm in the camp of "It's better to feel the rear wheels lift off the ground than to hear that sickening ($$$) sound of breaking iron. ;-)