Designing and Building a Tractor Weight
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- Опубліковано 29 кві 2020
- Designing and building a tractor weight to mount to the 3 point hitch is the name of the game today. Before you think I'm crazy, this 1000lb barrel of concrete actually does serve a functional purpose. When lifting heavy loads with the front-end loader on my 2012 Kioti DK40se HST, the rear tires have a tendency to become "light" and sometimes lift off the ground. This greatly reduces the usable lifting force I can apply with the loader even though I know the tractor loader is rated for the weight. To help me out in this department I have two main options, make a ballast weight and mount it on the 3 point hitch of the tractor to counteract the front-end loader forces or add ballast liquid to my rear tires. The cost of the rim guard (beet juice) around these parts is close to $900 CDN which had me looking for alternatives and that alternative seemed to point me to concrete. Today I show you from start to finish how I take a 55 gallon plastic barrel and locate the draw bar, cut the holes, and weld up the steel tubing to connect the top link. I do all of this using nothing more than basic shop tools and some backyard welding skills. Come along as I show you exactly what it takes and what it costs to get your tractor loader operating at peak performance. Here we go!
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Another great video Sandy
I’m going to make a ballast barrel as well. But to save on the welding,, I’m going to add the top link connector by placing it in the wet cement.
That was a beautiful design. Simple, very effective and most importantly, cheap! The blocking to allow for the top link movement was genius. Looking forward to watching this work for you
Thanks Johnson
Nice work on the balist !
that's a nice shop,lots of room.be safe have fun and God bless. Arkansas Rob
Great video Sandy! I’ll keep this in mind when I get a tractor as I will be needing the same thing! Good design and lots of good weight! Enjoy watching you work in the shop :). Cheers Sandy!
Extra weight sure is handy.
Great idea. Im stealing this lol
My weight box for my BX is a storage tote filled with 400 lbs concrete, I have about $20 into it. I also have my rear tires loaded. Thanks for the video
Good job have good day and happy day
See you next time 👍👍👍
This is great, my only mod would be putting a vice in the top secured in the concrete, can be used to sharpen chainsaw in the woods or utilized as a dirty vise outside the garage
That give the weight you need , I noticed in grapple vid a little bounce in rear end with full grapple load of reds, figured tires were loaded , surprised to here they weren’t. even better setup than I thought. Cheers Bob
Yeah I’m hoping this settles the bounce
Great You thought of everything !👍
Thanks for watching Rob
That's looking good.
Thanks Larry. Hopefully I can try it out before long
Hey Sandy, really enjoying your channel. Wondering if you could tell us how you had your opening theme/video made - it’s awesome!
Some good backwoods engineering going on there. Have you had a chance to test it out on your tractor yet?
it will work good
Ballast weight is very important but there is no comparison to weight in or in rear tires. Having the tires filled is a must and I would find a way to do it. My buddy has wheel weights that bolt to the rims on top of filled tires and it is night and day compared to my tractor with filled tires and a ballast weight. Any weight added to the tires puts the weight exactly where you want it not only for traction but also loader work.
I also used a 55 gallon barrel and filled it with concrete and rock on the back of my Massey Ferguson 165. My tires are loaded and I only lift the barrel up enough to move without touching the ground - about 6 inches. I have had no stability problems while using my loader but without loaded tires this could be an issue.
I had to say something. That's a 30 Gal. Barrel not 55. FYI. And I agree with the other fellow about the box blade being a better choice. It's something useful and can stay on the tractor and give you added ballast. I also added a 300 pound weight to my box blade, it helps a box blade work better and gives me an extra 300 pounds of weight so between the box blade and the weight I've got about seven hundred pounds on the back. I used a large gas cylinder filled with concrete mounted horizontally on top of the rear of boxblade. Really digs in good compared to without weight.
Good videos.
It's has to be a 55 gal barrel. Here's the math: One 66 lb bag Quikcrete stone mix = .5 cu ft; 14 bags = 7 cu ft. There's just over 7 cu ft volume in a 55 gal barrel.
I did something similar..I had an old heating duct that I filled with concrete...got 400-500 lbs out of it...Just used it the other day
Nice Paperweight. My tractor has a two thousand pound lift capacity front and rear so I made my ballast a thousand four hundred pounds. When I max out my forks the rear of my tractor still feels light.
I’ll be interested to see how much of a difference this one makes
To save a few bucks and effort, you could throw some dense rock in the mix instead of using just concrete. For the lifting chain, i would maybe sink that lower. Looks good though, great cost savings. I just made some concrete wheel weights.
Thanks Rich
Your front axle will thank you .This moves your fulcrum to the rear tires and takes the weight off the front axle😊
you could have filled your tires with windshield washer fluid. im in Quebec, Canada... windshield washer fluid 55 gal cost 80$... just need to buy the adapter (hose to tire valve), I took and old fuel pump and it worked #1 without costing a lot. but ok... i'm still able to lift my tires if I really push it. great video!
That is true. I looked around at washer fluid as well but for the price I couldn’t match the concrete. I also would’ve had to buy a little pump and hose section so the added costs were making the difference bigger
ty, sir.
Thanks for watching Ray
Just a few comments for version 2. As said earlier provisions for a 2" coupler on the back would be helpful. NEXT...During the design phase, after putting the drawbar in the barrel hook it up to the 3ph and raise it all the way. Then hold the top link above the top of the counterweight and you will automatically know where and at what angle you need the top link connector. THIRD....If you put a couple of pieces of pvc tubing in the barrel you can also have a place to carry a shovel, rake or whatever. LAST....I don't know if it will work on a plastic barrel, but try putting a utility knife hook blade in your oscillating tool. On some material it cuts better than the saw blade, and lots cheaper. [You do know how to sharpen those saw blades, right?]
Sounds like some good ideas. Thanks for watching Greg
An easier way to fill the barrel. Put the wheel barrow in the front end loader. Mix the bags then raise the loader bucket until the wheel barrow is high enough to pour directly into the barrel.
Great idea Brian
Hey brother buy the adapter and put water in them ur self its easy I do road services it hooks to ur valve stem and to a water hose put the valve stem at 1:00 and fill it keep it up brother
Unfortunately the water would freeze here in Canada. Not sure if that’d cause damage or not
@@sawingwithsandy Use winter window washer fluid, should be good to -20f or so. Our NAPA has it in 50gal drums.
And you get the weight further back for actual more weight benefit.
You should have put a bar out the back so that you could have put a trailer ball on it. That way you could have towed a trailer or log splitter as well as having a counter weight.
That’ll be version 2.0😉
Great idea on the the hitch bar and ball right there
I just did this and I saw from another video that a guy removed the blade from a sawsall and used that to vibrate the barrel
That sounds like a good idea
Thanks for all the info,
I made a ballast just like yours.
How long should I wait for the quikrete to dry? Before I can use the ballast.
I’d wait atleast theee days but truth is it’ll likely take more than a month to fully cure
@@sawingwithsandy
Thank you for your answer.
I mixed the quikrete Aug 19.
I'd like to use it but I'm afraid it will crack in half if it's not fully hardened
Yeah longer is always better for sure
You could have gotten a nice piece of depleted Uranium from your local dump. Can be as heavy but sure saves some nice bit of space...
Depleted Uranium eh....not sure my dump stockpiles that (at least I hope they don't)
@@sawingwithsandy No worries, it is safe because every airliner has it sitting behind it's rear bulkhead to keep the balance of the plane just right... if Boeing thinks it is safe it must be safe....right?
Did you do any rebar or other metal to strengthen the concrete? If not how much has chipped/cracked or broken from wear and tear? Wondering if those hitch attachments have supported all that weight ok by themselves.
Hi Jered, I didn't put any rebar in this. Holding up good so far. No cracking of any kind
A sunshine brushhog or tital hay spear with a bail of hay is way much easier and cheaper in the long run 😆 And then you have other purposes that are benefitical
Hi! is the cement not mixed with sand or gravel? thanks
The bags you see me mixing come premixed with stone, cement sand. Thanks for watching
hi, what are the cylinder measurements?
Sandy, your videos are great, keep making them. One comment, the intro volume and music used over sound of the cutting of the steel is about 1/3 or so louder then your voice. Any way to even that out?
I’ll keep that in mind Bruce. Thanks for watching
Caution Will Roberson, its not the same type of counter balance, the reason they fill the tires is because the weight is at the lowest point in the machine and static, what you are doing is adding weight above the axle, its like making a seesaw, you could damage your tractor or flip it over, be careful.
Im not saying it won’t work, What im saying is the machine will act differently in steering, my old JD had rear wheel weights and front removable plates about 100lb each, its all about what you want to do, towing heavy implements I needed weight in front to keep the front end down, in your case its to keep the back end down, just have to remember when weighted in the rear, and your forks or bucket is empty the front is light enough to bounce.
most counterweight is $1/lb. you made out like a bandit.
Why not use water? Less weight but you could drain it to remove it when necessary.
DO NOT COPY THIS DESIGN. One day while you are fitting or dismounting the barrell, it will rotate on the arms and trap you under it
The top link prevents this from happening
@@sawingwithsandy exactly my point. While you are fitting the barrel you connect the arms first, then you find the toplink is a bit stiff so you take the easy way out by raising the arms a bit. I got a bad scare from a barrel about thirty years ago. Wouldnt ever again touch them