concrete ballast block size?

[buckaroo]

loooking for some input. ill be pouring a concrete ballast block for a mx5100 the lift capacity at the 3 point system is about 2,300 lbs. the big question is how heavy should i be making it? i dont want to make it any heavier than it needs to be. also sometime soon ill be loading the rear tires with beet juice thats another 1,000 lbs.

thanks....

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

On that size tractor I would say 750 to 1K would do nicely.
you could go as high as 2 K but that's really loading it down.

 

[Bluegill]

Yep, 1K would do good. I'd load the rear tires too, but that does not take the place of 3 pt counter weight.

 

[buckaroo]

thanks guys...1000 lbs. it will be. ill post a few pics when i do it

 

[Dave_eng]

Just a few facts to allow you to consider an alternative to concrete.
Concrete weighs approx 150# per cubic foot.
To get 1000# for your counter weight you will need about 6.6 cubic feet which would be 3' x 2'x1.1'. A significant size.

Steel on the other hand is approx. 500# per cubic foot so it will result in a much smaller size. I needed a permanent anchor for a floating dock. Previous concrete creations were heavy enough (600#) but their bulk led to the ice freezing down to the lake bottom including around the protruding concrete block. The water level increased a little and the ice picked up the concrete bloack and carried it away. The fix was a piece of 3" thick steel. It was not very large to get approx 6oo#. When dropped to the bottom of the lake it settled into the layer of muck on the bottom and the ice has never been able to pick it up.
I found my steel piece at a small welding shop. The material, 3" thick plate, was left over from another project he had and he was glad to sell it for scrap prices.

Using a heavy steel piece you could have a very compact weight and its center of gravity would be much lower than the concrete block. You could also make a box out of heavy plate pieces and have a very durable carry box.

Have a nice day.

Dave M7040

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

You could also make a box out of heavy plate pieces and have a very durable carry box.

That is one really great idea!

 

[Tooljunkie]

Have a piece of plate at work, 2"thick and 18" wide. .33lbs per square inch if i recall. Figured it was 450 lbs. doesent take up much room. Would be good bottom for a ballast/tool box.

 

[TexasBoy]

the big question is how heavy should i be making it?

My counter-weight is about 1100#

 

[Bluegill]

My counter-weight is about 1100# and works fine with round bales.

Now that is cool!

 

[gpreuss]

My counter-weight is about 1100# and works fine with round bales.

I like it too! Wow!!

 

[number9]

My counter-weight is about 1100# and works fine with round bales.

Give us the details on that thing man!!

...

 

[coachgeo]

I would think that having a castration of a Transformer on back of ones tractor is a quick way to gain a very large crushing injury Pretty sure a ROP or FOP would not help one escape from this situation

 

[TexasBoy]

Give us the details on that thing man!!
...

Sure dont want to hijack the OP thread, but heres a quick rundown on the counter-weight:

I had a small KingKutter blade a friend had given me because he had put it behind a very large tractor and bent it up really bad and ruined it. But the front 3-point area was okay so I had kept it around thinking I would convert it to something eventually. I have a good friend who owns a machine shop and he does rough-out machining on large oil-field forgings. Some of these items are 3-5 tons a piece, stainless, you name it. He had a flawed forging and a smaller chunk he had used to set his machine up to do radius work.

So I cut the back off that ruined blade and welded it to that forging, then put that radius'd chunk on as a cap, burned it all together.

BATTERING RAM

I only posted here to help illustrate how 1100# will stabilize a L4600 sized tractor when handling loads like round bales. Since this thing sets low, the little tractor never feels 'sketchy' and stays very stable.

 

[TexasBoy]

I would think that having a castration of a Transformer on back of ones tractor is a quick way to gain a very large crushing injury Pretty sure a ROP or FOP would not help one escape from this situation

"Transformer castration"

This thing doest stick back as far as any typical rotary cutter or disk harrow, so if you can run your machine safely with those kind of implements, this one isnt a problem.