3 pt. counterweight for B7100 with FEL

[procraftmike]

I am thinking of making a counterweight from a plastic, 55 gallon drum. I don't think I need to use the whole drum, but probably half. The plan is to fill it full of concrete. Has anyone made a counterweight for a B7100? How much weight seems to be ideal for you, if you were hauling dirt in the bucket? I have about 250 lbs. of wheel weights as well. Are wheel weights normally used in conjunction with a counterweight, or should I be removing my wheel weights? I don't want to load the back axle too much...

I have a fairly large project this summer, that could involve 60 yards of dirt. It is lighter dirt though...more like a peat moss/dirt combination (dry muck soil to be exact)....lol. Maybe I don't need a counterweight for this type of material?

 

[85Hokie]

Unlike the other bigger tractors, the B7100 is very light in what it can maneuver on the front end, in other words - it aint gonna pick up 1000 lbs in the FEL! I bet 400-500 would be a max.

sooooo for that reason - I am not sure I would load down the rear with an equal amount as the fronts capability. I would say 250-300 would be a plenty on the 3 point.

Your machine tips the scale at 1200 ish pounds - even though you want ballast at the rear to offset the front, I would not get too egregious on the rear. 3 bags of quikrete would do rather well.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

500 lbs is ideal

 

[procraftmike]

Thanks Guys!!

 

[Builtough]

If you zoom in on the writing on the back of my kubota ballast box you can see they recommend 500 lbs for the B series. I put in 500 worth of concrete and it's been perfect. If I can pick it up, I'm stable!

 

[HighSierra79]

I use a drawbar with two old 100lb disc weight mounted to the bar. The old weights had recesses for bolts for frame mounts, so I just run bolts thru the drawbar with washers on top. The weights are circlular, about 5 inches wide, about a foot tall. Take up little space, and best thing, I can roll them. As quick as I can back up and rathchet them on, I have me a good ballast back there. I just happen to go to the barn to see what the heck I could find for weights, and lo and behold. It just ahppen to work out. Glad I don't take all this old, rusty heavy metal to the dump for a few bucks.

 

[Rainman13]

This is the one I just made from a 55 gallon drum for my L4200 (hope the image attached). It ended up weighing about 1200 lbs but I am using it to run a grapple bucket picking up logs. I made an attachment point for the top link because I didn't like the idea of this thing rocking back and forth. Also added hooks out the back to hang chains/tow strap on, and more weight plates can be stacked on the rod coming out the top if more weight is needed (unlikely). You could probably do something similar with a half barrel or a smaller barrel.

 

[Diydave]

Go to craigslist local, and look for 20 gallon soap barrels. THey are pretty thin, so cut holes carefully, to make your 3 point rack, then pour full of concrete. Once the concrete cures, the drum can fall off, at its own rate of UV deterioration...

 

[C6pilot]

I have a new B8160 ballast box that I'm selling local on CL. The factory sticker on it say's to add 300# for BX, and 500# for B series. I haven't weighed the empty box but it's probably more than 100# itself. The design puts just about all of that weight aft of the 3-point pivot. You'll have to do some math to figure out how much weight you actually need it you change the fulcrum.