Ballast Box

[WFM]

I recently bought a JD green ballast box on craigs list. Without measuring it is 24"w X 20" d X 24" h., its a factory box, filled with cement . Any guesses on how much it weighs ??

 

[lsmurphy]

A cubic foot of concrete weighs about 150lbs. If my math is correct you have 8 cubic feet.........1200lbs of concrete and about 80lbs for the box...????


1280lbs is my guess.

 

[Russell King]

The math is off a little
24"=2 feet, 20"=1.66 feet
so: 2x2x1.66 = 6.64 cubic feet
6.64 cubic feet x 150 pounds/cubic foot = about 1000 pound of concrete.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

I hate math but whoever has the correct calculations... either 1280 or 1000lbs will be fine behind an L3800. Per Tractor Data

Rear Type: I
Rear lift (at ends): 1,998 lbs [906 kg]
Rear lift (at 24"/610mm): 1,435 lbs [650 kg]

 

[lsmurphy]

The math is off a little
24"=2 feet, 20"=1.66 feet
so: 2x2x2.66 = 6.64 cubic feet
6.64 cubic feet x 150 pounds/cubic foot = about 1000 pound of concrete.

I rounded to 2 foot.

Concrete can vary also.

Just a round number.

 

[WFM]

WOW....the guy I bought it from said he thought it was about 600 lbs...give or take...when I see the numbers here 1000 or 1200 lbs ...I'm shocked....shocked enough I just went out with a tape measure and measured it. It measures 24"w X 16"d X 22"high...but the cement is down 3" from the top edge. Meaning the cement is 19" thick. So now gents...?? The weight of the box is ? And if I fill in the other 3" at the top, how much extra weight would I add ?
Thanks for your help.

 

[RBA50]

The guy you bought it from is right. The previous 2 answers have math errors.

The concrete weighs about 633#. You have just over 4 cubic feet. If you add another 3" you will add about 100#. Plus the weight of the box. I would estimate about 100# for the box, based on the weight of the 4.9 cu ft box that Northern has on their website.

Here's the math
(24"x16"x19")/1728 (cu in/cu ft) = 4.2 cu ft

4.2 cu ft X 150#/cu ft = 633.3#

(24"x16"x3")/1728 (cu in/cu ft) = .6667 cu ft

.6667 cu ft x 150#/cu ft = 100#

 

[Forge]

And you don't want 1200 lbs in a ballast box for a tractor this size. 600lbs is about right. You are not going to max out the loader every time you use it. Even if you do 600lbs is enough.

 

[Stubbyie]

6.64-cubic feet for the box dimensions.

Estimate ~ 80- to 100-lbs for the box itself.

Old textbooks show handmixed 'cement' as low as 90- to 95-lbs per cu ft up to current numbers for commercial ready-mix exceeding 170-lbs per cu ft depending on water-to-cement ratio and admixtures.

Make a SWAG and then consider finding a friendly truck scale and weigh it.

Another consideration: what got chunked into the box? I've added a five gallon bucket of lead wheel weights to bumper-mount ballast boxes to keep the size down. A good place to get rid of scrap steel junk lying around too.

 

[RBA50]

How do you guys keep getting 6.64 cu ft? Are you not using the actual dimensions he gave? If so, your rounding errors are giving answers that are way off, as in almost double. That's not close enough for anything.

The box is 4.8 cu ft total. He has about 4.2 cu ft of concrete in it now. If the concrete weighs 150#/cu ft, he has 633# of concrete, plus the box, probably 100-115#, based on the advertised weight of comparable sized boxes I have seen.

Sorry, not trying to insult anyone, but I was an engineering tech for 30 years, I know how to do the math, and I have double checked it.

 

[In Utopia]

Sure hope ya'll come up with a consensus, I'll be making one to offset the FEL on my L175. It used to have a 4' shedder on it.

 

[Russell King]

How do you guys keep getting 6.64 cu ft? Are you not using the actual dimensions he gave? If so, your rounding errors are giving answers that are way off, as in almost double. That's not close enough for anything.

Sorry, not trying to insult anyone, but I was an engineering tech for 30 years, I know how to do the math, and I have double checked it.

Well you may have been not trying to insult anyone but I would hate to see what you can do when you try. Most third graders can do the math and everyone on here has been doing the math right.

If you take the time to read the posts your can see that originally the size was stated as 24"x20"x24" see below!

I recently bought a JD green ballast box on craigs list. Without measuring it is 24"w X 20" d X 24" h., its a factory box, filled with cement . Any guesses on how much it weighs ??

Then ISMurphy said he used 8 cubic feet (rounded the 20 to 24 inches to make the math easy).

A cubic foot of concrete weighs about 150lbs. If my math is correct you have 8 cubic feet.........1200lbs of concrete and about 80lbs for the box...????
1280lbs is my guess.

I made the minor correction from rounding 20 inches to 24 to get the next volume (hopefully not insulting ISMurphy) of 6.64 cubic feet

Then the OP stated that he actually measured the box and concrete. See BELOW:

shocked enough I just went out with a tape measure and measured it. It measures 24"w X 16"d X 22"high...but the cement is down 3" from the top edge. Meaning the cement is 19" thick. .

Then you came in and gave the volume of the 24 x 16 x 19.

Just to clarify how to do the math:
Volume is Height x width x depth all in the same unit of measure.
If you used inches you get cubic inches if you use feet you get cubic feet.

You happen to work in inches and then convert by dividing by 12 three times to get to cubic feet.

Using 2 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet = 8 cubic feet
(ISMurphy gave the correct volume for his numbers that he stated)
Using 24"x20"x24" you get 11520 cubic inches which is 6.6 cubic feet
(I gave the correct volume for the exact size originally stated)
Using the 24"x16"x19" that the OP corrected to you get 4.2 cubic feet
(You gave the correct answer for the last set of numbers)

Now we can all rest quietly since we know you know how to do the math. Thanks for letting us know!

 

[Eric McCarthy]

In redneck calculations, that bitch is heavy!!!

 

[IDKUBOTA]

How do you guys keep getting 6.64 cu ft? Are you not using the actual dimensions he gave? If so, your rounding errors are giving answers that are way off, as in almost double. That's not close enough for anything.

The box is 4.8 cu ft total. He has about 4.2 cu ft of concrete in it now. If the concrete weighs 150#/cu ft, he has 633# of concrete, plus the box, probably 100-115#, based on the advertised weight of comparable sized boxes I have seen.

Sorry, not trying to insult anyone, but I was an engineering tech for 30 years, I know how to do the math, and I have double checked it.

If you divide the dimensions by 12 inches, you get feet:
24 in=2 ft, 16in=1.3ft, 19in=1.58 ft. multiply and you get: 4.1 cu ft. If there is 150#/cu ft then the answer is 615 # + the weight of the box.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-Cubic-Feet

 

[gpreuss]

I poured a 600+ lb concrete/scrap steel ballast block, and it is marvelous with the loader. Even with a full load in the bucket, the traction is awesome. Generally for landscaping I just use the rear blade - about a 350 lb Rhino. If I'm doing serious loader work I use the ballast block. I have filled R4's (about 400 lbs/tire) plus 140 lbs/tire in wheel weights.
I'd go ahead and fill the box up with concrete - it wont hurt anything, for sure.

 

[skeets]

If ya really want to know what it weights load the bitchinthe truck and take it to the truck stop scale, provided that you know how much your truck weighs first,,, oh wait now we re gettin back to doin math again

 

[lsmurphy]

If ya really want to know what it weights load the bitchinthe truck and take it to the truck stop scale, provided that you know how much your truck weighs first,,, oh wait now we re gettin back to doin math again

This is the first time I got a chuckle here at OTT.

That's the way I'd do it too.

 

[RBA50]

My apologies. Yes, everyone is doing the math based on different numbers. The first answers given before the actual measurements are based on incomplete data. (garbage in, garbage out) I understand that. What I was reacting to was the second post after my original post, which was again based on rounded numbers, resulting in an answer that is too high.

I look at this as a safety issue. Rounding up gives an answer that is too high, in some cases double the reality. IF the OP's tractor can lift a 1200# ballast box, and IF he believes that to be the weight, and IF he actually needs more than the 600 -700# he has for some particular lift, he could get into trouble.

In my mind, in a perfect world, after the correct measurements were posted, and the correct volume and weight calculated and posted, the people who posted their guesstimates, and who are obviously able to do math, should have replied that yes, based on the actual measurements, the correct weight is closer to 600# than 1200#. But then, in a perfect world, everyone would have read all the posts before throwing out another guesstimate.

Again, I apologize if anyone was insulted, not my intent. Written communication does not always convey the intent.

And Skeets is correct, the only way to know for sure is the weigh the sumbitch.