New Ballast Box

[ctfjr]

After spending way too much time deciding what to do for a ballast box I just picked one out and ordered it on Ebay.
The good: delivered in 2 days
it was packaged well, considering it weighs 100+ lbs and came in unscatched
the paint job was very good, not orange but a nice clashing red - I know I'll spray it K red
The not so good: as other posters in other threads mentioned the lift arm pins are only 5/8". really? this is supposed to be a cat 1 attachment.

If as mentioned in other posts the pins do bend I'll just drill them out and replace with 3/4"

It's apparently made to work on cat 0 3pts

I've decided to fill it with 700 lbs of rebarred cement with a couple of large long bolts sticking out of it for who knows what in the future as well as some type of lifting hook.

 

[OrangeKrush]

After spending way too much time deciding what to do for a ballast box I just picked one out and ordered it on Ebay.
The good: delivered in 2 days
it was packaged well, considering it weighs 100+ lbs and came in unscatched
the paint job was very good, not orange but a nice clashing red - I know I'll spray it K red
The not so good: as other posters in other threads mentioned the lift arm pins are only 5/8". really? this is supposed to be a cat 1 attachment.

If as mentioned in other posts the pins do bend I'll just drill them out and replace with 3/4"

It's apparently made to work on cat 0 3pts

I've decided to fill it with 700 lbs of rebarred cement with a couple of large long bolts sticking out of it for who knows what in the future as well as some type of lifting hook.

View attachment 53775

Going with that weight in it, it’s a good idea to put bolts sticking out I think! make a good deadman for bracing things when there’s nothing else around.

 

[je1279]

It looks suspiciously similar to the Titan ballast box with different paint and inferior pins. Is there a sliding door and a 2" receiver in the middle on the other side? If so, you can add some new attachment pins and lynch pins and you may have got a great deal.

 

[UpNorthMI]

I've got a couple of the Titan ballast boxes, they were great value. I just purchased 50lb bags of gravel and stacked them to the top. They are nice compact rear ballast boxes.

 

[je1279]

I've got a couple of the Titan ballast boxes, they were great value. I just purchased 50lb bags of gravel and stacked them to the top. They are nice compact rear ballast boxes.

I agree and I have one as well. Not sure if the OP's started life as a Titan box or is another manufacturer. Seems solid though once the attachment pins and lynch pins are replaced.

 

[RBA50]

I just received the exact same box. Somewhat disappointed in the attachment points, as they stated it would work with some imatch hitches , and showed a picture of it on a QH. I'll redo all the points and make it work on the QH, but didn't expect to have to do this. Just another project on the never ending list.

 

[je1279]

Get some decent upper and lower pins and lower category 1 to category 3 bushings and you should be good to go. Here is a picture of my Titan ballast box which looks very similar. I have an endless supply of rocks on my property so that seemed to be the best ballast media.

 

[MINICUP28]

I have the Titan box as well. It came with the correct pins in Red also. I added two more plastic pipe tubes on the far side before I filled it with sand. I carry the rake, hoe, shovel and tamper for road work in them.

 

[ctfjr]

It looks suspiciously similar to the Titan ballast box with different paint and inferior pins. Is there a sliding door and a 2" receiver in the middle on the other side? If so, you can add some new attachment pins and lynch pins and you may have got a great deal.

Sure is - I looked at the Titan but wasn't available

 

[ctfjr]

For JE1279 and MINICUP28
any idea what your boxes actually weigh now with the sand or rocks as fill?

 

[je1279]

For JE1279 and MINICUP28
any idea what your boxes actually weigh now with the sand or rocks as fill?

I believe the box alone weighs ~135lbs and I probably have ~350lbs of rocks in it, so around 500lbs total. Once it warms up here I will likely fill it with concrete to get it around 800lbs.

 

[ctfjr]

So I got to thinking - why wait to change the pins. I am only really concerned about the lower link ones. Fortunately there is a Tractor Supply about 5 miles from my house. So I ordered a couple of pins and did curbside pickup (wouldn't it be great if they continued that after the pandemic?).
I always seem to learn something every time I do a project. I had purchased a low cost kit of varibits on Amazon. The lesson here is you get what you pay for. Though in my defense when I originally bought them the intention was to use them on plastic only - even though they were advertised as metal bits.
Actually the company I work for is a distributor for Lenox but even at wholesale cost, with the amount of use I have for them, I could never justify buying a Lenox kit. I'll throw the 2 bits I turned into polishing bits away and buy another cheap kit.
Compare the pins:

and on the box

I'm not concerned about the top link right now but I know as soon as the new varibits come in I'm going to change that too

 

[je1279]

Save the R-clip pins that came with the category 0 lower pins in case you get a quick hitch at some point. Those along with some 3/8" clevis pins make for an easy adjustment of the top hook when needed.