How To Ballast Your Tractor - 5 most common ballasting options 

I was just looking at their website yesterday and seemed to be the way i might go on my next load.

I worked at a metalworking factory and we foam filled all of the pneumatic forklift tires. If traction isn't an issue, like forklifts, you can run the tire even through the belts. So in a way, you extend the life of the tire tremendously.

The downside? Foam fill can fill a tire unevenly and because it's so dense, tires can get way out of balance. You may not notice on a forklift or a subcompact tractor, but we (kubota dealership) had a rtv come in where the owner had foam filled the tires and it was, quite frankly, undriveable. There's no fix either. The only thing to repair the problem is to cut the tire off, cut through the foam and start all over again.

EOSJOE. I agree you would think Kubota as big as they are would have a chart that would give a recommend 3 points ballast with and without filled tires for each model

Also three point ballast will help unload the front axle. I use a ballast box mainly filled with chain with some room for tools etc.

We normally don't add counter weight to a tractor with a backhoe, unless the operator plans on doing loader work with the backhoe removed.

I use a kubota ballast box on my 2650 filled with stone dust. works good when needed..

generally not on a BX, as the tires are so small. We use iron weights on this size.

@@MessicksEquip Do they make weights for a BX? I have a BX1880 and would like a little more weight in the back end.

@@briguy3693 Yes

where are you from? In my 14 years I have never heard of lead beads in tires.

@@MessicksEquip It seems like lead beads would result in a lot of lead powder next time you take the tire off...

You mean cash versus financing?

Yes, that and buying new versus used.

Here in Pa USA where the videos are made water would freeze in the winter time.

Herm Zinn add antifreeze to them windsheild washer fluid will freeze at 28° unless you get the deicer

I have wheel weights on mine. Yea, most people here use windshield washer fluid.

@@chrismaze3441 Freeze at 28? Depends where you live, cold climate areas use different washer fluid in the winter with a much, much lower freeze point than 28 F.

Agri-Lim50 Is a beet juice composite yes. Its manufactures in Quebec. You must be from around the maritimes or Ontario? I'm not sure the product is sold in the US. We fill our customer's tires with that option as well. its weight is only .3lbs from the weight of calcium chloride.

ruyguy8888 yes sir, I’m in Ontario. Thanks for the info

you pressurize the tires full of water or mix of water/air?

@@scottcoleman7304 50-70% water, then the remainder with air, pressurized to the normal psi.

@@billtramel5461 Thank you!!!! going to do that to my little BX23S. its a beast for how big it is and I regularly am able to lift one of the back wheels off the ground with a full bucket of dirt gets a little sketchy lol.

From a quick search its some sort of byproduct of corn. Says its about 90% anti-corrosive so its still retains some corrosiveness....and can also be used as a deicer in place of salt.

that would help, but a front weight block would be better.

​@@MessicksEquip More cast iron out front would have a mechanical advantage putting weight on the front wheels and would be more adjustable, but in theory that would also lighten the rear wheels slightly. It already spins a bit on wet grass, would weight in front of the front axle lighten the rear enough to make that worse? (armchair engineering here, first real tractor)

I believe that you can put suitcase weights on the front end, I believe they make a bracket for that, or is already installed on some tractors. May be something to look into, otherwise there's not much else you could do unless you have a loader that you could add some weight in the bucket out in front of the tractor that would help quite a bit too.

I don't believe there's holes in the rims for them. We would normally fill tires.

@@MessicksEquip Thank you. I tried a foundry out in Kansas and they didn't have any either.

Normal max is 50% of base weight in ballast.

Nope.

Thanks a lot for the response! Love your videos!

Dragonfly Park you've been told incorrectly we did that years ago because dad didn't want calcium in the tires and having weight that far back to counter weight very forward makes the tractor extremely tippy

A sub-frame attached backhoe on my tractor gives very good counter weight for loader work.

Check your loader operator's manual. Virtually ALL sub-compact and compact loader manuals recommend 600+ lbs. MINIMUM of 3PH ballast in addition to wheel weights or liquid filled tires. Even more weight is required if using pallet forks on the loader.

Gafarmer7410, well if you have anything on the 3pt or have a loader installed it best to lower them to lower your Center of Mass to reduce tipping. Also there is no way it would cause the tractor to become "tippy" if you are using it correctly, by not taking sharp turns, and lowering the bucket whilst moving. Earlier this week I was moving 800 pounds of dirt on a 25 degree slope and I had to lower everything and go slow because with a heavy load there was no steering.

N i don't own any small tractors the smallest one we have is 80hp so they are taller machines it's simple physics if you raise weight on the front and rear the center can be unstable especially on taller machines I'm sure the geometry is different on smaller compact and utility machines

50% of tractor weight.

The Northwest of where exactly...Mars? Because methanol has a freeze point of more than minus 140 Fahrenheit...

@@brandoncrimmins6296 Windshield washer solvent (not pure methanol) is what is used in tires, just as Neil stated, and is good to about minus 20F. Rim Guard (beat juice) claims minus 35F.

If they freeze, it's bad.

so it won't make the wheels rust? I don't get cold enough weather to freeze that much water.

Should not do damage. Most of the others are mostly water

ok thanks!

Mostly yes

@@MessicksEquip Thank you! Is there a situation you can think of where I'd need one? Would I be okay dumping gravel for a roadway without one or would that be an application where Id need one?

It's one of those things you feel like at times you can never have enough

Phil Hall not really we use it in our 1990 John Deere 2755 no problems

never owned one have you?

Evidently you know sfa about tractors, enlighten all the RU-vid community about what a supposedly real tractor is.

Grew up farming buddy, I know a tractor from a lawn tractor. You know one with real hydraulics and front end loader. These are just pretend tractors for the rich wanna be types. You can go to a farm action and buy 10 times the tractor for less than half the price.

That's true in a sense. Do you have a favorite?

What job did you have in mind? For all of the jobs that I have, a small tractor is perfect and usually a larger one would be too big. Funny, looking back at all of the things that my little tractor can do, I wonder why we never fixed any of the rutted roads on the farm that I grew up on, apparently we didn't have a proper tractor at the time.