Rear Weight for FEL
 

A lot of you can make some nice looking as well as useful things. I'm not so good with nice looking, but I can usually make something work. Put that together with the fact that I save all kinds of "junk", and you get something like this.

3 brake drums and several brake rotors all held together with a couple bolts in a 7/8" bar. 470 lbs.

I don't know what you plan on doing, but I wouldn't put anymore on her! I'd load the tires and try to buy or get the weight on the tires and off the frame, lift arms and wheel bearings. It will work, just kinda hard on equipment. Least it's not like this picture

I will start by saying I don't baby equipment or tools. I use them and sometimes abuse them. That causes things to wear out and break faster. That is why I am a little picky about maintenance.

I won't argue against loading tires. In some situations I would do it myself. For right now I need to be able to quickly switch between a light footprint for some jobs and a good heavy counterweight when using the loader.

The main reason I generally don't like the idea of loading tires is because you lose most of the cushioning/suspension effect of only air in the tires. Shock loads (hitting a bump with no cushion) are much more damaging than steady heavy loads. Loaded tires in severe conditions is harder on everything than any other kind of weighting.

If you had 2 identical pickups, one with a 300lb weight in the front of the bed, and the other with 75 lbs of liquid in each tire, you would be shocked at the difference in the ride. The pickup with loaded tires would be breaking parts much faster than the other one.

Weights bolted to the wheels would be the ideal "semi-permanent" way of ballasting, but that isn't fast or easy to switch back and forth.

I didn't realize it was going to weigh that much when I put it together, but I'm not at all worried about hurting anything. It doesn't even weigh 1/2 of what the lift arms are rated for.

As far as wheel bearings are concerned, dirt and improper adjustment causes damage. Weight only causes them to wear a little faster. And yes, wear does lead to improper adjustment. A good preventative maintenance schedule will catch loose wheel bearings.

As best as I can count, the guy in the pic has 96 weights hanging on that poor little JD. At 80 lbs apiece, that's almost 7700 lbs. :bigeyes:

And I just scrapped a bunch of old truck disc brake rotors.....What was I thinking?

[QUOTE=Group_44;340556]And I just scrapped a bunch of old truck disc brake rotors.....What was I thinking?[/QUOTE

You were thinking you didn't want to break the rear of your cub

Rule number one - Never throw anything away. I have broken that rule a few times myself and then kicked myself later.

I suppose I don't technically belong on this forum because my tractor is a little bigger than most garden tractors. Maybe that is throwing a few people off. About 200-250 lbs max would be more suitable for a regular garden tractor.

I'm not the first one here to add weight to the back of a tractor.

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=36457

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=35539

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=28298 - Read post #8. Wheel bearings aren't such a weak link as some (in many forums) seem to think.

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=28705

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=28639

How bout a pic of the whole tractor?

:Forgot:

As a reference as to why I feel comfortable putting so much weight on the back, the loader can lift over 500 lbs. Without the weight, the back of the tractor comes off the ground. It's a little scary without that much weight back there.

http://www.tractordata.com/farm-trac...det-5234d.html

Here's a few pics of getting to use it for the first time - http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...596#post340596

Your absolutely wrong about loaded tires. You can't compare a pickup to a tractor when it comes to loaded tires.

Personally, I hate carrying weight on a 3ph. Hard on the hitch along with everything else. I have a hard time believing that there are times when you need a "lighter footprint" with that tiny tractor. I really doubt taking the weight off makes that much difference in say, a soft yard.

So many people boast on here how they can "make stuff work". That's great and all, but starting a thread on how you stacked a bunch of junk together to make a weight isn't really all that interesting...... or "neat". Don't be so shocked that people aren't more supportive. Build a nice weight bracket and paint it all up and then see how people respond.

The weights on that Deer are 100# each, not 80#.