[JDBrian]

Hi

Just thought I'd post a picture of my ballast box. I mounted a 1 1/4 in. reciever on it and have a hook mounted on a ball mount. Used it the other night to pull a big stump up out of a hole so I could put it in the loader and dispose of it. Worked great! The reciever is actually one end of a 2in. to 1-1/4 in adapter. I cut a 2" square hole in the box and bolted the adapter to the bottom. I then put 4 half in. bolts in the corners of the box to act as feet and prevent the box from balancing on the adapter mounting bolts. It required some elbow grease but no welding.

Brian

 

[TIM Z]

Great idea! Nice looking mod for sure!

 

[JDFANATIC]

Brian, you, Mayor, and quite a few of our "senior" posters are all heros to us all. The quality of how you put your ideas into action will keep a bunch of "today" and "future" posters glued to their screens! Keep up the fabulous work!

 

[Team_Green]

Nice work. What do you use for ballast so others know!

 

[Mayor]

Looks great! I might get a few hooks welded to mine at some point.

 

[Mayor]

Brian, you, Mayor, and quite a few of our "senior" posters are all heros to us all. The quality of how you put your ideas into action will keep a bunch of "today" and "future" posters glued to their screens! Keep up the fabulous work!

Your to kind but I have learned so much from many members it all evens out. Glad I could help out a few people!

 

[JDEERE_GREEN]

Hi

Just thought I'd post a picture of my ballast box. I mounted a 1 1/4 in. reciever on it and have a hook mounted on a ball mount. Used it the other night to pull a big stump up out of a hole so I could put it in the loader and dispose of it. Worked great! The reciever is actually one end of a 2in. to 1-1/4 in adapter. I cut a 2" square hole in the box and bolted the adapter to the bottom. I then put 4 half in. bolts in the corners of the box to act as feet and prevent the box from balancing on the adapter mounting bolts. It required some elbow grease but no welding.

Brian

That is nice work. Patent time? I can see that being a very nice feature added at very little cost, 2" insert, Great Job.

 

[JDBrian]

Brian, you, Mayor, and quite a few of our "senior" posters are all heros to us all. The quality of how you put your ideas into action will keep a bunch of "today" and "future" posters glued to their screens! Keep up the fabulous work!

Hi

You folks are the greatest! Thank You for the kind compliments. I love to solve problems and like a lot of folks on this forum I enjoy finding ways to do things myself, using materials I can easily find, at an affordable price. On this forum I see many examples of original ideas and innovative and resourseful solutions to problems. I am happy to contribute this one.
After reading on the forum that a hitch and a hook would be useful on a ballast box I began to try to figure out how to do it without welding. I had about given up when I was in Princess Auto and saw the adapters. They were on sale for $10. I already had several ball mounts for trailer hitches and for my x475 rear hitch. I drilled an extra hole in a mount and using a bushing to adapt the 1/2in. hook bolt to the 3/4in ball mount hole I mounted a Princess Auto hook to the mount. Now I can simply insert the hook or a ball mount when I need it. Mounting the hook low like this makes it better for pulling as it is nearly level with the axle when the box is raised.
For ballast I have a bunch of metal (200lbs)in the bottom of the box. Since steel is 3 times denser than cement this helps keep the center of gravity low. I have some cement blocks and bags of traction sand to make up the rest of the weight. It weighs about 600lbs and I use an I match which adds another 60 or so. I will eventually fill it with cement. I want to add the tool carriers as seen on this forum and I will do that when I pour the cement.

:thanku:
Brian

 

[TIM Z]

I need to do this mod!!