How much weight do you add?
 

How much weight do you guys add to push snow? I have AG tires and 73lbs per side on my 1211 . 42" blade pushing on concrete. :bigthink:

That weight is good but it would help more if you use turf tires with chains. Fluid in the tires is good also, it adds another couple hundred pounds.

My rears are loaded with liquid calcium. The tire, rim and fluid to together weigh 100lbs. Then, if needed I add the 75lbs wheel weights. But, I just added a cab to that tractor, so I'm going to make a run at it without the weights to try it. I think the cab weighs at least 100lbs.... maybe more. So to answer your question.... I add about 300lbs.

Hope you have tubes in those wheels if your running CaCl2 in them.

Yeah, I do. The calcium was free, otherwise I'd used something else.

You know, for conversational purposes though..... I've been in the AG industry for a long time and the newer tractor (90's and up) went to tubeless tires. When they add liquid cal to them they don't tube them. Never really saw any ill effects of it. I personally wouldn't do it..... but they do.

I've got chains and 75# weights on turf tires with me at 210# in the seat. If I need more I've got cast iron body building weights I can add like the pullers use on the back lift. Adding any weight off the axles though will prematurely wear the axle bearings and promote leaks.

Do you have problems with the rear lift going up and down and the weight hitting anything?

John

These were also tubeless and we also ran CaCl2 in the rear tires. I think that the way the rims are designed allows them to be filled to the point that the rim is submerged and maybe that's why they don't get rotted out as bad. Just a guess. :bigthink:

for my son @ 80lbs. 350 to 400lbs total. Each wheel gets 50lb inside weights, 75lb outside, and fluid 50lbs??? Then have some weights to hang off the back if needed. 50 lb I think. Currently on AGs and chains but plan to get turfs for winter. Found more weight allows better control as to light and you will have to hit it sometimes to move harder snow. I could easily push more than he with less total weight and turfs with chains.

Oh, snowthrower on the front may tweak those numbers a bit. That was all on a blade setup. but I think it will be enough.

I run just 25 lb weights on each wheel turfs and chains on the 6-12s on the original. I never have any real issues

I thought about adding ballast don't wanna use calcium ,would rather just add weights. I can add another 54lbs per side that would take me to 127 then add me..lol thats another 280lbs. I wanted to use chains but wife nixed that idea!..lol They would leave marks on the concrete. I'm gonna add the 54lbs and give that a try. That should be enough weight for the 42" blade. If that doesn't work I can either sit on my IH suitcase weights I have, or put my homemade weight box on the back I used on my 1200 last year and put the suitcase weights in that. Thanks for all the replies!

VARTS04,
If I need more I've got cast iron body building weights I can add like the pullers use on the back lift.

I haven't needed more weight yet, and I used the wrong word back lift.
I meant the lower bracket and trailer hitch. After thinking about this I don't think I want 100# hanging on this trailer hitch that has 3 bolts holding it on anyway. Thank you for catching that, I don't want to give anyone bad advice. The right way would be to make a weight box that attaches to more than 3 bolts.

here is a rough drawing of my weight bracket. It mounts under the back of the tractor and is bolted to the drawbar with a large bolt. The front is held by gravity and two blocks that keep the frame of the weight bracket from swaying side to side. I used full dimension 2x6 oak and some lag bolts I had laying around.

My last post on this is that I like to get as much weight on or in the wheels as possible so that the tractor is not carrying the weight on the axle bearings. On my BX I have loaded tires and 110 LB weights on each wheel.

I use 70lbs on each tire on my 125,if I have a problem I know I have some weights around here somewhere:Whistle:

LMAO Weights R Us let me guess you have a few sets of weights sitting around.:biggrin2:

Those jacobsens I got off the 126 are 53 lbs each.I also have a set of 75 jobbies off a wheelhorse.You can never have enough poundage.

That's about the weight I run. I have Sears 50's, 2 link, 1/4" wheel spacer, lugs, IH 26'ers and 4 carriage bolts per rim, estimated at about 91 pounds per rear wheel. I add about 210 in body weight as well. The sum of all added weight combined is 382 pounds. I have a hitch special on the back in which if I had to, I could add the iron disk, but never had a problem keeping traction with current weight set up on the tractor.

However, I would like to use Rim Guard in the 6-12 Carlisle AG with tube on the rears of the up coming 72, staying away from iron wheel weight on this model.

Can the IH weights be stacked together with longer carriage bolts or will they move around? I've got one set of the 25s but I think I could find another set without too much trouble.

I no longer need to add weights down hear.
But let me tell you a story about adding weight to a garden tractor.
Back in 1968-69 Dad bought a new 125 with snow thrower.
We took the mounted tires downtown to the Firestone store.
They broke the bead from one side, laid it down and proceeded to use a grain scoop to load the tire up with powdered lead. I remember myself Dad and the Firestone sales guy stand there and watch the tech. Of course no one was worried about breathing any dust or touching the pink powder with bare hands.
I remember Dad remarking how this stuff was far better than wrestling weights or dealing with fluid in the tires.
Never had to worry about freezing temps, corrosion from the inside or water damaging the tire from the inside.
When we checked air pressure the valve had to be at 12 o'clock and a puff on pink dust would come out.
No harm came to us that I know of :bigthink::NailBite::Shocked:

Never heard of that before! Guess your ok,your here!..lol I wonder could a man use sand in for weight in the tires?:bigthink:

i've seen the IH weights doubled up before but have never tried it myself.

i run one set of IH weights and 7 gallons of washer fluid per side with goodyear 10.50 turfs and two link tire chains. Even with a 54" blade pushes anything i want to set up like this!

I wanted to run duals on this but i can't get them narrower than the blade unless i go 6-12's and then I'm not getting any more tire to the ground than i have already. I have 8.50 x12 duals and i think I'm going to have to make a custom set of wheels for the inside to get them narrow enough. all the rims i find are dished out too much.

I rebuilt a JD 318 this year and someone had filled all the tubeless tires, front and back, with water and it ruined all of the rims. They were all very pitted and had flakey rust on them. I do not know if antifreeze will not do this but pure water will. I would guess if you went into the wheel and painted it really well or sprayed it with a rubberized paint it might work without any rusting. To me the tube method is a whole lot easier than doing all of that. JMTC.:beerchug:

engine antifreeze is desired for it's corrosion inhibitors just as much as for freeze and heat protection.

I know you can still buy powdered lead. Might be a real pain for the average guy to obtain both $$ wise and EPA/OSHA regs wise.

But I am considering the use of reclaimed lead shot from shooting ranges.
Runs about $1.20lb delivered. Would install it the same way as powdered lead via the bead, but way less hazardous.

Running duals will lower your psi on the ground.
Equaling less traction/bite.

Yes, they lower your PSI foot print.... but they double what is touching the ground. Duals DO HELP! If they didn't farm tractors wouldn't use them. It's kinda like grabbing onto something with one hand versus two.

I agree, duals work well if you can use them

I never knew of a story using powered led for tire ballast. Got me thinking,.... and I found a use for whisky? That don't freeze,..... alcohol. Will alcohol have rust preventive properties? I was just brainstorming other options for a liquid tire ballast.

I will be looking into this for the 6-12 Carlisle Tru Power rear tires I have for the 72. I don't want to fuss with wheel weights on this tractor.

I think the narrow tire would yield more traction weight per sq. inch. Think WW2 Jeep tires. NOTHING pulls like a Willys in 4 wheel drive! But my toss up on the farm tractors with 3 sets of tires per side is for traction pulling a 60' Sunflower, also would be light on its feet for soil compaction awareness,...?

When you are talking about traction...... think bulldozer, or tracks. You take a 100 hp tractor, with duals and a track machine. The dozer wins every time. Very little psi on the tracks. I.E. An 1206 IH tractor, and a TD15 IH dozer had the same motor. But the dozer would outpull a 1206 every time. Bigger footprint= more pulling power, and less psi to the ground both. :beerchug:

I've pondered the idea of putting a set of ATV tracks on the rear. If only money grew on trees! :beerchug:

Run duals if you like.
For snow plowing and driving on snow and/or ice I will go skinny tires every time.
Slippery slime covered boat ramp? Skinny tires are gonna bite, fat tires are gonna float and you just spin.
Good plow-able dirt (not soupy mud) yea, duals.

Yes, true, but if running chains it changes the equation.

When I lived in Michigan, one winter my daily driver was a CJ5 Jeep.
I had the bright idea of running with chains on all four.
Worked great as long as you were putting around.
But after taking a corner too fast and spinning like at top and trying to stop to suddenly another time, I took them off.
The chains turned into ice skates at a certain mass-over-takes-friction point.
Was not fun at all in either situation, LOL.

IH did not recommend a maximum number of the IH wheel weights that could be used, but for most applications, two sets per rear wheel would do. The weight of one IH wheel weight was 26 pounds.

Stepping off the bathroom scales, Oh My! I need a heavy duty CC. lol Actually good to know. Note though that I do have to add 150 lbs to the machine for my son to get the same weight/traction as I do. So curious what IH assumed for rider weight with that recommendation. Of course they would not officially approve of young ones operating our heavy equipment. But I do. :biggrin2:

One question I have is what kind of slope are you plowing on? I run 50+ lbs cast weights each side with loaded tires and another 40-50 lbs on a rear rack. I have a sloped driveway and often I plow sideways on the slope. Without the additional weight the uphill tire starts to slip. I also run v-bar chains but am plowing a dirt driveway.

If you are asking me? I am also way above that recommended weight. 50 lb inside weights, fluid in the tires 75lb outside weights. Vbar chains. Last year did not have inside weight and required standing on the back sometimes when my son was pushing snow. So I added 100 inside. Expecting to put some on the back if he still has rouble. Level and downhill is good. Going up driveways witha layer of ice can be a struggle.

loaded tires , 95 lb in each wheel , my 200 lbs and chains


http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/DSCF1853.jpg

The way I understood the text, is that: IH did not recommend a maximum amount of IH wheel weights that could be used , meaning that IH knew that the owner operator would set up the weight according to his need of operation. Mowing on slight inclines could require a certain amount of wheel weight to hold traction, snow removal might require more wheel weight, and having a FEL can require multiple sets of wheel weights and other forms of a rear counter weight.

I certainly can agree with the statement IH made. Two sets of IH wheel weights usually are enough weight. I don't think I want a heavy garden tractor mowing lawn, but two sets for pushing snow works for me. I'm 210 pounds, and the rear wheels weigh about 100 pounds each. My weight set up is set up according to how I operate my garden tractor. There is never a good reason, however to over weight the tractor. Overweighting the tractor causes the drive line coupler pins to wear and break, as well as common stress on a gear drive unit.:bigthink: