# How Much Weight for Kubota L3170 Ballast Box?



## Suburban Plowboy (Jul 17, 2017)

I've about had it with my bush hog banging around while I'm using my tractor to move fallen trees and stuff with the front end loader and forks. I would like to take the bush hog off and replace it with a ballast box full of concrete.

Question: how do I know how much weight to add?

The tractor is a Kubota L3710. The guy who sold it to me said it had water in the rear tires. For as long as I've had it, it has had a bush hog attached, and I believe the bush hog weighs about 700 pounds. It's a King Kutter 6-foot job. I assume a ballast box would have to be a little heavier to equal the leverage of a bush hog, since the bush hog extends farther back.


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## RC Wells (Dec 26, 2008)

The rear three point is rated at 2,310 lb., so around 1,000 lb would be what I would look for. A good weatherproof counterweight can be inexpensively made from a 55 gallon poly barrel, an old three point bar hitch, and 12 bags of concrete. 

That is what I use on my compact when added weight is necessary, but I also have environmentally friendly "beet juice" in my rear tires. I gave up on the commercial counter weight systems as they are off the tractor and in the way 90% of the time. The elcheapo barrel unit can be plopped in a corner and left for years without rusting away. But, I am also tight with a buck!


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## Suburban Plowboy (Jul 17, 2017)

I guess a thousand would be about right. I may buy a Titan box and fill it with concrete. Thanks for the help.


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## Suburban Plowboy (Jul 17, 2017)

New question: sand or concrete? I can dump sand and make the box easier to transport, but concrete is nice and final.


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## RC Wells (Dec 26, 2008)

Sticking my oar in the water again, so this is just my two cents!

I attached a photo of free counter weight, old plastic 55 gallon spray barrel with a flat three point tow bar slid through, and filled with concrete. Concrete was the left over from the truck when a slab was poured, so free too (better than pile on the ground that I would have to wash away). Plastic does not rust, and who cares if i slam it into a stump! 

Used to have a steel box from John Deere, it rusted badly in three years, and was so beat from backing into stumps, that I sold it for $5. But we rain 9 months of the year, so must work in the rain.

As for sand versus concrete, it really depends on your preference. Sand gets wet, rusts box from inside out, or gets dumped after use. Concrete rusts box from inside out, and unless solid blocks are used it is difficult to remove. And, the solid blocks for ballast weigh around 50lb each so lots of work to remove and stack.

The poly barrel is a who cares if it gets wet, and easy to just drop anywhere.


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## Suburban Plowboy (Jul 17, 2017)

Thanks for the advice. I already have a box on the way, though. I keep my tractor indoors. Hope the box doesn't give out, but if it does, I'll try your idea.


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