Cement wheel weights

Anybody ever make them?

Yes I have. I started farming with a Ford 6000. I needed rear weights and could not afford the factory weights. I took the rear casting off and laid it flat. I made two bands of smooth sheet steal kind of like the picture. I used heavy valley tin wrapped around three times. I pop riveted them together. The bands where small enough to allowed me to still reach the rack bolts on the power adjust wheels. I took four bolts that fit into the casting holes where weights would normally go. They stuck up about four inches into my bands/concrete. I then laid an old tarp against the casting. I then laid my bands on top of the tarp. I drove the bolts through the tarp. The tarp kept the concrete from sticking to the casting. I wrapped some fence wire around the four bolts to kind of make a reinforcement in the concrete. I hand mixed the concrete and poured the bands level full. I made sure to tamp the concrete down well. I let it dry 24 hours and lifted the first one off with a boom pole. I poured both weight in the one casting. The tarp stuck to the concrete but the casting was not effected. I made both weights for the cost of the Portland cement. I used creek sand and gravel. The weights weighted about 600 LBS. each. That made a world of difference to that tractor. After they had dried for a month or so my wife painted them white to match the castings. They looked good. they are still on the tractor to this day. I sold it in 1985. The fellow that bought it sold it later. The current owner just uses it in tractor rides but he put the weights back on it after he restored the entire tractor. He likes the way they look.

I would have poured them in 1976 or 77. So they have lasted 40 years or so now.

Go ahead... Knock yourself out. LOL ,, Just teasing , OK , That idea Could work for mini -farm operations.make sure you can get to all the lug nuts and the valve stem is safeguarded .You Never intend to be ON THE PUBLIC ROADS , Sure would not want the concrete to crack and be falling out of your wheels around a schoolbus or some nice car, let alone the fallen hazards on the roadway. Although you could walk thru a tractor junk yard and find many concrete weights that are still functionable from back in the 1930s, IMHO , the method was most practical on yard loader tractors..There is alot of fears I would have if i had concrete in my 430 case wheels , namely balance , since a 4-630 Case are capable of going 25 mph,.

Never made any but I have a non running MM Z here with a homemade set of concrete weights on the inside of the rear wheels must weigh at least 500 lbs each been dreading trying to get them off the tractor.

Not personally but I have one here. I guess my dad made it or picked it up somewhere before I was around.

A cu. ft of concrete weighs about 150 lbs, and cast iron about 490, so it's better than nothing but not like real weights.

I have a homemade set on my H Farmall. Bought the pair from a guy at a auction, they were on a 560 and asked he wanted to get rid of them. The original owner was an IH mechanic that farmed, made them from some steel wagon wheels and steel bands to taper them into the wheel better. They are really well made even have a ring welded to them to use a chain hoist/cherry picker to take them on and off. Weigh a little over 500lbs a piece, they are on year around, snow moving tractor and also take it on tractor rides.

That's rather unfounded fears unless you really cast them out of some real bad concrete.

I guess a guy could use rebar or concrete mesh but I'm not really planning making any

SouNdguy made some.

Well now I know what I have ! Thanks. I have 2 of those I removed from my 1946 JD A. The previous owner was a welder and I thought either he made them or they were from some sort of water wheel recycled ?
Now that I know they are classic Firestone I wonder if they have any value ? I was bolting them in my pick-up for winter weight. I hooked them to the gooseneck hitch in the bed.

Have a pair on the H with loader, and have two for the left side of an Oliver 88. Dad made them out of old steel wheels.

Paul

We have a tractor that has had cement weights since he early 60’s. They look as good as they did new. Dad’s friend who owned a tile factory that made cement tile make the weights. I don’t know what he used for forms but they are rounded on the outside for better aesthetics. There is no steel except for the pipes the mounting bolts go through. I don’t know how he measured it out right to get the bolt holes in the right place but he did a good job of centering everything. I used that tractor yesterday.

JD Seller -A Ford 6000 Commander? Dad had a buddy, not really a neighbor, lived about 7-8 miles away, that had a 6000 Commander Select-o-Speed, it was a Red belly. That tractor was solely responsible for selling MORE IH, Deere, Allis, even a Case or two, and Minny and Oliver tractors than any other tractor around. We had a good Oliver & Ford dealer about 18 miles away, but word of mouth about Kenny's Commander kept Everybody else from buying one. Wasn't until the 8000/9000 and newer that you would see a Ford tractor around. Cousin had a 8000 or 8600, can't remember which, couldn't afford another 4020, and he actually liked the Ford.

Back to original topic, concrete weights are lowest cost per pound, seen lots of guys try to pour concrete weights for garden tractors. With the lighter weight per cubic foot they ended up sticking out of the wheels about a foot. Most small loader tractors like 2404 IH, Case 420 Construction King, N-series Fords had home-made concrete blocks hanging on the 3-point to counter-balance the loaders. Sometimes a 55 gallon barrel filled with concrete was used instead. Yard of concrete in mid-1970's when I hauled it was 3800# and about $60.

My Grandpa had this on his "F20". I'm surprised no one has posted a picture

I have wondered about making front weights for my 3020 out of cement.. framing up a wood box with dowels wherethe bolts would go.. havent gone very far with idea yet..

My Dad did, for a 1939 WC, used a barrel for the outer ring, about 10-12 inches wide.

These came with a 9n Ford, real shin skinners. Made from ford wire wheels. As I mentioned in another post, our neighbor had a Massey Harris General purpose with cement filled wheels.
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DR. EVIL My Ford was just a straight 6000. I actually had few issues with it other than it would not start well when it was cold. I knew little about electric block heaters at that time so I never figured out one for it. I would heat the motor up with a space heater when it was real cold. At the time I was feeding a lot of hogs so I ran that Ford on the grinder/mixer just about every day.

The thing with a Ford SOS is to understand what they are doing. When they are shifting two packs at once they will shift hard. IF you use the inching pedal during that shift it smooth it out. I also tried to never shift those gears under heavy load.

What that Ford 6000 did do was make me hate Ford's parts system. Next day was unheard of. Next week was more like it normally was. Plus the fact that even though the Ford 6000 was a 1964 model and I bought it in the mid 1970s many parts where not available already for it. It was barely ten years old at the time. I never even considered a Ford tractor after that for one of my serious working tractors.

My other tractor at that time was a JD "G". I could get just about anything I wanted or needed for it even with it being 30 years old at the time.