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Counterweight or Ballast in the Winter

S

schulte

ACCELLERANT!!!
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Location
Southern CT
What (if any) do you use? I used to put about 600lbs of sandbags in the back, but they always become such a mess by the end of the winter.

This year I got some steel suitcase weights though my work (cheaper than scrap steel, believe it or not); have 16 40lb blocks for 640lbs that doesn't really take up much space...
 
I don't use anything but my truck has toolboxes and a lumber rack. I new one guy who put a sheet of 1/2" steel plate in the back of his truck.
 
Whatever you put in the back, make sure it is secured so that it doesn't get a chance to fly around in the event of an accident.

When i was a kid, the favourite trick was to put old grader blades in the back of the pickup... the local municipality had a pile of them sitting there and they were NICE and heavy... lay about 4 of 'em in your box and you were ready to go!

Until Keith drove through that corner and stopped hard against the ditch by the fence... 3 grader blades came right through the box, cab and seat of his truck, narrowly missed him, impaled his dash and one even got through the firewall into the engine compartment.

If he had been carrying passengers, it would have been more than an abject lesson for us all.

I had a big plate of steel that my welder son-in-law modified to slide into (and lock into) my fifth-wheel hitch rails. His weight is a 14" I-beam that stretches across the box of his truck, bolted through to the frame rails so it won't move.

Hopefully, none of you will ever have to worry about what happens to your ballast in an accident, but thinking about it now might save you from regretting it later.
 
I've used sandbags a few years, but don't anymore. I have the toolbox loaded down most of the time and throw the canopy on in the winter, it's all I need really. I also lower my tire pressure down a bit which helps out much more than adding weight.

If you need some weight for free (and don't need your bedspace) pack snow in. The best part is once it thaws it removes itself.

As Jim said, whatever you put in the back of your rig you should be conscious about it's potential to move around.
 
Anubis said:
My Suburban was g80 locked and I never needed weight and rarely needed 4wd.
Click to expand...

I keep hearing this from many different people, I guess I'm just lucky to live in a place with enough hills to need 4wd & a g80 to get out of my driveway with more than 2" of snow on the ground.
 
I'd intended to drop a round bale in the bed before this last 12" of snow. It got here before I got off work and I couldn't get the tractor out to load it. Had to make do with a bed full of snow, 4x4 and chains on one pair of the duals.

I was breaking trail on the way to work the next day and the plow trucks have gotten stuck on our road before. There were a couple times the rear started to break loose and more weight would have helped.

Talked the boss into letting me drive my personal vehicle instead of the LLV and delivered mail all that day without any problems. Even pulled one person who had dropped the rear end of their Explorer in a 3' ditch.
 
Get those Inflatable Bladders they got in the Back of Truck Magazines.

You Fill it with Water, and if that's not Heavy enough, Fill it with Water & Sand.
 
I haven't needed to add ballest to mine. between the toolboxes and the rest of the junk that's in there I've prolly got 500lbs or more. add some fuel and I've got lots to work with.
 
I use 600lbs of sand as well in bags, been using the same bags for 5 years now key is taking them out and putting them in after there frozen
 
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