Ballast

[Matt Bachand]

Here is my plan for this years plowing attack.

To take the weight off the front end, i'm going bigger on ballast. My utility body overhangs my rear wheels by a good amount. so that works in favor. As well is it already being heavy, I'm going to put 10-12 bags of cement (80lbs). I'm going to wrap them in cellophane to keep them dry, and I can load and unload them myself when I hook up my plow.

Many advantages here.

1 WAY better traction in 2wd where I like to be when I'm plowing.

2. Any weight BEHIND the rear axle actually transfers that weight, AND the weight of the plow on to the rear tires, as well as lifts the front end.

3. Home Depot sells 80lb bags for 3.50$ a bag. So 10 bags and a thing of cellophane for under 50bux.

4. I can load and unload them myself, without equiptment, and store them wherever close to wherever I can back my truck up.



For those who drive normal pickups and never plowed with anything that has weight to it, you can push way more snow, and its less beat on the truck as the weight does the work. Thats my opinion. When i had my 2.5 yard sander on, I could plow ANYTHING in 2wd. I was widening streets and the snowbank was going up over my plow, over my hood, and up my windshield. I was tunneling through. This was on 6 poor tires.

I figured it out a few months ago, I must have weighed 22,000lbs ish with my truck, sander, plow, and 2.5 load of wet sand/salt mix. !!!! Talk about ballast!!!!!!!!!!!

If anyone has a cheaper do it yourself and easy ideas let em fly.

 

[ak diesel driver]

good luck keeping the cement dry. Personally I'd use bags of sand plus the sacks are usually heavier duty.

 

[blizzardplowman]

X2 on sand, no matter what you do the dang bags get damp and then you have bricks ):h

 

[trouttrooper]

x2 on sandbags. That way you've also got some sand with you to add for traction if you get stuck on some ice.

 

[jrkrace]

X3 on the bags. Another idea is a few of those tupperware containers with sand in them. Easier to shovel the sand out if you get stuck.

 

[stacks04]

being i never actually removed the sand bags over the 3 years of having them i am going to get a load of the sand/salt mix and have it dumped in the bed. i will use a tarp and put the sand on it then fold over the flaps to cover it. i have the toneau cover on the bed anyway to very minimal wetness. i usually keep the plow on all winter now as i dont drive the truck everyday anymore. much easier to do.

on a side note, the sand bags seem to take much more beating and the stuff can get wet. at 3.5o ish a bag for only 60lbs i'd bet the added bags to compensate the weight difference would not add up to much more than the cello wrap.

 

[Matt Bachand]

Good call guys. You're right. They'd end up bricks for sure by season end. And excellent point about having sand on board if need be.

They must sell them in a woven or burlap type bag. Probably meant for this.

I'd shop online, but probably lose my shirt on shipping! LOL.

 

[Matt Bachand]

being i never actually removed the sand bags over the 3 years of having them i am going to get a load of the sand/salt mix and have it dumped in the bed. i will use a tarp and put the sand on it then fold over the flaps to cover it. i have the toneau cover on the bed anyway to very minimal wetness. i usually keep the plow on all winter now as i dont drive the truck everyday anymore. much easier to do.

on a side note, the sand bags seem to take much more beating and the stuff can get wet. at 3.5o ish a bag for only 60lbs i'd bet the added bags to compensate the weight difference would not add up to much more than the cello wrap.

Get a load of straight sand then. Nothing will destroy your truck faster than keeping a load of salt in there all winter.

 

[shortcircut65]

gotta love Line-X! had the mix in the bed for one season, and never knew the difference after

 

[stacks04]

matt, even in a tarp. if so thanks for the heads up. i have a liner in there but kinda chopped up from the stack install.

 

[Matt Bachand]

matt, even in a tarp. if so thanks for the heads up. i have a liner in there but kinda chopped up from the stack install.

Not sure, guess it all depends how well you tarp it and how well your bedliner is.... I had a sander on the back of my truck and it sweat salt out the body for 6 months every time it rained (no exxaggeration)... But I have no bedliner and HAD a steel bed.... The salt put the final dagger in int, and I did a 3/4 PT plywood overlay to work out of....

Just so you know to plan your ballast, A yard of sand weighs around 2700lbs if I remember correctly, wet closer to 3300.

Have em start with 1/2 a yard or so... small amount in bucket of loader so your not shoveling

 

[stacks04]

i will check to see whats available. the salt mix i have used in the past worked well as it melted the snow/ice and allowed the walks to dry during the day. if it is a must for the customer i will double wrap the stuff in the bed

 

[Matt Bachand]

i will check to see whats available. the salt mix i have used in the past worked well as it melted the snow/ice and allowed the walks to dry during the day. if it is a must for the customer i will double wrap the stuff in the bed

Maybe before hand get some bedliner quart or so and clean up your gaps or whatever the issue was??

Indeed salt mix a must if your using it for customers walkways and whatnots.........

 

[Detroit Dan]

I've runs many yards of mix through the bed of my truck, with no bedliner. It wore the paint off first, then the primer, then the galvy, now it's bare metal and rusty. If I get a chance before winter I'm going to pour out a half gallon or so of black rustoleum and smear it around. Way I see it, it's a pickup bed, it's meant to be used and it's doing it's job. By the time it rots through it will be long past it's lifespan anyway and I'll get another one. Personally I don't like line-x type products, my loadhandler wont work if it can't slide.
Before I stopped caring, I used to use my loadhandler in conjunction with my sander, that way when I got done sanding I could easily offload the remaining sand onto a tarp and have the use of my bed again. Got lazy last year and didn't use the loadhandler. Got stuck a couple times with a truckload of mix and no bed to use.

 

[Matt Bachand]

Having a sander on my bed, rotted holes through the steel utility body and underneath, reeking havoc on my fuel senders, fuel lines, brake lines and EVERYTHING else under there...

Like I said, it sweat salt out for months.

At times though, the city was loading me with pure salt too though....

 

[blizzardplowman]

I run a 1.8 yd salter, all we do is salt. Might do the odd load of sand/salt if we get an icestorm, but no one wants the sand tracked in around here. Stuff is spendy this year too. All my trucks have a sprayin liner, they last much longer that way