# Ballast?



## Marleywood (Nov 19, 2016)

OK, so, some of you know I'm a N00b plowing my home up in central New Hampshire on an combination of driveway and unmaintained town road (all dirt) of about 3/4 mile. Top of my driveway is very steep. We just replaced the older plow truck with spreader we bought from the previous homeowner (it was becoming something of a $ pit) and put a Fisher 8'6" MinuteMount2 XV2 plow on my 2013 Silverado 2500HD. At some point we'll need another spreader (final straw the old Hi-Way spreader was the electrical fire in the cab controls, after several other repairs), but in the meantime, I need some advice about ballast for the bed of the truck. I'm thinking in this configuration I need about 600 +/- in the rear?


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## seville009 (Sep 9, 2002)

Between ballast and junk, I carry about 1,000 lbs in the bed of my 2006 F350. Plow itself weighs about 1,000lb too. More us better than less in my opinion. 

I put about 450lb of sand bags in the back of my daily driver that I don't plow with.


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## jonniesmooth (Dec 5, 2008)

My 8"-6" Meyer ploy-Pro requires about 1500# in the back or the tires just spin in 2 wheel drive. I use bagged salt, so always have most of a pallet in it. This is on a 1/2 ton 

My 8" Meyer Lot Pro doesn't require any ballast, this is on a 3/4 ton truck
I didn't need any ballast on my 3/4 with a 8-2 Boss V either.
Not that some wouldn't have helped, but it wasn't needed.


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

and try to concentrate it behind the rear wheels


have a buddy that claims he does not need ballast, then complains he only gets 25000 miles out of a set of tires even though he rotates them every oil change......burns them all equally


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## Sawboy (Dec 18, 2005)

A search on ballast will give you hours and hours of reading. Add weight, drive. Nothing unique about it.


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## Avalanche 2500 (Dec 31, 2015)

Sawboy said:


> A search on ballast will give you hours and hours of reading. Add weight, drive. Nothing unique about it.


+ a 30pk. helps


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## coke813 (Aug 24, 2015)

You know there's this fancy thing called the internet. If you type Fisher Plows into it there is a lot of information available.

Go here--> http://www.fisherplows.com/match/plows/

I was guessing some of the specs of your truck but i came up with 500#.
you should go here and verify based on the accurate info.

And you should call it counterweight, since it is taking load off the front axle by placing weight up against the tailgate. If it was ballast, it would be placed above the rear axle for traction. Just wanted to clear that up before some certain old timers get offended.


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## Marleywood (Nov 19, 2016)

coke813 said:


> You know there's this fancy thing called the internet. If you type Fisher Plows into it there is a lot of information available.
> 
> Go here--> http://www.fisherplows.com/match/plows/
> 
> ...


I have been on Fisher's site, but was unsure what some of my vehicle weights were. In the end, it doesn't seem to matter, #500 seems about right.


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## Marleywood (Nov 19, 2016)

FWIW, Fisher calls it "ballast".


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## coke813 (Aug 24, 2015)

lol, i know. so does western. long story. just be aware that "counterweight" is the technical term, even though everyone calls it ballast. it might avoid an argument on this forum.


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## bootstrap (Apr 29, 2016)

I run with about 850 lbs of plate steel in the back of my bed on my 2500HD. I didn't have it in most of the winter because there just wasn't much snow and then BAM...we get hit with 14 inches and I forgot to put the weight in. Next thing I know the truck kept getting stuck. Then when I raised the plow 1 specific time, I couldn't back out of a gate and then the truck slid over and smashed my passenger side mirror off..
So yea, put ballast weight in.


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## Marleywood (Nov 19, 2016)

Well, I put 7, 70lb bags of "tube sand" in behind the rear axel, and it felt a whole lot more solid coming back up the mountain to the homestead. We're expecting about 20"+ tomorrow, plus about another 8"+ Saturday, soooooo, I guess I'll find out!


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