I thought the turf tires were doing pretty good on the back of the little Deere until it really started to snow out.
I explored a couple options like fabricating a bucket holder for the back of the X 540 so they could be filled with Gravel for weight and the other was to build a bracket on a post to hang Barbell weights from.
What ended up winning was biting the bullet and buying 2 John Deere 42Lb suitcase weights because there were other future uses for them as well.
The other uses I had in mind were as follows ……
1. The log mover is going to need some ballast weight up by the hitch to offset the overhang out the back.
2. A big Tractor could use some weight on it in different places for certain uses I am sure.
3. They could be used for ballast to hold objects in place while fabricating items or working on projects.
4. If a box scraper or tiller comes along for the X 540, these weights will hook right onto the front of the little tractor and help with steering.
I will elaborate on those uses at another time, for now though they will come in handy for aiding in traction on the back of the X 540 in winter conditions.
Now, these things were not cheap but they should absolutely last forever and will likely have decent resale value as do most John Deere items and other assorted tools.
The photo above was taken on a cold December day while we were working on the Log Arch fabrication in the garage. We had been cutting steel and tacking the Log Arch together and it was time to sit down and have a break.
There just happened to be a Yellow paint pen handy on the work bench and these things were screaming for some nice little detail work to be performed on them.
These things were definitely a good investment because of their ease of use. The only caution I would add in is that stacking up too many of these will add to the weight on your axles.
If you need a lot of weight added I would stongly suggest suplementing these with some weights which attach directly into tge center of the rims for small tractors. It will save your bearings, seals and axles in the long run.
I will be updating this by tagging new posts with some practical use photos as soon as we discover more uses for them.