Ballasting front quad tyres

[Morgans23]

Needing a little extra weight on front of quad. Would ballasting the front tyres with water work? Pro's and con's?

 

[capfits]

Why?
Need weight lump of iron on front carrier.
If you are carrying something on the back and it is affecting the handling, whatever is on the back is too heavy.

 

[Morgans23]

Why?
Need weight lump of iron on front carrier.
If you are carrying something on the back and it is affecting the handling, whatever is on the back is too heavy.

We've got a quadcrate on the back which just makes it a little light on front but didn't really want anything on the front rack

 

[Boydvalley]

Looked at quad crate when it first came out. If you look carefully it’s on a quad with a solid rear axle and the heavy stuff was always moved with an old Bombardier step thru quad with a very short rear overhang So the weight was closer to the axle.
I had a similar type of set up for electric fencing and a slug pelleter but put much weight in and it didn’t work. Used to put two tractor weights on the front. If you water ballast the front wheels it will stretch the front suspension rather than compress and the quad will still be tipped backwards and wouldn’t drive well.
Not knocking the product, but it’s just physics. Quads are very light. The more you put on the back the more needed on the front to balance which they do say in there advertising.

 

[snipe]

Ballasting the front tyres will only be effective once all the front suspension travel has been taken up, so it won’t make any difference until the quad is sat with the front pointing to the sky quite a bit. Would be better making something that just bolts on to the front/side of or into the front rack. By adding weight in front of the front axle it would reduce the weight on the back axle, where as just ballasting the tyres just makes the front heavier. So by adding a front weight you do not need to add as much weight and it can be removed quickly when not needed

 

[AnyOldName]

Ballasting the front tyres will only be effective once all the front suspension travel has been taken up,

Depends on what you’re trying to achieve, but ballasting the tyres definitely will make a difference in how much weight is applied to the front tyres’ contact patch so will improve traction and cornering grip/handling balance.

But as @snipe has said, it won’t make the quad ride level and won’t reduce the weight on the back axle.

 

[Wood field]

I was always a bit dubious about things like quad crates sticking out back , 60 ltr spray tank on on our rear rack and the quad becomes dodgy with front wheels lifting , so goodness knows what it would be like with a ewe and lamb or whatever in a crate
Any way logically it would need to be counterbalanced so front weight is the only way

 

[bravheart]

A bag or two of minerals on the front as required will help stop

 

[DrDunc]

A trailer on the tow ball will fix the overloading issue

 

[Boydvalley]

I bought a buggy, much better solution.

 

[Blue.]

We've got a quadcrate on the back which just makes it a little light on front but didn't really want anything on the front rack

What about a shallow tank of either water or sand across the front rack and have a tray built on the top of it?