Ballast weights are one item that really gripes my a$$ as to the ptrices they charge for such a simple item......There is no way in he double elll that weights should cost anywhere near as much as you have to pay for them......Sure they are heavy but in all reality they are just "as cast" castings, no finish machining etc are done to them, they are ramed up in a mold, poured, and shook out and painted.........its a straight forward simple easy process........Even those that are blow formed plastic filled with concrete......nothing hi tech about it. Blow molded forms or shapes are a dime a dozen, and concrete is dirt cheap...so why the high price for a hollow shell of plastic filled with concrete.......Simple........you pay decent money for a machine, and can't utilize the machine unless you have "XXX" to make it functional, so they have you by the gonads, so they can charge the high price....After I found out what JD wanted for my wheel weights, and Ford wanted for the suitcase weights for the front of my 1720, was when I went the home brew method...........
For years and years I used simple slabs of lead bolted together for weights on my 1720.........I have since made a front bumper / brush guard, comprised mainly of channels, which I filled with lead.......NOw I have front weights on my 1720, that do not take up any space, are placed well out front, and are concealed in the bumpers channell, and I have hardly any $$ into it at all. I figure a fraction of just what one suitcase weight would have cost me is what I have in the entire bumper assembly including the lead. (Free from various tire dealers) Its easy and cheap to make a suitable propane burner to melt lead with out of common plumbing fittings, or even if you had to spend $15.00 for a HF weedburner, you come out ahead..........
Weights are not rocket science......Same for my rear wheel weights for my JD GX335,,,,,absurd price...........but some steel pipe and lead once again produced a set of wheel weights that IMHO are head and shoulders above factory weights...........Sure I am capable of casting materials, but anyone can melt and pour lead in a simple form........Use your imagination........look around.......you can find all kinds of forms suitable for making weights out of lead with........Lead is better than chuncks of steel, as the density is higher........so you do not need as much material for the same amount of steel to accomplish the same weight addition...and the lead does not rust, and will hold paiant fine....once installed unless you use a magnet, no one is gonna tell they are lead instead of cast iron.....
Check out scrap yards.........lots of equipment that requires counter balances or weights are scraped every day. LOts have huge cast weights, but lots have laminated sectional pieces which may be suitable.........In this area cast iron sells for ten cents a pound used........lead goes for 31 cents ap pound used.......Just no way in He double ell I was or wold ever pay the prices they want for factory weights.......I would hang a big old boulder on it, or fill my tires with rocks before paying those highly inflated prices.:smoking: