Source for Water Filled Ballast For 8' Bed

I recently saw it in a of road magazine but I would have serious reservations about using in for plow ballast as I would not want a 400 block of ice in a bag in the back of my truck when plowing wanting to scoot around because it is frozen. I have used tube sand for years that is double wrapped to keep moisture out so it never freezes and then place a wood frame around it that prevent them from skidimg foward and I also place a platform over that so I can load salt and whatever into bed and alway have a minimum ballast of around 600 lbs. The only way i would consider a bladder would be if it was filled with a solution that would not freeze (about fifty jugs of cheap winsheld washer fluid would fill it up and do the trick here but tube sand would do same for a lot less)

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

I think most people use a tube of sand. It seems like "tube sand" would be a decent internet search term.

water bladders:

Personally, I think I'd opt for the sand tubes instead of the water. As stated in another post, that big of an ice cube sliding around could be scary. Good luck!

SC Tom

Here is one at JC Whitneys

How about an old waterbed mattress?

Al

the water ballast tubes actually tie down at the four corners and don't move around, they're easy to fill and drain, and easy to store in the off season. Most are divided into section to prevent weight shift, and they're tuff enough so that you can still load stuff on top of them in a pinch

So, what do you do if you want to take tehm out? Maybe let the truck sit in a heated garage for a week or wait until spring?

Sandbags are the best in my opinion because they are easy to load and unload and sand can be a very useful thing to have in wintery conditions. It should be part of the winter kit, along with boots, extra clothes and something to eat should you breakdown or get stuck somewhere. Even getting stuck in the city in a good snow storm can result in many hours walk home.

Stpehen---> knows this first hand...

Just LIFT it out with your:

1. front end loader
2. engine hoist
3. come-a-long

Or if you are disadvantaged, and have no access to any of that, just tie the damn thing to a tree and drive forward...

Thanx for the responses guys, this is the site I was looking for! I'll order it and post my experiences with it soon! Norm

The bag forms around the wheel wells so it won't slide out. I have a fork lift so lifting that weight wouldn't be a problem but it doesn't look like the bag is meant to hoisted up when full. Anyway, I'd still rather have a half dozen bags of sand that are easy to handle and are useful for traction.

Stephen N.-->and throw a shovel in there as well...

Driving around with a 400 plus lb block of ice held in place by a few tie downs (it is going to want to skid around big time frozen) He will figure it out the hard way I guess.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

Hum, a few straps is all most 80,000 pound over the road loads have holding them in place, I wonder how they do that. I just moved 8000 pounds of wood pellets in 200 slippery plastic 50 pound bags, 180 miles, secured to a Flatbed with only a few straps holding them in place, they didn't skid around at all.

I think there is a big difference between a 4 inch wide strap rated to

Whitelightning

Ah, and there is a big difference between 400 pounds of ice and thousands of pounds of whatever too...

And they were not frozen either. Try it and you will find out.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

Yes and how it is secured too plus this is a block of ice on a slick surface. If it had antifreeze in it and was not solid it would be a bit easier to secure as the bed flexs in use and a block of ice does not and that will make it try to walk around a LOT more.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

Yes there is because it is easier to secure a 10K load to a flat bed with proper compresion tie downs on skids and such instead fo a few rope mere try to stop its slide. Maybe if you put it on a skid and cut holes in bed to use proper compressive tie down it would work but then bed is not strong enough to take much compressive restraint force.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

Also, if you'll look at their picture, you'll see that the bag surrounds the wheel wells. When frozen, it wouldn't need any tie down at all.

MY bed does not flex. You have a chevy or dodge, then maybe. Besides that, set 400 lbs on a piece of rubber then try to move it.