When you add extra weight on the back like that, does it tend to sink a lot easier in soft ground?
I'm liking the above freezing temperature here, but a bit of sun would sure help!
I agree with you about the "AWOL" sun. All this rain is sure a pain in the neck.
As for the tractor weight, its all relative. The more weight on those tires the easier they will sink, but, my tractor is around 8,000lbs with ballast, then figure the loader with log forks will be another 1,000 lbs, and put 2,500lbs of wood on the forks. At this point, the tractor is sitting around 11,5000lbs combined, so the extra 750 lbs of counterweight (which is only 6% of total weight) will push the total weight up around the 12,250 point, but without it, the traction and stability of the tractor suffers. I find with the ballast and counterweight I have on it now, I will tip with around 3,400 - 3,500lbs on the forks, which is my comfortable maximum I want that front axle to have to deal with.