Thad, TuckyKen said he was sorry, I think.
Lead fumes are nothing to sneeze at. If you're doing it by the gallon to make tractor ballast, it's best to smelt it outdoors. (but not when it's raining, a drop of water in molten metal releases a scary amount of energy, in the form of flying molten metal). In small doses, I put my little Lee lead casting furnace on the range and turn the vent hood on high.
Some bullet casters like to melt their tire balance weights down, skim off the dross, etc, in a big iron pot on a propane burner from a turkey fryer. Then they pour it into cupcake tins to make more manageable ingots for future bullet casting. That's where I got the idea that a round cake pan might do for a wheel weight, or a bread loaf pan to make big ingots for the Cub utility box.
Is the utility box sealed on the sides and bottom? If so, you could take an old pitted box and pour a couple gallons of lead in it to make a 200# rear weight. It would counterweight a QA42 quite nicely I'd think. In fact, if I am lucky enough to get a Cub with 52# IH weights, I might just sell the weights for $100 (do people really pay that much?) and make a combination rear hitch/weight box with the center of mass below and behind the axle.
Lead fumes are nothing to sneeze at. If you're doing it by the gallon to make tractor ballast, it's best to smelt it outdoors. (but not when it's raining, a drop of water in molten metal releases a scary amount of energy, in the form of flying molten metal). In small doses, I put my little Lee lead casting furnace on the range and turn the vent hood on high.
Some bullet casters like to melt their tire balance weights down, skim off the dross, etc, in a big iron pot on a propane burner from a turkey fryer. Then they pour it into cupcake tins to make more manageable ingots for future bullet casting. That's where I got the idea that a round cake pan might do for a wheel weight, or a bread loaf pan to make big ingots for the Cub utility box.
Is the utility box sealed on the sides and bottom? If so, you could take an old pitted box and pour a couple gallons of lead in it to make a 200# rear weight. It would counterweight a QA42 quite nicely I'd think. In fact, if I am lucky enough to get a Cub with 52# IH weights, I might just sell the weights for $100 (do people really pay that much?) and make a combination rear hitch/weight box with the center of mass below and behind the axle.