(ET) I need a fatter Elec-trak (weight issue)

[Chris Zach <cz alembic crystel com>]

So after another winter of some snowblowing I put away the blower and 
swapped in the mower deck. Need to really rebuild the motors, they make 
a lot of noise, anyone have a service to swap existing running motors 
for ones with rebuilt bearings and such?

I digress: The problem with my E20 is one of weight: I run 90 BB600's in 
the tractor, 30 in the front and 60 in the rear. It's nice, but they 
weigh a lot less than the T105's with the downside being that when I am 
mowing up hills the front wheels become light enough that steering is 
impossible unless I lift the deck (which puts the deck weight on the 
front). Yes, I have the springs, and no they don't provide enough downforce.

So running with the extra battery box on the back (which perfectly fits 
another 30 bb600's giving me 120 ah of power which is about the same as 
a stock set of T105's) there is nowhere near enough weight on the front 
wheels. I just tried sticking 4 dead Hawker 26ah batteries in the front 
(the hood doesn't quite close but it's 100 pounds of weight) and that's 
not quite enough. Where else can I add weight on the front of the 
tractor, preferably forward of the wheels? Any thoughts or suggestions?

In terms of why BB600's, I think we got those batteries in 2000 or so, 
making them almost 20 year old and still working fine. Much longer life 
than T105's, I'm guessing I am about 25% through their life span so I 
might need to replace them when I hit 130 years old. Hm... Better plan 
for that.