Originally Posted by
etudiant
Surprised the overweight engine problem could not be offset by a slight extension forward of the wing. Ballast seems like such a desperate last minute fix.
The key is it's last minute. Adding a fuselage plug forward of the wing is a not a trivial change - it's a major fuselage re-design. Sure, if you don't mind delaying the project a couple years and tens (or even hundreds) of millions in additional costs.
The location of the wing relative to the fuselage is one of the first things that have to be established when designing an aircraft, not something you can mess with less than a year prior to first flight when you find out the engine just got a lot heavier.
PDR, one ton per engine, there are two (at least). Also, there is already a lot of stuff at the pointy end that can't be readily moved - hence when you start talking thousands of pounds of ballast you can't put it in the most efficient location.