Sorry for a late reply. I have forgotten about this thread. Did it work?
I tried with two shop lights (both were about 10 years old). With the first one, the ballast died quietly. With the second one, explosion might be exaggeration, but it made "puff" noise and smoke came out. So when you put the LED bulbs and turn on the shop light, watch it carefully. If it is really dim, or no light comes on, don't keep trying. You should turn it off within 10 seconds or so. I kept turning on and off multiple times to see if it would get going, and that's how I broke the ballasts. I prefer ballast removal T8 LEDs, but they may not be easy to get them from Lowe's etc.