Are calcium filled tires a horror show?

[Slowpoke Slim]

I have never understood the use of filled tires. Just buy cast rims and/or cast wheel weights. Too many drawbacks to filling rims/tires, both mechanical and environmental

What's not to understand? No one uses calcium anymore. Beet juice (Rimguard) is the fluid of choice now. Nothing "environmental" to it. $ per pound it beats wheel weights all to heck and back.

I'll never understand folks that DON'T fill tires for ballast. Never make sense to me. Waste of money, time, effort. Ridiculous. In four years of filled tires, I've not had one single issue. No leaks, nada, zip.

 

[Cycledude]

Rims rust out even without any kind of fluid, my 8N Ford is a pretty good example, the tractor is only about 75 years old and so far I have had to replace 3 rims because of rust, 2 fronts never had any fluid and 1 rear that did have fluid, I suppose one of these days the other rear will go flat and the rim will need replacement

 

[Hay Dude]

What's not to understand? No one uses calcium anymore. Beet juice (Rimguard) is the fluid of choice now. Nothing "environmental" to it. $ per pound it beats wheel weights all to heck and back.

I'll never understand folks that DON'T fill tires for ballast. Never make sense to me. Waste of money, time, effort. Ridiculous. In four years of filled tires, I've not had one single issue. No leaks, nada, zip.

I have. Twice.
NEVER again.
By the way, second time was beet juice. It does kill grass if it’s a hot day, it does smell like dead skunk and it does stain pavement.
Last price I got on it, it wasn’t all that cheap, either.

 

[Hay Dude]

What's not to understand? No one uses calcium anymore. Beet juice (Rimguard) is the fluid of choice now. Nothing "environmental" to it. $ per pound it beats wheel weights all to heck and back.

I'll never understand folks that DON'T fill tires for ballast. Never make sense to me. Waste of money, time, effort. Ridiculous. In four years of filled tires, I've not had one single issue. No leaks, nada, zip.

Nothing environmental? So if a 34” tire filled with calcium chloride decides to take a dump on mrs Smiths lawn, nothing environmental happened?
Might be cheaper than wheel weights, but with everything that can happen, including my 2 mishaps, I’ll never do liquid again.
When you buy a tractor, just order it the wheel weights or cast rims with it.

 

[K5lwq]

I actually would like to have both filled tires and wheel weights on the Branson but my rims are not pre drilled. One day I may get some weights and drill the rims but not anytime soon.

Every tractor we have owned has had filled tires and never been a problem. But most of them were filled with just water. In fact the Branson is the only one that has RV antifreeze in it.

 

[skipmarcy]

My tubeless rear R4s have been filled with 50/50 mix of methanol for just about 20 years now, 3063 hours of HEAVY duty use and never a leak. If one did leak, the alcohol would be evaporated away in just a little while ...

When my new tractor was delivered to me I drove it the 3 miles to our Co-op to have the tires filled. Was a combination of paved and gravel road along the way. It was a difference of night & day in the ride coming back home with that fluid in the tires - would never have unfilled rear tires on a tractor again.

 

[oldpilot]

Definitely it's hard on the wheels! My late father-in-laws 1952 Allis Chalmers's loaded wheels were so rusted that a couple of times one of them fell off when I braked too hard. He bought a 1975 Intl Harvester 284 (actually a Japanese Bison, which he discovered first time he checked the coolant level and saw the lettering on the cap) and those loaded rear wheels too were pretty rusted out by the time I gave up on it in 2019. But it lasted almost twice as long as the Allis.

But gosh, I'd like to have either one back instead of Mahindra Baba! (Rear wheels not loaded!)

 

[jdmeth]

Advantage of living in Florida, all you need is water. The tires in my 1971 JD 3020 havn't been off in 35 years, no rust that I can see.

 

[MHarryE]

Has been debated here for years. My largest tractor (M7-171) has beet juice. Before retiring from Caterpillar in 2009, we filled all soil compactor tires with CaCl as did all of our competitors. Only problem I recall was customs inspector in Australia checking to see if contraband in tires during port arrival check, pressed valve and was squirted in face. Spent several days in hospital before word got to me and I sent MSDS showing salt water - rinse with fresh water. We added that alert to Operator Manual. Rust on our tubeless tires was never a problem. Our tire suppliers, Goodyear (Europe) and Firestone (USA) assured that only free oxygen in tire is in the air. Painted rim is adequate protection but even if paint is damaged, there is only enough oxygen to create flash rust. Tube tires were a problem. Solution leaking between tube and rim is open to air. I have a 1928 Case CC sitting in front of my place. The front rims (no fluid) are rusted out. The rears with CaCl are still solid. Go figure. Compactor companies use CaCl due to cost. My own equipment beet juice because extra level of caution.

 

[CobyRupert]

My father had a 1953 Case VAC with calcium filled tires.
In 2003, I noticed one was starting to weep a little fluid when we sold it.
What a horror show!

Working on a side hill with that little narrow front end tractor, I’m glad it did have loaded tires. I want added weight down low, lowering the center of gravity. Adding wheel weights that are centered on the axle might help traction, but does nothing for stability.