Ballast Choices for liqiud ballast in rear tires?

[dubba]

Not to hijack, but...

Has anyone "foamed" their tires?

My local dealer suggests this as the "next best thing to sliced bread". My manual recommends against it, But this same dealer is the one who sold me the tractor.

 

[john_bud]

Yep, heard of it. There are 2 main types. Hard and soft. If you want the tires to feel more like rocks, get the hard type. Weight is about like CaCl2 with the soft version. The benefit is that you will never get a flat tire. The foam is filling the tire all the way and it is not able to get out.

Two big negatives. First is when you need new tires, your tire guy will want to beat you with a tire iron. The stuff will have to be cut off of the rim in chunks then sand blasted off. Other is the price. Big equipment uses foam and they drop lots of expense by never having flats. Keeps the wheels rolling.

jb

 

[Bird]

A brother-in-law checked with a local place that foams tires when he thought about having it done to an old Ford tractor, but it was too expensive. One of my brothers had a small riding mower with very small tires on the front that kept rolling off the rim on turns and he had that same place foam those two little tires. I like the idea of the soft foam if it weren't so expensive.

 

[kingoflawns]

I was quoted a price of $800. to foam fill the turfs on my B7500, too rich for my blood. I found the green slime a couple of months later and it worked very well.

 

[curt1]

Last week I was quoted $925 (include's tax) to fill my L3130 rear tires with the soft foam. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif The tire dealer told me my 12.4 X 24 tire's would weigh in at about 450 Lbs. each, when filled. I may drain the ethanol from the rear tire's and add berrymans tire sealant. Then put rear wheel weights on. I do not want the hassle of fixing a fluid filled rear tire in the field.

Curt

 

[canoetrpr]

I've asked my dealer for some prices on wheel weights. Lets see how that goes.

 

[JerryG]

Dealer prices on wheel weights are enough to give an older guy a heart attack. I made mine for about $350. That is buying the weights and paying someone else to make the plates. I didn't have a welder at the time.

 

[gordon21]

Please explain what type of foam they are using. This is all new to me. Is it a flexible closed cell foam like what is inside high quality life jackets? Dense rigid foam like what is inside of boat hulls? What prevents the foam from crushing down and letting the tire ride lower and lower as time goes by?

 

[PineRidge]

If I was going to make a set of rear wheel weights Jerry has a pretty neat looking setup IMHO. How are they holding up Jerry?

 

[canoetrpr]

Ow!. I'm not an older guy and I'm sure I'll have a heart attack if they cost too much more than that.

I guess there is a reason why people ballast their tires with fluid rather than buying wheel weights!

Up here unfortunately the only liquid used is Calcium Chloride with tubes. I'm not comfortable doing it myself so it looks like this is the way I'm going to have to go.

 

[JerryG]

Mike,
They have been great. Same set has been of two different tractors.

 

[JerryG]

When your dealer tells you the price, you better be seating down. They are that high.

 

[jaab]

i had my rear tires filled with calcium at a local industrial shop. it added 606# and cost me a hundred bucks. the way i figure it by the time the wheels corrode i'll be way ahead of the game in regards to traction and stability. the shop owner told me the earliest corrosion problem he had seen was close to ten years. i'm sure by that time i/ll be on a new tractor because you can never seem to buy a big enough one anyway(said with tongue in cheek)

 

[N80]

What is the environmental concern with ethylene glycol (radiator fluid)? I know it will kill animals that drink it and that it tastes sweet so they want to drink it. Other than that, what are the concerns? I can dilute a spill, or watch it until it is absorbed into the ground in order to prevent animals from drinking it. This would only happen with a major puncture and the only other time it would be an issue would be when the tire is worn out and needs changing (which would be years in my case.

The reason I ask is that antifreeze seems the easiest and cheapest route to me. I'd put enough in to prevent freezing and rust (how much?) and the rest would be water. My B-I-L also recommends some other additive, rust gaurd (?), in addition to the antifreeze. My tires are tubeless.

If a puncture and spill (of this very dilute mixture) do represent a real and serious environmental risk, then I won't do it and would lean toward using washer fluid. But getting however many buckets of washer fluid into those tires through a funnel does not sound appealing to me.

 

[David Jackson]

I live in northern California and don't have a lot of alternatives for filling tires. Some years I get snow and one year the water in my rear tires froze and one inner tube was ruined.

There is one local shop which will fill my rear tires (14.9 x 24) with Calcium Chloride for only, the measly sum, of $625!! (Last year I was quoted $250.)

Anti Freeze and Washer Fluid or Alcohol appeal to me as alternatives but how do you actually get the stuff inside the tires?

The thread links to instructions in this thread must be dead because of age or something as they don't come up.

Thanks;

David Jackson

 

[3RRL]

David, N80,
I filled my tires about a year ago with anti-freeze and water. Napa sells a couple of alternative filler tools that are very inexpensive. I'd reccomend getting one that allows you to siphon a bottle of antifreeze while adding the water. I think it's like $14 bucks or so? Anyway, I did not use one, instead there was a "cap" at Pep Boys that scews onto the anifreeze bottle and I poured 2 gallons into the fronts and rears. Out where I am in CA it does not get that cold....rarely under 32°. I filled the fronts completely to top of rim and tried to maintain the weight distribution between fronts and rears so I did not fill the rears all the way to the top of rim....just shy of it. Now, a year later, I realize I could have filled them up and it would probably not have made much difference.
Anyway, I used the Napa tool to do it and it took a couple of hours to do all of them. Longest part for me was pouring the gallons of antifreeze...adding water went fast. Here's a thread I did mine in... it might help a little bit?
Filling Tires

 

[deereguy]

I had a situation a few years back with Windshield Solvent...I had "sharpened" a "T" post with the Bush hog, backed over with the rear R4 tire...long story short...had the tire guy come out, pumped out solvent, booted the slice, repumped and on his way. A week or so later the boot was leaking, he came out with a tube and another boot. The acid in the solvent had eaten away the adhesive that held the patch (boot) in place.

 

[David Jackson]

Siphon;

How would one start a siphon from an anti freeze bottle into the tire? Not challenging; just asking.

Farmingwithjunk suggested a small pump which I found where he said it would be, in the Grainger catalog.

Interesting that some would fill the front tires. I will have to go back to my manual but I think I remember it saying not to. The dealer who sold me the tractor did fill the fronts and my front steering has leaked for years; I surmise because of too much weight in the front tires!

Interesting that the solvent in ww fluid attacks patches in tubes. All I could do there would be to hope I have no patches.

Anti freeze is now about $10 per gallon; I am told by some charts that my tires would hold 47 gallons of water each (14.9 x 24) and if that is the case to protect down to about 10 degrees (just a little colder than I think it will ever get around here though I have recorded 17 degrees) is about 10 + gallons of anti freeze per tire, (around $100 per side). WW fluid is somewhat less expensive.

I am would lean towards ww fluid except that I don't know how much it can be diluted and I have to go to the next county to get it (the -20 degree variety). When I factor in the time and the gas for my larger pickup it may not be any cheaper. The fact that it attacks patches is disturbing though because that might indicate some incompatability with rubber.

Regards from Upper Toadtown;

David J.

 

[3RRL]

How would one start a siphon from an anti freeze bottle into the tire? Not challenging; just asking.

Much like a paint sprayer or pesticide sprayer or liquid fertilizer sprayer. Like I said, I used the cheapo tool (about $4.95) and poured the antifreeze into the deflated tires. Actually had Mrs. 3RRL do it while I drank a beer.







I thought I had seen a tire filling kit that had the siphon hose for it? I thought Napa sold them? Maybe it was the hardware store? Anyway, anything like that ould work. You put the hose in the antifreeze bottle and the unit is attached to the garden hose. Turn it on, both go in. I'll try to find a link.

Interesting that some would fill the front tires. I will have to go back to my manual but I think I remember it saying not to. The dealer who sold me the tractor did fill the fronts and my front steering has leaked for years; I surmise because of too much weight in the front tires!

I filled the fronts on my tractor and realized immediate greater traction and stability. I have had zero problems as a result of doing so, no leaks, no worn or broken parts, but then not all tractors are buil the same. Your steering may have leaked regardless if they were filled or not...can't say. it's not impossible? Especially if your dealer filled them initially. If it was a potential problem, those guys normally steer away from it.

 

[David Jackson]

I have the latest NAPA catalog in front of me as I type and I don't see that gadget mentioned.

There is one for using with acalcium tire filling pump but that is not something I care to deal with.

I have seen pumps in the Grainger catalog which have standard garden hose fittings and there appears to be a NAPA gadget that will go from hose fitting into the rear tires.

I found an anti freeze ww fluid concentrate for sale today locally though expensive. $4/quart roughly and at 3 to 1 I would need 63 quarts per side or about $250 per side. That won't work!

The active ingredient in this concentrate is Menthanol Alcohol. Can that be purchased and from whom would you think? Is Methanol Alcohol hard on rubber?

I am leaning back to regular anti freeze again.

Regards;

David Jackson