diy tire ballast

[Stokes760]

need to reballast after a puncture going to use nontoxic anti freeze. Question is I im not worried about the ballast freezing im worried about rusting out my rims. Whats a good dilution ratio for rust prevention.

 

[ovrszd]

I'm just speculating here. I'd think if you did 25% anti-freeze for example, you'd benefit from the anti-corrosion additive in the anti-freeze and not have to worry about it.

I used Windshield Washer fluid. Not sure it has any anti-corrosive additive. Wasn't worried about it. How long would it take straight water to corrode thru a 1/4" thick rim??

 

[Tx Jim]

If rims happen to rust from not using enough antifreeze I'll bet you'll be grey headed by the time a rim would require replacement. Water & antifreeze is a lot less corrosive than CaCl. If it was my tractor I'd put a few gallons in so it wouldn't freeze solid and be done. Back when I was employed by a JD dealer I poured 5 gallons AF in an 18.4X38 tire(valve stem at 6 o'clock) and filled tire to 75%(valve stem at 12 o'clock) with water. Granted this was in Texas but never had a tire freeze and never had a complaint.

 

[Gary Fowler]

need to reballast after a puncture going to use nontoxic anti freeze. Question is I im not worried about the ballast freezing im worried about rusting out my rims. Whats a good dilution ratio for rust prevention.

Just use plain water which is an almost inert liquid. ANY chemical added to it is going to be more detrimental to the paint on the rim than plain water. That is what I use in my tractors here and don't worry about rusting. That is all we ever used in our tractors on the farm from 8N Fords in 1949 to 9000 Ford in 1970 and never had any rust problem. We used untreated water straight from the well pump. Water filled over the top of the rim will protect the rim just as well as any chemical can since it prevents free oxygen from getting to the rim PLUS your rims are painted with a good paint. If it takes years with them exposed externally to all sorts of items before any rust starts, think how long it will last on the inside of the tire without it starting to rust and then IF it did rust how long would it take pure water to dissolve the rim. I have found old pieces of metal buried in creeks that are at least 100 years old and still not that rusted.
You will be dead and gone long before the rims rust out if using plain well water.

 

[ovrszd]

Just use plain water which is an almost inert liquid. ANY chemical added to it is going to be more detrimental to the paint on the rim than plain water. That is what I use in my tractors here and don't worry about rusting. That is all we ever used in our tractors on the farm from 8N Fords in 1949 to 9000 Ford in 1970 and never had any rust problem. We used untreated water straight from the well pump. Water filled over the top of the rim will protect the rim just as well as any chemical can since it prevents free oxygen from getting to the rim PLUS your rims are painted with a good paint. If it takes years with them exposed externally to all sorts of items before any rust starts, think how long it will last on the inside of the tire without it starting to rust and then IF it did rust how long would it take pure water to dissolve the rim. I have found old pieces of metal buried in creeks that are at least 100 years old and still not that rusted.
You will be dead and gone long before the rims rust out if using plain well water.

Gary, good analogy about the outside of the rim. It's exposed to all kinds of corrosion and contamination with no worries about it rusting the rim away.

 

[cartod]

Just use plain water which is an almost inert liquid. ANY chemical added to it is going to be more detrimental to the paint on the rim than plain water. That is what I use in my tractors here and don't worry about rusting. That is all we ever used in our tractors on the farm from 8N Fords in 1949 to 9000 Ford in 1970 and never had any rust problem. We used untreated water straight from the well pump. Water filled over the top of the rim will protect the rim just as well as any chemical can since it prevents free oxygen from getting to the rim PLUS your rims are painted with a good paint. If it takes years with them exposed externally to all sorts of items before any rust starts, think how long it will last on the inside of the tire without it starting to rust and then IF it did rust how long would it take pure water to dissolve the rim. I have found old pieces of metal buried in creeks that are at least 100 years old and still not that rusted.
You will be dead and gone long before the rims rust out if using plain well water.

What happens when the water freezes solid?

 

[PapaPerk]

What happens when the water freezes solid?

It has the potential to blow the tire apart. I've seen tractor tires explode and it's not pretty. Like a bomb going off!

 

[ovrszd]

Because the OP said he wasn't worried about freezing I also didn't worry about talking freezing.

If a water filled tire froze solid it's unlikely it would blow the tire apart because of the air inside and it stretching nature. I've saw it happen as a kid with small Ford tractors and the neighbors A JD. Probably not very good on the tire though

 

[Tx Jim]

It has the potential to blow the tire apart. I've seen tractor tires explode and it's not pretty. Like a bomb going off!

This old fart would have to see the tire blow apart from frozen ice to actually believe that will happen. Has anyone ACTUALLY WITNESSED this phenomenal????????? What % does water expand when it freezes??

 

[Gary Fowler]

I surely doubt that anyone has seen a tire explode from freezing water inside, high pressure air yes, that is a potential bomb but expanding water not one way in heck will that happen. Water expands by 10 % when frozen and with a 75% fill there is plenty of room for expansion without stressing the tires. Just as ice cubes in a tray expand into the top portion rather than bend or break the tray, the ice in a tire will do the same thing. The only problem with water freezing is that you must not move the tractor till it melts otherwise the ice could damage the tire and especially the stem. We used it on all our tractor on the farm (I have it in my tractor tires now and I am sure it froze solid in the week of below zero weather we had some days @ 9F and nothing exploded. Tires that freeze will "sweat" when the weather warms up after being cold and as long as they are sweating, you must not move them. IF parked in the sun it doesn't take long to melt the ice inside as the black tires really draw the heat.
The OP is in Ramona CA. so not much chance of freezing conditions there so no need for expense of antifreeze or windshield washer fluid or beet juice unless he wants the extra weight from the Rimguard.

 

[Tx Jim]

I surely doubt that anyone has seen a tire explode from freezing water inside, high pressure air yes, that is a potential bomb but expanding water not one way in heck will that happen. Water expands by 10 % when frozen and with a 75% fill there is plenty of room for expansion without stressing the tires. Just as ice cubes in a tray expand into the top portion rather than bend or break the tray, the ice in a tire will do the same thing. The only problem with water freezing is that you must not move the tractor till it melts otherwise the ice could damage the tire and especially the stem.

AMEN BUDDY

 

[cartod]

I wasn't even thinking about exploding when I asked the question, I was wondered how it drove with a solid chunk of ice inside the wheel.

 

[Gary Fowler]

What happens when the water freezes solid?

You cant use plain water when your temps get cold enough and stay cold all winter to freeze water. Here in southern Arkansas, we may have a day or so of freezing temps and then it warms back up. This has not been a normal year and having a week of freezing weather is unusual. When tires ballast freezes up, you have to wait till they thaw before moving them to avoid damage to the tire valve stem and tire. You must use anti-freeze additive of some sort when your normal winter temps are below freezing for all or most of the time if you want to continue to use your tractor full time. It takes several days of below freezing temps to freeze the water in a tire and it doesn't happen overnight when a brief period of below 32F happens. In my case, I have my LS with loaded tires (pure water) and my Kubota B26 TLB with only air in the tires as per Kubota directions to not fill the tires when you have the backhoe on it. So if it happened to freeze up my LS for a day or two and I absolutely needed a tractor, I still have my B26 to use if needed, however when it gets that cold, I don't do any work with my tractors anyway even though the LS has a cab with HVAC.

 

[PapaPerk]

My point is... Putting pure water in tires is not good in freezing conditions. It stresses the rubber tire which can lead to tire failure. Especially in older tires. The failure may not occur during freeze... But later in the tires life.

I tell ya what... Call up Firestone or Titan and see what they say about using pure water as ballast in their tires.... In freezing temps.