Don’t worry about the calcium. People on the internet love to overthink things and spend other peoples’ money. As long as you don’t have any leaks, you won’t have a bit of problem. The only ones that have problems with calcium are those that ignore leaks for years.There's no reason to look for another set of rims either. If for some reason you have to drain the tires in the future and re-fill, go ahead and fill with windshield washer fluid or beet juice. But don’t waste your time and money fixing something that isn’t broke.
Yup..... that is certainly one way to deal with the issue!
When the rust is obvious, then buy new rims and tubes.
Wait until the house is on fire, THEN go buy an extinguisher.
Okay, we've all heard you now. You can stop with the "calcium is the devil" stuff. The fact is, the only time it can cause an issue is when people are too lazy to fix an obvious problem. It's common knowledge that rust can't form without oxygen, and there's no oxygen inside a sealed tire tube. Just because you didn't get to yours fast enough, doesn't mean the rest of us are going to follow suit. I had calcium in my tires for 30 years before switching. And it wasn't from bad rims, I just happened to blow two tires within a year. I still have the same rims.
Thus, one must conclude that new tractor dealers REFUSE to use CaCl, because they know that their customers are "lazy" ???
Since we were discussing calcium chloride on here I thought I would mention that I was over at a neighbors today looking at his John Deer that I believe he said was dated 1952. I asked if he had calcium chloride in the rear tires and he showed me where he had to have a patch welded in where the valve stem comes thru. The other wheel on his tractor looked like it was starting to rust pretty good also. He did not seem to think that it was a big deal and just figured it was part of owning an old tractor. My neighbor is 82 so has farmed his whole life.
Did your neighbor say that his 1952 John Deere has actually had CaCl in the tires continually since 1952?
I can show you two 13x24 rims from my 1988 4x4 Ford 1920 FEL that are not repairable (it had tubes, and the tubes appeared to be in good condition).
The CaCl apparently leaked out where the valve stem is vulcanized in, and then corroded the entire inside edge of each rim.
I bought the tractor just last year, noting the appearance of a minor rust. I was certain that I could save the rims, but after de-mounting it was obvious that the damage was beyond repair.
The 13x24 rims are no longer available, so it was necessary to replace with 12x24 rims.
2 rims - $350, 2 tubes - $90 - De-mount/ mount - $120 - Total= $560 UGH! Had not planned on that!
I went COMPLETELY through the 1920 (1056 hours on the tractor) last summer, and it looks almost new.
Unfortunately, I know I have WAY too much money in it, but I just turned 75, so I really don't care!
If you send me your E-Mail address I will send you my UGLY CaCl rim pictures. (EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED)
No he did not say how long the calcium Chloride had been in there. The patch that was welded in where the valve stem goes was about 1 1/2 inches wide and about 2 inches long. But I can definitely see the rust popping thru on the other rim around the valve stem.
That is not cheap for new rims, inner tubes, plus all the remounting. But I am not going to worry about it and until I have to. I do appreciate the advice though and I know more now than I did before.
