Tires Rear ballast

[wmonroe]

Ive been doing a little reading just trying to gain some knowledge on liquid tire ballast and came across the articles from John Deere and titan tire. Not saying they are factual or anything, just interesting.

John Deere:
Using liquid ballast in tires

Quote from titan tire on Ken Jones tire blog:
Liquid Weighting of Tractor Tires | Ken Jones Tire Blog

Even with calcium they both recommend a partial fill which seems like a bad idea due to corrosion.

 

[ModMech]

One note on weight/tire types and lawns or other perishable objects....

Folks, no matter if the tractor weighs 1500# or 8000#, 5 psi of tire pressure is still only 5 pounds of pressure per square inch, there are just more square inches of ground contact if the tire is supporting more weight

Most all the tractors and implements here use 5-8 psi in their tires and you cannot see the tracks on the "lawn" even with wet ground. Now you drive a lighter CAR on the lawn with 35 psi tire inflations and you have CLEARLY visible depressions

Also, when you fill tires it is VERY important to do two things: a) Mark the tire/rim as "Liquid filled" and 2) Check/inflate ONLY with the valve stem at 12 O'clock or you WILL ruin your pressure gauge.

 

[ovrszd]

You have tubes in your tires.

I used a drill mounted pump.

I bought my WWF in 65 gallon barrels so could simply draw out of the barrels. As you said, you'll need to dump your WWF into a container of some kind.

This is a slow process so don't think you are going to do it in a few minutes. I didn't use an air release fitting so I had to pump in fluid, let out air, pump in fluid, let out air until I finished. No big deal, just time consuming.

HUGE plus side is I added 1500lbs of weight for $212.

Let us know how this goes for you!!!

 

[RoyJackson]

...2) Check/inflate ONLY with the valve stem at 12 O'clock or you WILL ruin your pressure gauge.

There are air-liquid inflation gages which are spring loaded to expel the liquid once the pressure is checked. They're available at Tractor Supply. IIRC, I bought mine at a Deere dealer.

One more suggestion is to jack the tire so it's just off the surface when checking pressure.

 

[ModMech]

There are air-liquid inflation gages which are spring loaded to expel the liquid once the pressure is checked. They're available at Tractor Supply. IIRC, I bought mine at a Deere dealer.

Most people don't have a liquid capable gauge handy and while not expensive, another thing to buy and store.

 

[Fallon]

The Schrader valve will have liquid in it no matter the position it sits. It splashes around & ends up in the valve stem even when the stem is above the liquid level. So you really need a liquid capable gauge.

 

[RoyJackson]

Most people don't have a liquid capable gauge handy and while not expensive, another thing to buy and store.

Well, the pencil type is maybe 10 or 12 bucks. Not a major investment and can be used on any type of tire (caveat: Mine is 0-20 or 30 PSI...not much good for a car or truck tire)

 

[ModMech]

The Schrader valve will have liquid in it no matter the position it sits. It splashes around & ends up in the valve stem even when the stem is above the liquid level. So you really need a liquid capable gauge.

Not more to worry about than normal, there is a LOT of moisture in air and it's getting into the tire when you air it up.

 

[wmonroe]

My 25 gallon sprayer has a fitting that I can disconnect and a garden hose will thread right on. So I'm going to use the sprayer, an old washing machine fill hose, and the adapter to the valve stem and should be good to go. Figure it will take a couple hours at least but shouldn't be too bad. The pump on the sprayer is good for 3.6 gpm.

 

[s219]

I don't use a special gauge. Instead, I put the valve stem at 12 o'clock and burp the valve to clear any fluid before checking pressure, and have never had problems or ruined any pressure gauges. Even an unfilled tire will have some moisture in it.

 

[ovrszd]

I don't use a special gauge. Instead, I put the valve stem at 12 o'clock and burp the valve to clear any fluid before checking pressure, and have never had problems or ruined any pressure gauges. Even an unfilled tire will have some moisture in it.

Ditto.

 

[wmonroe]

Well I finally got a chance to add the ww fluid. So far I've put 36 gallons in each tire for about 612 pounds total. I chose 36 gallons mostly because that's what I had time for but the fluid level is about 2-3" above the centerline of the axle. The charts say I should be able to get another 12 gallons in each tire so I'll be doing it probably once it warms up, I already have the fluid so might as well put it in. The set up using the sprayer worked great and moved the fluid in pretty fast. From start to cleaned up and back in the house was about 90 minutes. Instead of using the "burp" button on the fill valve which is a little messy I figured out I could turn the pump of and open the "recirculate" valve on the pump which would let the air out of the tire and any liquid mess would just dump back in the tank. I burped it three times but the pump had plenty of power that probably only needed to burp it twice. It was raining/freezing rain so I didn't get it out and drive around to see how it felt, maybe tomorrow. Here is a picture of my pump set up, not the best pic but it gives you the idea.

 

[Texasmark]

I bought the ww fluid last night and got enough to put the full 48 gallons in each tire. Now just trying to decide if I'm going to put it all in or give a partial fill a try. I looked at my tires and they appear to be tubed.
For fun here is a picture of the ww fluid. View attachment 493214

Can anyone confirm that these are tube tires? Partial first and fill as desired is easier than filling all 48 gallons and having to take it out.

View attachment 493215
View attachment 493216

That's a tube stem.

On filling, once you fill to the valve stem in the 12 o'clock position (which is approx 75%), how do you expect to fill more? Using a fill adapter for a water hose, when you stop filling and let the compressed air out, you need to have air at the stem. Otherwise you just blow out the fluid you just inserted.

On fil level and shock, the larger the volume of air in the tire and lower the pressure, the smaller is the bounce. PV is a constant so you can move one up or down and the other moves equally in the reverse direction. If you only have a small volume of air a small change in pressure makes for a big bounce......take that function to infinity as was mentioned above....100% fill (if you could get it.....show me how) would be zero air and you are sitting on a rock essentially.....water doesn't compress, air does.

 

[ovrszd]

Well I finally got a chance to add the ww fluid. So far I've put 36 gallons in each tire for about 612 pounds total. I chose 36 gallons mostly because that's what I had time for but the fluid level is about 2-3" above the centerline of the axle. The charts say I should be able to get another 12 gallons in each tire so I'll be doing it probably once it warms up, I already have the fluid so might as well put it in. The set up using the sprayer worked great and moved the fluid in pretty fast. From start to cleaned up and back in the house was about 90 minutes. Instead of using the "burp" button on the fill valve which is a little messy I figured out I could turn the pump of and open the "recirculate" valve on the pump which would let the air out of the tire and any liquid mess would just dump back in the tank. I burped it three times but the pump had plenty of power that probably only needed to burp it twice. It was raining/freezing rain so I didn't get it out and drive around to see how it felt, maybe tomorrow. Here is a picture of my pump set up, not the best pic but it gives you the idea.

Very good setup!!!! Sounds like it worked great!!!! Post your thoughts after you've used the tractor a bit. Hopefully this accomplishes what you wanted it to. Good job on rigging up the sprayer pump.

 

[wmonroe]

Thanks, it did work as well or better than I expected. I did get the tractor out for a little bit to move firewood into the garage but didn't give it much of a test. It did seem to go better on the wet ground in 2WD. I'll post my impressions once I get some hours in.

 

[Shaneard]

Very good setup!!!! Sounds like it worked great!!!! Post your thoughts after you've used the tractor a bit. Hopefully this accomplishes what you wanted it to. Good job on rigging up the sprayer pump.

+1 on this!

 

[GManBart]

It will rust....for the same reasons that fish hooks, nails, etc. that sit in a lake will rust.

There's plenty of oxygen in water to allow rust to happen. Windshield washer fluid...not so much.