Ballast tire ballast in subcompact tractor

[PILOON]

You don't want calcium chloride or salt for ballast if your tires are tubeless or it will rust the rims real quick I would either use rimguard or another non corrosive liquid for ballast to be safe and also you will need to use a tire pressure guage that is made for checking the tire pressure on fluid filled tires .

BUT;
If you add inner tubes you can!

 

[Zephrant]

Well I had a hard time finding pure CaCL- the hardware store has 92% CaCL, and the rest is NaCl and other stuff. I got tired of researching so called a few shops, and did find one that can do the beet juice. I dropped the tires off this afternoon, and will get them back tomorrow for the grand total of $86. I could hardly buy the CaCL for that, so it was far cheaper than I had thought.

Thanks for all the suggestions- I'll feel better not putting in the salt-water.

Next up- modifying a quick-hitch to give me a place to place suitcase weights.

While I figure that one out, I pulled apart the SCV linkage- it's sloppy and worn. Maybe they should have put zerts on those pieces- all dried out, no lube left at all. I can replace the worn parts for $200, which seams pretty steep.

Any ideas on how to turn down the shafts and re-bush it?

 

[buckowens]

I just did my first 50 hour service on my GC2310TLB. To my suprise when removing one rear tire I found it to be liquid filled (and really, really heavy...). I am still not sure if it came that way from the factory or if my dealer did it.

 

[radioman]

not sure if you can rebuild it with bushin and turn old pin. Can you go the next size up and add zerks ? you might have to drill out the hole for new larger pin ( i know i know i would hate to do the same thing) . I am not sure of the size of your old pin so its kinda hard to tell from pics.

 

[jaybrad]

I just did my first 50 hour service on my GC2310TLB. To my suprise when removing one rear tire I found it to be liquid filled (and really, really heavy...). I am still not sure if it came that way from the factory or if my dealer did it.

...and at the other end of that spectrum, I did my 50 hour service this summer and was surprised at how very light it was - and since then have debated about filling it. I've thought the added weight would help when using the backhoe.

 

[gerard]

Think you'll be very ahppy with the rimguard. My only regret was waiting 8 years before doing it. Makes a work of difference, more stable on slopes and when doing loader work and MUCH better traction when doing dirt work, laoder work, or snow work.

 

[Zephrant]

I've not measured the pins, but one is about 3/8" and the other a little bigger. I put it all back together with some grease for now. No more squeaks at least.

I thought about zerks too- but I bet if I just greased it once a year, I'd be fine. This tractor lived outside for four years, so I suspect that didn't help any either.

My filled tires weighed 148 pounds (26x12x12 R4). I forgot to weigh them empty, but they were light. At 10 gallons per tire, and 11# per gallon (according to the Rim Guard site), I added about 220# to the back end.

That ought to be enough to keep the bucket from lifting the rear off the ground when it hits a block of ice.

 

[Zephrant]

Well the 200+ pounds in my tires certainly helps, but I need more to move ice in the bucket. I'm going to buy a quick-hitch and weld a cross-member on it, then hang on 4-6 suitcase weights.

Problem with that is that I don't know how to weld yet. The local Oxarc shop offers instruction for $25/hr, so I'm going to go down and have them jump-start my learning a little. I'm also watching craigslist for a used mig with enough juice to do 1/4" steel easily.

 

[DEWFPO]

Why not just have the shop weld a cross member onto your quick hitch for you?

DEWFPO

 

[greenmule]

I got methinal in my rears[alcohol],not as heavy[weighs same as water basicly] but cheap and won't rust your valve stems like calcium,cheaper than the beet juice.

Got it mixed with water at about 1/3 methinal to 2/3 water,got a tire man with a pump and stuff,he came out and was done with it in about an hour.

 

[1972SprintConvertible]

I used 10 gallons of the windshield washer fluid with deicer all in one per tire. I took the valve core out and put the tire on its side and lowered the jack down and let the axle on the tractor break the bead in one spot then put a funnel in that spot and pured 10 gallons per wheel and put the valve core back in and added around 10 lbs of air and the bar lugs look like they are making full contact on the concrete. I used it several times moving snow and I can tell a big difference from the way it was last year in the snow and I used it to move a safe from out of the truck to the back of the house and kept the loader low to the ground and it done great. I should also mention that I do have wheel weights on also and for a really big job nothing beats the weight of the tiller on the three point. All in all I had less then $25.00 in filling my tires with fluid from Wal-Mart.

 

[HeavyHitch]

I know this is a pretty old post, but here's a hitch with the weight bar you're looking for Tractor Quick Hitch | Hitch for 3 Point Hitch Tractor Attachments, 3 Point Tractor Hitches for John Deere Tractor Accessories | Heavy Hitch

 

[Zephrant]

Thanks for posting that- it looks perfect.

I decided to save my pennies for a little longer, so never bought the imatch or welder, but I've been leaning towards getting the imatch again the last few days.

$189 for the unit is not too bad, and gives me the 2" receiver hitch too.

So when stump pulling, could I use the 2" receiver, or is it still better to use the hole on the plate located on the bottom of the transmission?

 

[homer8206]

I went a different way and it has worked out well. Went to Tractor Supply and bought a $100 carry all, bolted a deck on it and put 3 concrete filled cinder blocks on it. This gave me about 205 lbs of weight hanging of the back and i have done 50 hours of FEL work and have have no problems even with a full bucket. This also has helped with traction in mud and snow. Also only takes 3 mins to install or remove and i also get the use of a carry all if i need it.