VERY expensive beet juice!

canoetrpr · Sep 24, 2011

Don87 said:
What you have so far is:

1750 for wheel weights

1300 'ish for RV antifreeze, installed yourself

1150 for the Canadian version of 'Beet Juice' , installed by someone else.

I think Soundguy typoed on the RV antifreeze. I think he meant 1300 lb not $. I'm assuming the cost of concentrated RV antifreeze solution is negligible.

Any downsides to using RV anti-freeze? Does sound like a good option. Forgive the lack of knowledge here but how does one go about filling it themselves without it taking the whole day? I was thinking about just hiring my tire guy to do a service call and get it done.

Soundguy · Sep 24, 2011

yep.. 1300#, and rv af is 5$ a jug here in florida. darn lil 8" netbook keyboard. typo's abound..

fill yerself fast...

burp valve lets you put in water from a garden hose.

and a 4$ drill pump from harbor freight is the fast way to get the ballast in.. however funnle and fuel line work fine too.

add ballast first.. then garden hose the water in, burping as you go.

why pay someone lots of $$ for something that you can do at home for alot less than 100$ of all materials combined. the AF will be the bulk of the ost.. the drill pump abd burp valve, under 20$.. half that if you funnle it in ..

soundguy

canoetrpr · Sep 24, 2011

Soundguy - I'm guessing you are suggesting diluting the RV antifreeze that is sold in stores?

Our RV antifreeze is made of gold here in Canada. 4 literes - just over a gallon for $9.49. It is fancy Prestone stuff and is meant to be used straight without dilution. Apparently it is good to -50 Celcius. On the downside it is more expensive that beet juice!

I'll try to see what bulk prices are like. Perhaps the Napa store or a wholesaler has a good deal on WW fluid in bulk as well.

Soundguy · Sep 24, 2011

farther north ya go.. the more $$ stuff costs it seems. can believe that it is 2x the cost of here.. that's not surprising..

for freeze protection.. all you need is slushy.. just need to prevent a solid.. etc.

soundguy

MtnViewRanch · Sep 24, 2011

I filled all four of my tires myself on both of my Mahindra tractors. My 7520 will hold about the same amount of fluid as the M7040. Took me about 2 1/2 hours with a garden hose and a funnel for the anti freeze. Absolutely no reason to pay someone to fill and unless you really need the few hundred pounds more that the beet juice gets you, why speed the big bucks for the extra weight.

And the tractor will ride better with the fluid vs the cast iron. I know, I have both. I did the wheel weights first and it just was not enough weight for my purposes so I then added fluid. Waaaaaaaaaaay smother ride and just a better over all feeling with the tractor itself.

canoetrpr · Sep 24, 2011

So what kind of a ratio do you guys use to dilute the RV antifreeze stuff? It's a bit colder here so I have to be careful

That was gold plated Prestone stuff at $9.50. I'm sure I will be able to find the generic variety at Napa or elsewhere.

MtnViewRanch · Sep 24, 2011

canoetrpr said:
So what kind of a ratio do you guys use to dilute the RV antifreeze stuff? It's a bit colder here so I have to be careful

That was gold plated Prestone stuff at $9.50. I'm sure I will be able to find the generic variety at Napa or elsewhere.

There should be ratios needed for different temps on the anti freeze bottles.

foggy1111 · Sep 24, 2011

-30 f Windshield Washer Anti-freeze is about $3.00 per gallon....and would appear to the the lowest cost DIY alternative (without going to CC). One of the Mart's is likely the cheapest place to buy it. It's not as heavy as cc or beet juice....but it is lower cost and weighs about as much as the RV antifreeze. A flat tire does not pollute like others....IMO.

I would not dillute the RV antifreeze if you live in the north country.....and it costs more than RimGuard around here. No advantage in it for ballast....as I see it.

I run Rim-guard. No regrets.

k0ua · Sep 24, 2011

Well here is your chart, but here is how I see it: since the rating for the RV antifreeze is -50F straight out of the bottle, I believe it is already cut with water at about 55 percent Propylene Glycol and 45 percent water. so if you were to cut that volume in half you would have somewhere near 28 percent Propylene Glycol so the way I see it that would only be about +10 degrees F . Not so good for Canada I would think. Now the chart shows by weight not volume, but since PG and water weigh near the same I would think it would not make much difference in the calculation. I put 24 gallons of RV antifreeze in each tire and 1 gallon of water, so nearly straight stuff in my L3400HST. I used RV antifreeze, not because it was cheap, at $4 per gallon it was not, I just could not find a Rimguard dealer anywhere around here or I would have done that. Someone else please check my math and line of thinking, I could be wrong, but this is how I see it.

James K0UA

Don87 · Sep 24, 2011

Soundguy said:
yep.. 1300#, and rv af is 5$ a jug here in florida. darn lil 8" netbook keyboard. typo's abound..

fill yerself fast...

burp valve lets you put in water from a garden hose.

and a 4$ drill pump from harbor freight is the fast way to get the ballast in.. however funnle and fuel line work fine too.

add ballast first.. then garden hose the water in, burping as you go.

why pay someone lots of $$ for something that you can do at home for alot less than 100$ of all materials combined. the AF will be the bulk of the ost.. the drill pump abd burp valve, under 20$.. half that if you funnle it in ..

soundguy