Traction wheel weights or fill the tires?

[Scotty Dive]

here is my .02 cents for rim guard versus weights:
1. My turf tires are loaded - about 450 - 500 pounds. No problem to install and remove them. If they fall over while rolling them - let them. I am 170 pounds and can tip them back up. You always have the weight on the tractor and it provides great stability and a lower center of gravity. Do they mash down my lawn - yes - but after a few days - no problem. If I get a hole in one...I put the hole at the top and plug. It does put less stress versus weights on the bearings if that is a concern for you - but it doesn't bother me. Its nice to have the stability and the weight when doing light loader work.
2. Wheel weights - very expensive (in metal) to get an equivalent amount of weight on the rim and a pain in the neck to man handle when installing and removing. They are so dense that crushed fingers and toes are a distinct possibility. If I had to remove the tires - I would have to remove the weights first and then the tire. Otherwise - I am guessing here....the tires with the weights still mounted would be very much off balanced and difficult to roll to a safe place If they tipped over - since the weight is concetrated towards the center of the rim - it would take a lot of strenght to stand them back up again.

 

[mguitas]

I've busted too many knuckles on wheel weights. I went with RimGuard on my last tractor.

//greg//

How much weight would RimGuard add to my tractor. (picture below)

 

[Scotty Dive]

How much weight would RimGuard add to my tractor. (picture below)

According to tractor data you have 12-16.5 tires on your massey. Then over to rim gaurd website and they say 15 gallons of rg for a total of 160.5 pounds per tire.

 

[Henri88]

Scotty Dive

''It does put less stress versus weights on the bearings if that is a concern for you - but it doesn't bother me''

Could you elaborate on this. I just can't picture it. :confused2: Does using wheels weight really add more stress to the bearing. Am I that hardheaded. I know that it has very little consequences on the bearing if any at all, but this added stress on the axle keeps popping up, and I seem to be the only one not getting it. It must be a french thing.

 

[Scotty Dive]

The best I can describe it is the wieghts pull downward and out on the axle because the weight is fixed onto the rim....the fluid rolls within the rim and does not tortionally stress the bearing.

Hopefully someone smarter than me who REALY knows can correct me or add to it.:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[greg_g]

How much weight would RimGuard add to my tractor. (picture below)

Those aren't very big tires. I'd say you'd gain about 165# per tire, assuming a 75% fill of RimGuard. I filled all four R4s on my JD3720, which hold a quite a bit more than yours. I gained about 475# per rear tire and about 80# per front tire; about half a metric ton of RimGuard ballast. But it's strictly for everyday traction and side hill stability (the cab makes my JD a bit top heavy). When I have loader work to do, I mount a 900# ballast box on the rear hitch.

In my book, neither wheel weights nor liquid ballast should impose any additional stress on tractor components. Fuel economy is going to be affected, yes. But to me that's a fair trade-off for the additional stability (and confidence) I've gained for working my Kentucky hillside property.

//greg//

 

[jimjo2]

Easy fix! I have a set if beet juice filled R4's and an unfilled set of turf tires and wheels for my 2520. It takes about 30 minutes to change them and it works for me. Even filled they aren't too bad to move around, although, I haven't tipped one over yet.http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/images/smilies/new/laughing.gif

 

[North Country]

How much was the second set of wheels & tires? As expensive as it is, isn't steel cheaper?

 

[jcmseven]

There is a nominal increase in stress on any rotating part directly related to driving a tire/wheel combination when additional weight is applied to the end of the lever arm such as in this scenario. This is to me unavoidable. This opinion said, the amount is negligible and well within the design parameters of the manufacturer. I did not mean to imply that one should not ballast due to concern about a failure or issue with excess wear. Quite the contrary, NOT ballasting and having increased slippage and instability is not only unsafe, but potentially could place the same assembly under more erratic and potentially more-harmful load surges which could offer the potential of far worse consequences. I have found in loader applications especially, most of us, including myself are under-ballasted. In many cases, both solid and liquid wheel-mounted weight is needed, in addition to adding a heavy hitch-mounted ballast, such as a box blade or ballast box. My main point in my previous post is that not all tasks done by a tractor really need ballast, but for most of us ballasting has become a needed part of our usage. I would argue mowing on even terrain or doing light-duty pulling on pavement, are tasks that do not require ballast and likely suffer some detriment for being ballasted. In those cases, I would surmise that one would be best to favor solid and potentially removable ballast if it fits within one's budget, though as noted by other posters, this task is often fraught with losing skin and injury potential. In short, concern about axle and bearing stress is, in my opinion, far outweighed by the potential benefit and added safety of ballast. I also feel liquid ballast, in most cases is the better way to go for most of us, as many of us are highly unlikely to be pulling 400 pounds+ per wheel of solid ballast on and off our machines.

John M

 

[GPintheMitten]

For anyone wanting to add weight on the cheap, here's what I did on my old B6200.

The rear wheel center disc is just the right size to fit a plastic 5 gallon pail onto if you cut the plastic lip off. And there are three 9/16" holes in the wheel rim that are not lug nut holes.

So I took a wheel off and made a 1/4" plywood pattern to match the center hole for the axle and the three holes. Then I used 1/2" threaded rod through the pattern, and welded some scrap steel on the other end that would be inside the bucket so the rods wouldn't turn when I torqued the bolts onto the wheel.

Each 5 gallon pail takes a 80# bag of redi mix. I poured the concrete and imbedded the threaded rod with the plywood pattern attached and let them cure for 3 days.

It is practically impossible for me to mount the 80# weights by myself but it is easy when you remove the tire/wheel and mount it on top of the weights, then mount the weighted wheel back on the tractor.

Not as good as Rim guard or store bought weights but I was able to add 160# of weight to my rear axle for about $20 and some time. The buckets can later be removed but I left them on. They do stick out to much for mowing but work great during the winter. If you wanted it to stick out less and willing to go a little less weight, you could put a dead space on the bottom of the bucket before you pour concrete and then remove the buckets after the cure.

I also built a home made weight box that I can use on the front or the rear that has 4 removable 40# concrete formed weights with the steel box weighing probably another 80 pounds. That was a little more money because I bought steel for the box. A little off topic but might help others reading this thread.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/162564-homemade-front-rear-ballast-box.html

 

[Nuru]

You've got the wrong concept. Tire ballast (liquid or solid) is intended to improve traction and increase transverse stability. Think lateral. Weight to counter front loads should be behind the rear axle. Think longitudinal

//greg//

I have had both and filling was better for me than handling the weights. I have also seen weight boxes get filled with sand and concrete to add weight ballast behind the rear axle.

 

[North Country]

It is practically impossible for me to mount the 80# weights by myself but it is easy when you remove the tire/wheel and mount it on top of the weights, then mount the weighted wheel back on the tractor.

How do you mount the weighted wheel assembly? From the picture, it looks like your wheel weight obscures the lug nuts.

 

[GPintheMitten]

How do you mount the weighted wheel assembly? From the picture, it looks like your wheel weight obscures the lug nuts.

I have a hex axle housing and matching hex hub of sorts that the wheel bolts to. The wheel and hex hub slip onto the hex axle and fastened with a pin.

I forgot about that until you brought it up. I don't know how common my setup is. But youre right, my method wouldn't work without it.

I can take pictures tomorrow.

 

[jenkinsph]

I prefer the wheel weights as long as you can add enough to fit your needs. it is easier for me to handle removing individual wheel weights than handling a fully loaded rear wheel. I also feel a flat is alot less mess without rimguard or Calcium Chloride all over everything. Windshield washer fluid can be a good alternative too but not as heavy as the other two.

 

[JD3520Turbo]

To me it comes down to cost. JD wants a bunch for their wheel weights. I put wiper washer fluid in my 3520 and it held it down really good. I put 45 gallons in each side. That was as much as I could get in them. I was getting 8lbs of weight for every $1.25 instead of $2.00/lb with cast weights, and I got more weight on there.

For what we are doing, fluid does not adversly affect most situations. In row crop farming, fluid is not the optimum setup. The reason is because of compaction. Radial farm tires are designed to flex under load and give you a larger footprint. The bigger the footprint, the less weight/square inch is pushing on the soil.
Fluid doesn't compress at the same rate as air, so if you put fluid in a radial farm tire, you are reducing greatly its ability to flex when going over the field, thus creating more compaction in the field and reducing yield. Wheel weights offer a much better alternative in this situation.

In our case here, that really doesn't apply, unless you are not wanting to put undo stress on your lawn or something like that. If that is an issue, then I would not go with fluid. I would use a ballast box, because it is the easiest thing to remove. Wheel weights would be somewhere in the middle.
If wheel weights were a little less spendy, I would have them, because they are clean, out of the way, and reasonably easy to get on and off.
I can't see where they would cause any stress on bearings or any of that because they are putting their weight on the tire, not the axle. A Ballast box would put weight on the axle, but it should handle that.
Seems to me that any of these 3 choices will work. The issue is to find the one that best fits your needs and check book.

 

[Wes Obie]

I stayed away from both Wheel weights and filling tires. I did put a quality set of chains on for winter which added 20#'s for each tire then I welded up a simple tray to hold old full size car batteries that I can pickup for rear weight with the 3 point hitch summer or winter for traction that adds of 140 #'s cantilevered behind the rear axle.

 

[mroberts5]

How about both? My new (to me) Ford 1920 came with wheel weights, but I still feel I need more ballast for traction (I need to do a bit of skidding logs, so weight on the 3pt would be tough). Any reason I couldn't load my tires with the weights on as well? Do you think I should cut back how much I add or go the full recommended amount?

 

[Zebrafive]

I have both on my JD6415 and I would like at least one more set.
My JD 2030 had loaded tires and weights. I moved the weights to the 6415, then had flat and lost all the liquid fill. They service guy said they sent the wrong truck and could not refill the liquid. They wanted another service call ($75) plus the cost of filling, so only one is filled. They said I should have told them I had filled tires.

I have considered buying ten weights from EA since then freight would be free.