Why not sugar water in tires instead of beet juice?

[ROUSTABOUT]

We use water and anti freeze.

 

[LouNY]

And at over $60 gallon would be pretty expensive ballast.
I've been paying $20 per guart.

 

[David Wayne]

I sell for $10 a quart. But it would be a shame to waste it in a tire.

 

[etpm]

So, because of where I live, just north of Seattle, I will be seriously investigating the use of sugar water as ballast because the freezing hazard is low. We only get into the teens rarely and then not for long. Sugar doesn't provide the same freeze protection as other substances but I don't need protection from really cold temperatures. I already have wheel weights on the rears and they add about 70 lbs. per tire. My Yanmar manual says to use 273 lbs. of calcium chloride solution in each tire. So I need about 200 lbs. of liquid ballast weight. Somewhere there is a chart that shows how much volume a particular tire will hold and how much liquid ballast to add so that the tire is filled the proper amount. Using that chart I can figure out how much sugar I need to use. I may need to add some anti-freeze too and I don't know how that will affect the solubility of sugar in the water. In any case I will figure it out and then post the results here. Today I was offered the use of a pump that works for pumping liquid into tires so that's a bonus.
Eric

 

[jyoutz]

Maple Syrup doesn't freeze, just gets thicker and it weighs 11 pounds per gallon.
It is environmentally friendly too!!

And costs $15/quart.

 

[Richard]

Thanks. I saw that thread and skipped it so, I was totally in the dark.

Me too, but I just found it (or one if there are several?) and added something different to it.

 

[Garson]

Does anyone here know the result of driving on tires with ice inside?

I bought an Oliver tractor with 38" tires at an auction years ago. It worked great but had been used for tractor pulls and the rear tires were unknowingly filled with water. When they froze I drove about 100 yards and the tubes got pulverized by the ice frozen solid inside the tires and the tractor returned to the yard with the tires flat on one position only. With every revolution of the tires there was a deep blip when the tractor flopped down like driving over a stump.

Water might be OK for tire ballast in the Caribbean but not in Canada.

 

[wsc9tt]

In the midwest, most of the sugar you buy is actually made from beets and not sugarcane so you would be using the same stuff.

 

[Robert walker]

Maple Syrup doesn't freeze, just gets thicker and it weighs 11 pounds per gallon.
It is environmentally friendly too!!

I would be having a waffle iron on my open cab tractor with an inverter. Not sure how the dust and grass clippings would go along with it.

 

[mahovy]

My dealer filled my tires with a new product named bio-ballast made of corn. He said it’s far less messy than beet juice, cheaper, and non toxic. I don’t know what it costs; it was wrapped into the deal.

Bio-Ballast® - EnviroTech Services

envirotechservices.com

I’ve used RV antifreeze. Safe for house plumbing, so don’t see any reason it would damage tires and wheels. Works to -20 F. Around $2-$2.50 a gallon