USNative
Silver Member
Ok here's my problem guys,
I was out in my shop today and happened to look over at my tractor and noticed a pretty good sized puddle around the right rear tire so I took a closer look and noticed that around the valve stem looked wet and a little rust color at the base of the stem. I put my finger on the wet spot and tasted it and sure enough it was the calcium chloride leaking. So I take the cap off the stem and there is a constant flow of the ballast running out . I get my little tool to try tightening the valve stem and it fell apart and then continued to leak but even worse now. I am thinking what should I do now?
I don't want this ballast leaking all over the shop and I need to get it stopped so I put the cap back on but it continues to drip rapidly . I started the tractor and moved it so the valve stem was straight up on top but it continued to leak. I decided to take the lower stem housing off to let it bleed out until the ballast was below the valve. I think that was a mistake becuase the ballast started spraying out , I think due to the air pressure in the tire. I had no choice but to let it go until the air pressure was gone. Dang good thing I put the bottle jack under it . Just got done cleaning the flooded shop. I sure hope they put tubes in the tires as I know that calcium chloride is corrosive. I am gonna be mad if they didn't tube these tires! I now have very little air pressure left in the tire so the tractor at this point will have to stay right where it is.
Anyone have any help on what I can do to fix this? I guess I had a bad valve stem. I have no idea for sure how much of my ballast I lost but it had to have been around 10 gallons. I definately need to get a new stem but my main concern is the fluid I lost. Do I need to fill it back up to match the other tire in weight? I would think so. I didn't realize how messy fluid filled tires can be until this happened. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
I was out in my shop today and happened to look over at my tractor and noticed a pretty good sized puddle around the right rear tire so I took a closer look and noticed that around the valve stem looked wet and a little rust color at the base of the stem. I put my finger on the wet spot and tasted it and sure enough it was the calcium chloride leaking. So I take the cap off the stem and there is a constant flow of the ballast running out . I get my little tool to try tightening the valve stem and it fell apart and then continued to leak but even worse now. I am thinking what should I do now?
I don't want this ballast leaking all over the shop and I need to get it stopped so I put the cap back on but it continues to drip rapidly . I started the tractor and moved it so the valve stem was straight up on top but it continued to leak. I decided to take the lower stem housing off to let it bleed out until the ballast was below the valve. I think that was a mistake becuase the ballast started spraying out , I think due to the air pressure in the tire. I had no choice but to let it go until the air pressure was gone. Dang good thing I put the bottle jack under it . Just got done cleaning the flooded shop. I sure hope they put tubes in the tires as I know that calcium chloride is corrosive. I am gonna be mad if they didn't tube these tires! I now have very little air pressure left in the tire so the tractor at this point will have to stay right where it is.
Anyone have any help on what I can do to fix this? I guess I had a bad valve stem. I have no idea for sure how much of my ballast I lost but it had to have been around 10 gallons. I definately need to get a new stem but my main concern is the fluid I lost. Do I need to fill it back up to match the other tire in weight? I would think so. I didn't realize how messy fluid filled tires can be until this happened. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
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