new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires

   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires
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#11  
UPDATE
First, thanks to everyone for all the input.

We spent today on the phone and emailing.

We called Rimguard (616-608-7745 or toll free 866-792-3700)....really nice helpful, knowledgable folks. We spoke to the co-owner Phil.
He even told us other things we needed to know- like using metal (air/liquid) valve stems instead of rubber. The fixed interior receiver inside the usual rubber valve stem is glued. The glue is susceptable to disintegration from ANY liquid ballast. The interior of METAL valve stems have a threaded receiver, no glue... no disintegration. It's a small tip until, as Phil puts it, you find your ballast all over the floor. We informed our dealer we wanted the metal valve stems installed before filling and it was no problem.

RimGuard (beet juice) is water soluble, biodegradable, weighs 10.7 lbs per gallon, (approx 3 pounds more than water, about the same as cal chloride), is good to -35 degrees and retails for around $3.00 per gallon depending on the markup of the supplier.

Phil told us how many gallons of RimGuard would fill our particular tires, then gave us the closest supplier.
That turned out to be Arden Equip. Repair Co. in Martinsburg, West Virginia (304-229-8620). We spoke with Mike Shade who was also very friendly and helpful.

Mike informed us that we can get both rear AG (R-1) tires of our B3200 filled with 42 gallons of Rim Guard, (21 per tire), at 75% capacity, costing approx $160.00 total, including the price of the juice and labor to fill it. It will add approx 500 pounds weight for both.

Had we gone with wheel weights at $1.00 a pound, it would have obviously cost well over the $160.00.
If we had gone with cal chloride or magnesium chloride it would have been half the cost, but a potential rusty, toxic, ecological nightmare in the future.

Mike gave us some options-
1) put the 42 gallons from their tank into our containers, bring it home and try to find someone to put in in the tires (this would mean having the tractor delivered unloaded);
2) bring Mike the tractor (but our trailer is not heavy duty enough) or just the tires ourselves. But after filling we'd have to unload the newly filled HEAVY tires and put them back on the tractor (no way....);
3) see what we could work out with the tractor dealer, (who just found us the pair of Ag tires we were waiting for and was ready to go).

We figured it might be easiest to have the tractor delivered with unloaded tires, drive and pick up the Rimguard from Mike, and then find a mobil service who could come up our mountain roads, but had no luck where we are located.

The local tire supply shop where we bought the new front tires for our '72 Ford 2000, told us they'd load our tires if we brought the tractor or tires in, but they "just don't fool with that stuff" (Rimguard). They use only methanol diluted with water.
By the way, I know some of the replys to this post have said it must not be methanol being used in the tires as ballast, but instead must be blue WW fluid. So, we asked the tire shop- was it windshield washer fluid he was filling their tires with. He said definitely not, it was just methanol, but it had to be diluted with water due to the flammability/explosive nature of it.
On the RimGuard site as well as other sites that discuss liquid ballast options, one of the options (but NEVER recommended as a good idea)- is always Methanol, and listed separately is windshield washer fluid. Weird...yes, dangerous, yes... (even diluted) but it appears, as with my friend Mary's B7800 in Pennsylvania and here in West Virginia, still being used today.

So.... that put us to waiting to hear from our tractor dealer. Since he really came through for us- I wanted to tell you about it (and him)- Tim Gano of the Winchester (Virginia)Equipment Company. He talked to Mike late this afternoon. Tim's going to deliver the tires to Mike. Mike will fill them, then Tim will bring them back to meet and marry our new tractor and set up a delivery date for us.

I feel so strongly that there was no other option for us than Rim Guard, that I don't know what we would have done if Tim hadn't offered to do it this way. Tim said the difference in price between the magnesium chloride they would have filled the tires with, and the cost of the Rim Guard, will be minimal (Tim's price per gallon as a tractor dealer will be less). And he's doing the driving on his dime.

So all is peachy keen for us.
But I've gotta say something about this process.

My hubby asked Phil (co owner of RimGuard) why the tractor dealers are all so reticent to even discuss the option of using RimGuard to their customers? Phil can't figure it out either.
Rimguard will set up a tractor dealer with a FREE 1500/2500 gallon supply tank (can go inside or outside), with hoses and valves to go with them and pay the freight to get them there. They will then deliver the juice for FREE to the dealer. (The dealer already has the compresser etc.) All the dealer pays for is the juice itself ! (The tractor dealer has to have a minimum order of 1,000 gallons.)

There are more than enough posts here and elsewhere to understand how horribly corrosive cal chloride (and mag chloride) can be. Most of the replys to my post recommend choosing Rim Guard over anything else.

In the dealer's shop, the chloride powder has to be mixed, burns the worker's, corodes all their tools and tanks and makes clean up- a time consuming (thus costly) messy business.
The consumer (me) gets NO info about the potential problems about using those chemicals, nor about a biodegradeable, user friendly, more freeze resistant, rust inhibiting option (RimGuard). The question/concern is not addressed on Kubota's website, in any of the brochures or in the dealer's office in the tractor showroom.

What I hate, is that the tractor dealers aren't giving me a choice. A choice that would cost the dealer LESS in time and trouble, and with their discount, the dealer would probably come out ahead $$ wise. I'm guessing the dealers would charge a bit more for the 'eco friendly' ballast and since it appears many buyers would pay that extra for the peace of mind, the dealers would make money on the deal. Would it kill Kubota to explain the differences and let buyers choose between 2 types of ballast? Seem's a no brainer to me.

For anyone who cares.... if more people made their own informed choice and asked their tractor dealers to help make it happen, it might happen a little easier for someone else next time.

For now, I'm on pins and needles waiting for a delivery date and looking at photos and posts here, from all of us that just love tractors and what they can do for us.....

Thanks again for the replys and views.
Rebecca
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #12  
Good job Rebecca! Your homework and gentle persistence pays off. Worth getting the piece of mind knowing you did not have to compromise. :thumbsup:
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #13  
I believe it is a matter of the dealers wanting to stick with what they know. CC has been used for decades and it is like training an old dog. With persistence all that can change and the more RimGuard that is out there the faster the old dog will learn a new trick.
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #14  
The only negative thing I have heard about Rimguard was from a tire dealership that fills tractor tires with calcium chloride. The guy told me it turns sticky and I might as well fill my tires with glue. I used it anyway because of the pluses. Don't even know if this is actually true.
 
 
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