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

   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #1  
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
2
Location
on a mountaintop near Romney WV
Tractor
Kubota B3200, LA504 FEL, 1972 Ford 2000 w/ industrial loader
Well I'm cheating a little as hubby and I have not yet taken delivery of our B3200 HSD 4WD with LA504 FEL. We've signed on the dotted line, got financing ok'd, and have one in the crate ready to be delivered but they come with the industrial tires and we wanted the Ag tires, so when they find em, it's due to come up to our mountain woods home.

But now we're 'discussing' with our dealer, the dealer's filling our tires with the liquid ballast they now exclusively use- magnesium chloride. I've been all over this forum and thanks to you all, have gotten lots of opinions on the subject of what to use- and magnesium chloride is definately not my choice.

I'm waiting to hear back from the dealer as to whether they can add my choice- Rim Guard (beet juice) when I find it.

The Rim Guard company was closed for the weekend so I can't find out if I can buy it either near where I live (near Romney WV) or where we bought the tractor (Winchester, VA). Does anyone know a Rim Guard source near either of these locations?

Now I'm probably going to have a mini-fight with the dealer about it. If he won't or can't put in rim guard, I'll have to find it myself, take delivery on the tractor with unloaded tires and then find a tire shop in this rural area to come up to our place and fill the tires there. Our trailer is not heavy duty enough to haul it to a tire company.

It's really a shame that the dealer loads the new tires with whatever is cheapest and easiest. If they would give us a choice... I'd pay more for a better safer product.

My friend Mary bought a new 7800 last year- at the time they said all the Kubota dealers were loading the tires with Methenol and told her it was safe and not to give the idea of any problems a second thought. She later learned it was very toxic and highly flammable. Also that it's only non freezing to minus 10 to minus 15 degrees, but where she lives (and purchased the tractor) in PA, it can easily go below that in a cold winter, at her altitude. She grows an organic garden next to her water well, just as I do.
Neither of us can abide the thought of a leak (yes it DOES happen sometimes) on our lands.

My dealer said on the first discussion day that all the tires were loaded with Methanol, a big improvment over the old calcium chloride. A week later at financing, he said he was wrong, they now use nothing but magnesium chloride. He poo-pooed any problem with it, as he did with methenol, so I've had to research and decide for myself.(..something we should be doing about all things tractor anyway, right?)

Question #2 for you folks (#1 being does anyone have a source for Rim Guard near Romney West Virginia or Winchester, Virginia?) is -
Is the B3200 just the newer model of the 7800? It seems to be, based on the specs for both. The Ag tires appear to be the same size. The 7800 lists the back AG tires as 12.4-16 and front tires as 7-12.
The specs I have for the B3200 lists the 'standard' tires as the same as the AG tires for the 7800. So, their 'standard' tire must be the AG tire, (yet all the Kubota brochures and ads only ever show the tractor with the industrial tire).

Question #3 is-
How many gallons of liquid ballast would go in the B320's rear tires? (Also, if we wanted to, how many gallons would go in the front tires?)
I've checked Rim Guard's website tables for tire size/gallons needed/weight added, but neither the 7-12 nor 12.4-16 size was in their tables. (I guess I'll add that to my questions for them when I call on Monday.)

This seems like a great forum and I look forward to learning more about what we can do with, and should do for, our new tractor.
Thanks,
Rebecca
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #2  
Rebecca,

Welcome to the forum and congrats to the new tractor.
If the dealer is unable to deliver the machine with the rim guard you could have them deliver it with unloaded tires and try to negotiate the price of loading out of the deal. Since you signed already that might be a problem. If you have it done afterward it will cost you in the range of about $250-300 (I guess) to have the rears filled.
If you do go that route you can just use the tractor for a while with unloaded tires until you find a dealer that had the rim guard. Then just take the rear tires off the machine and take that to the dealership of your choice. They can fill it without the tractor present. You should try to contact tire shops that deal with farmers in the area and see if any of them might have the juice. I imagine if they sell tractor tires the filling equipment might be part of their shop. Just an idea.
I never heard of any outfit that fills tires with methanol. It sounds a bit strange and fishy to me. It's like having two large gas cans mounted on the tractor waiting to puncture and spray highly flameable liquid all over a hot machine. Weird.

Yes. The B3200 is the redesigned model that replaced the trusty old B7800. Aside from a few changes that it has essentially the same specs. As far as the tires from the B3200 fitting the B7800 or visa-versa. If the tires are the same size and the rims are the same Kubota part number for the tractors then it should be good to go. You can try to contact one of the dealer members here on TBN and I'm sure the parts department could tell you if the tires and rims are interchangable. Try Barlow's or Messick's they are both long time contributors here and said to be very helpful.

Edit: I forgot to add that any tractor dealer can fill the tires for you it does not have to sell orange tractors.
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #3  
I think Kubota does not recomend filling the front tires, they have to short of a profile and filling them would take out there ability to avoid shock. I agree with your choice of rim guard, that's what I have in the rears of my BX. Do you have the ability to haul or drive the tractor some place to get the tires filled? You could take them off and get them filled, but they get pretty heavy once they are filled, so make sure you have the ability to handle them.
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #4  
I don't know if they are available for the B3200, but I use weights on my BX2660 as I prefer them to any liquid.
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #5  
My dealer doesnt sell rimguard, I had to go another hour drive to go get it. I didnt want to trailer my tractor and have them put it in so I ended up bringing rimguard home in buckets they provided from thier oil changes. I just loaded the stuff in the trunk of the car and drove it home. Now there are kits from gemplers to fill your tires with, but I took a different route. I popped the tire bead from one side and used a kerosene hand pump to pump it in the tire. Keep in mind I have the tire tools here already so it wasn't a problem.

As for how much you need, all you need to do is ask your dealer how much would he put in with the mcl stuff- same number of gallons as rimguard. Its a 75 % fill max. You are right, he poo poo'd anything about his stuff becuase its the ONLY thing he has in his shop to sell and he wants to make money off what he has. Stick with your guts- get rimgaurd. The peace of mind is so much better on your mind then having the stuff you rather not have. I don't think you need to fill the fronts, you can but I don't see the benefits with such a small tire on the B.

I am not sure of the best advice to give you, as you don't want to cause friction with dealer. option 1 is have your dealer drive tractor to other dealer with rimgaurd and then deleiver to you. option 2 have it delivered home and make arrangements with flatbed to take to other dealer to fill or have them get it. option 3 take tires off and put in bed of truck and take it to rimguard dealer and have them fill. you will need 2 strong people to put back on tractor. option 4. fill them yourselves like I did. good luck!!
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #6  
If you load the tires off the tractor you will need about three strong people to get them out of your pickup, roll them down a ramp and back onto the tractor. Roll them up on board scraps to get them to height of the lug studs and turn the opposite wheel in neutral to line things up. My spouse and I did it but my tires are a bit smaller and weighed only 300 pounds a piece. Yours will weigh more.

I feel that Rimquard is the best choice.
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #7  
I never heard of any outfit that fills tires with methanol. It sounds a bit strange and fishy to me. It's like having two large gas cans mounted on the tractor waiting to puncture and spray highly flameable liquid all over a hot machine. Weird.

.

It is not straight methanol... It is windshield wiper fluid, WW fluid, mostly water and usually blue. It is often used as economical ballast in areas that freeze. It is not going to burst into flame, just try to light your window washing fluid, at worst it will get a little slushy if it gets well below freezing. Will not freeze solid.

Rim guard is a better choice, as it weighs alot more per gallon than ww fluid. But it costs more and is not available everywhere. KennyV
PS. you will not enjoy wrestling a loaded tire off/on your tractor, even the relatively smallish rear tires you are dealing with... they are going to be heavy.
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #8  
We had traded for our B3030 with dealer loading tires. After the tractor arrived the dealer said he did not use Rimguard. I ended up taking the tractor one hour and a half each way to a small country store type dealer that filled with Rimguard. Since the expense was figured in our deal I asked for credit in the Kubota dealers shop for the price they had figured in the deal. The owner found out and gave me full price I paid for Rimguard as credit in their shop. I do think Rimguard is the best choice.
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #9  
Rebecca,
When you call RimGuard and ask for dealers in your area, ask if any of the delaers have mobile service trucks. I know my local dealer will come out to the tractor and fill them on your property. I'm guessing that may cost a little more, but then you are not spending money to get the machine there and back yourself. Having them filled on site would be probably the most convenient for you. Good Luck.
 
   / new member, new B3200 owner w/ a few?'s abt tires #10  
It is not straight methanol... It is windshield wiper fluid, WW fluid, mostly water and usually blue. It is often used as economical ballast in areas that freeze. It is not going to burst into flame, just try to light your window washing fluid...

I have heard of tires being filled with WW fluid but the original post said methanol and it did sound strange.
 
 
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