How to put liquid ballast in BX2360 tires?

[newdeal]

I want to do this myself not go to the dealer. I plan to put antifreeze in the tires of my tractor, I can get it for $3 for 4 gallons so I figure this is likely the cheapest way to do it. I plan to ballast the the tires in my BX2360 but I have a few questions

1) How do I get it in there?
2) How much do I put in?
3) Do I do the fronts and rears or just the rears?

I have the R4 tires if that makes any differance.

[bp fick]

I assume you are using Windshield Washer fluid or RV pink(orange) anti-freeze.
Radiator anti-freeze is very toxic and with tires susceptible to leaking, well... let's just say it might better for everything, including any living things, to have something non-toxic in there.

There have been many, many threads on this topic. Many have great "how to" directions.

[bp fick]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/o...ling-post.html

I bumped this for you. It is filled with great information and links to a half dozen other threads.
Here's another:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/o...-yourself.html

[k0ua]

go to tractor supply and get the $9 fill valve.. garden hose to schrader valve, with a "air burp" button on the side. there are many charts on the web to look up your tire size and know how much to buy/put in. I used a $6 drill pump I bought from home depot. ran it with a 1/4 inch electric drill.. no problem.. I used a 3 gallon bucket. jack up the tractor wheel to take the weight off of it. so the tire is barely off the ground. rotate to 12 o'clock. on the valve. take out the valve stem, let out the air, screw on the adaptor, hook up your pump with 2 pieces of garden hose, one end in the bucket of fluid pump in a couple of gallons of fluid, burp the tire a little, fill bucket, repeat procedure. burping every 2 or 3 gallons. dont let all the air out.. leave some, just release some pressure, so you are not trying to pump against much pressure, as the fluid goes in the air pressure will increase, and the pump will have a harder time to pump fluid in. so bleed some air out and pump until you have it all in. then take off adaptor. Put valve stem back in. and fill tire to correct air pressure (same as manual calls for). let tractor back down on tire, and do the other side
James K0UA

[psvines]

go to tractor supply and get the $9 fill valve.. garden hose to schrader valve, with a "air burp" button on the side. there are many charts on the web to look up your tire size and know how much to buy/put in. I used a $6 drill pump I bought from home depot. ran it with a 1/4 inch electric drill.. no problem.. I used a 3 gallon bucket. jack up the tractor wheel to take the weight off of it. so the tire is barely off the ground. rotate to 12 o'clock. on the valve. take out the valve stem, let out the air, screw on the adaptor, hook up your pump with 2 pieces of garden hose, one end in the bucket of fluid pump in a couple of gallons of fluid, burp the tire a little, fill bucket, repeat procedure. burping every 2 or 3 gallons. dont let all the air out.. leave some, just release some pressure, so you are not trying to pump against much pressure, as the fluid goes in the air pressure will increase, and the pump will have a harder time to pump fluid in. so bleed some air out and pump until you have it all in. then take off adaptor. Put valve stem back in. and fill tire to correct air pressure (same as manual calls for). let tractor back down on tire, and do the other side
James K0UA

This procedure worked great today on my BX2660. 10 gallons total per side (2.5 RV, 7.5 water).
Thanks for the info.

[avc8130]

This procedure worked great today on my BX2660. 10 gallons total per side (2.5 RV, 7.5 water).
Thanks for the info.

Is that really enough RV antifreeze to prevent freezing? Did you use some kind of concentrated version? Most of what I can find by me is "ready to use" per gallon.
ac

[k0ua]

Well lets see: here is the freeze chart for Propylene Glycol. The stuff I used is rated at -50deg straight out of the bottle. So according to the chart that is about 55 percent Propylene Glycol by weight. since it weighs about the same as water I think we can discount the weight vs by volume when diluted by water. So to calculate you 10 Gallon fill using 2.5 gallons of PG vs 7.5 gallons of water. so you diluted the solution by 33 percent. So if you started with a 55 percent so, .33X55 = 18.3 percent solution now. Consult the chart and maybe around 22 degrees F. Give or take some accuracy errors here. I put in 24 gallons of PG and 1 Gallon of water so 24/25=.94 and then .94X55=52.8 percent solution, consult chart: maybe wound up with -33 Degrees F. I may be thinking wrong here, perhaps someone else could check the math, But I am thinking you dont want to dilute the out of the bottle stuff much.

James K0UA

[avc8130]

Try not to haze me...but I started thinking.

Windshield washer fluid is pretty common. The reason it doesn't freeze is because it is ~7% methanol. At ~$2/gallon it isn't too bad...but needing 58 gallons at a total of ~$116 plus tax I wanted cheaper. (Especially since I can get Rim Guard for $3.05 and it is supposedly 25% heavier).

I found this:
Snow Performance 40008 - Snow Performance Boost Juice - Overview - SummitRacing.com

49% methanol, 51% water. So...if I cut it down to 4 gallons of Boost Juice, and 25 gallons of water from my tap in each tire...I would wind up with ~7% methanol for a total cost of ~$1.37/gallon shipped to my door.

Not to mention I would only have to pump 4 gallons into each tire and then switch to using hose pressure (much more convenient) for the last 25 gallons.

Thoughts? Is my logic solid?
ac

[k0ua]

Well lets see: I dont know how well this chart will copy over but here goes:


.Freezing Point of Methanol based Water Solutions
Freezing Point
Methanol Concentration
(%) by mass 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
by volume 0 13 24 35 46 56 66 75 83 92 100
Temperature oF 32 20 0 -15 -40 -65 -95 -215 -225 -230 -145
oC 0 -7 -18 -26 -40 -54 -71 <-73 <-73 <-73 <-73


So at a 7% mixture you protection is about 25 degrees F.
You can buy pure methanol in bulk from some petro suppliers.
Your boost juice is good for about -50 straight or if cut with an equal amount of water you would have about 25 percent methanol so maybe 0 degrees? F. You know that rimguard is looking better all the time..

James K0UA

[RaydaKub]

I bought 20 gallons of Purple Power washer fluid (good for -35F) at $2 a gallon at Menard's. I filled my tires tonight. I used my dehumidifier bucket on top of a 6 foot step ladder. Each time I poured in a gallon, I let my hydraulic jack down about 2 inches, bled the air out and then jacked it back up and turned on a valve to let the flow begin. It took about an hour and 15 minutes per tire, but I put in the 10 gallons and then because it was still flowing well, I added about 1 1/2 gallons of water. When I got done, it was spitting out water as I put the valve core back in. So I have about 105 lbs in each tire. It made a HUGE difference already.

I had my FEL on and couldn't climb this one hill before, whereas tonight I could actually back up part of it. On another hill that I don't mow regularly, I still went into a free-fall, but not nearly as fast as before. I'll need to add more weight yet though. I parked sideways on the steepest part and climbed off. I pushed only about 30lbs worth on the rollbar and lifted the wheel off the ground easily. My pucker factor is a lot less than before, but isn't satisfied yet. But my thanks to TBN'ers for the advice. Not as fast as a pump, but it got the job done.