Tires Fill Tires or Add Weight?

   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #1  

ctpres

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
Messages
323
Location
BAR BOB Ranch, Needville Texas
Tractor
Kubota 3400HST
I use my tractor some on sandy yard and am not real excited about filling tires and leaving tire tracks/ruts. I like idea ofremovable weight on rear. Is there any reason filled tires are better?
 
   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #2  
The trend on ag tires is for solid weight not filling tires as it's been found that the liquid doesn't allow the tire to flex causing a loss of traction over comparable solid weights. This also causes premature tire wear from slippage.
Some insist on loading the tires for the weight when using their tractors predominitly for loader work. It is far more benificial to add the weight onto the three point so it would use the rear axle as a pivot point to reduce the load on the front axle. This way the steering components as well as the drive will last longer.
It seems that approximately 1/3rd less of cast weights can be used to accomplish the same as the liquid filled tires.
 
   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #3  
ctpres said:
I use my tractor some on sandy yard and am not real excited about filling tires and leaving tire tracks/ruts. I like idea ofremovable weight on rear. Is there any reason filled tires are better?
I don't want weight I can't easily remove.
Filled tires don't meet that requirement.
== L B ==
 
   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #4  
art said:
The trend on ag tires is for solid weight not filling tires as it's been found that the liquid doesn't allow the tire to flex causing a loss of traction over comparable solid weights. This also causes premature tire wear from slippage.
Some insist on loading the tires for the weight when using their tractors predominitly for loader work. It is far more benificial to add the weight onto the three point so it would use the rear axle as a pivot point to reduce the load on the front axle. This way the steering components as well as the drive will last longer.
It seems that approximately 1/3rd less of cast weights can be used to accomplish the same as the liquid filled tires.

From all I've read, the tire flex issues with fluid is limited to radial tires. Bias ply tires provide same traction with fluid or cast, when ballasted to an equal given weight. No advantage or disadvantage to either. (Info from Iowa State Univ, Ohio State Univ, Titan Tire, Michelin, and Firestone)

Fluid filled tires offer some increase in stability with a lower center of gravity than equal amount of cast weight.

Why would you think 1/3 less weight (of cast wheel weights) would accomplish same as fluid? Less weight carried on the 3-point hitch would accomplish the same as weight carried on the axle in regards to loader work.

Be it cast or fluid, weight is weight. No matter what form, carried on the axle, cast or fluid would provide the SAME amount of ballast. Cast ballast carried on the hitch would limit use of the hitch for implements.

In the case of larger AG tractors, cast iron wheel weights are generally heavy and awkward for one person to handle. Fluid can be easily pumped in or out of a tire by one person. Smaller tractors with smaller weights, it may well be easier to handle the cast weights.

That's why we have options for ballast. No ONE is ideal for every situation. No one type has a distinct across the board advantage or disadvantage .

All things being equal, I'd just as soon not have to deal with handling ANY type of ballast. I can't say I have a "favorite" one way or the other. My personal recommendation is to go with what works the best in YOUR situation. That's why you'll find fluid in the rear tires on most of my tractors and cast weights on a couple.
 
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   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #5  
When I purchased my tractor, I specified filled tires. My old tractor had filled ag tires. The salesman, an older gentleman, insisted that I go with wheel weights. He went so far as to give me the weights for what I would have paid for fuild. He believed the long-term problems - mostly rim rot - just weren't worth any advantages filled tires might have. I've not regreted that decision.

Here is a great tip on handling the weights for easy installation or removal TC-40D Adding tractor weights
 
   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #6  
I've got filled tires. Main reason, cost. Water and radiator fluid cost almost nothing compared to wheel weights.

If someone were to give me weights, I'd certainly reconsider. But I'd probably use BOTH.

Rim rot is not an issue if you use tubes and/or the right type of fluid.

Ballast on the 3pt is fine but I want that in addition to weight on/in the wheels and I also don't like tying up the 3 pt with ballast or the wrong implement for my needs.

And as mentioned, depending on the size of the tractor, wheel weights can be too much to manage for one person while managing fluid is really quite simple. For my tractor, filling one rear adds 400 pounds to that side. I could not remove or install 400 pounds of wheel weights myself unless they came in 3-4 segments. Even that could be tough.

So in my mind, the primary benefit is cost.
 
   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #7  
Tubes and good maintenance practices can help mitigate some of the problems associated with corosive liquid ballasts.

FWJ has it right. what ever works best in your situation is a 'good' choice.

Soundguy

lhfarm said:
When I purchased my tractor, I specified filled tires. My old tractor had filled ag tires. The salesman, an older gentleman, insisted that I go with wheel weights. He went so far as to give me the weights for what I would have paid for fuild. He believed the long-term problems - mostly rim rot - just weren't worth any advantages filled tires might have. I've not regreted that decision.

Here is a great tip on handling the weights for easy installation or removal TC-40D Adding tractor weights
 
   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #8  
I have about 130 lb on each rear wheel of a DX-29. When using the loader, I also have about 900 lb. on the 3 point. The tractor seems to work just fine with implements on the rear with no additional weight on the rear wheels. Sometimes I take the loader off, but not often, so the fronts are often doing a lot of pulling for me.

I do not use filled tires since a lot of my work is in the woods and a puncture would be a lot less fun with the tire filled.
 
   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #9  
I have both filled tires (all 4) and wheels weights on the rears. Like Soundguy said, farmwithjunk has it right, meaning you will ultimately need to make up your own mind. I just wanted to let you know my experience for your information.

One thing about tire tracks is that you are going to leave them no matter what. I'm not sure how much worse (if at all) the tire tracks would be with filled or weights (or both), if you use the right "footprint" made by your tire. You can achieve this by proper inflation for specific working conditions. It is manageable. Just depends what you want.

Here's what I found. Even with the wheel weights, my 55hp tractor still felt "springy". When I loaded the tires with fluid, there was an immediate feeling of added rigidity and stability. So much in fact that is one of those things you can really feel, an improvement with very noticeable results. The filled tires helped getting the added weight right to the ground rather than being suspended by the axle like wheel weights. It is my personal belief that filled tires differ from wheel weights in that way. That weight is right on the ground. Much of it is below the axle. So the stability increased a lot. I'm not even sure how much of that weight the axle really sees with filled tires? My guess would be not as much as with wheel weights, although like I said, I don't know.

Another thing is traction. It is almost impossible, regardless of what size tractor you have, to get enough traction. I still spin the wheels light years before the tractor engine bogs down. Traction is a key ingredient to getting the most work out of your tractor. I have tubed tires so the rim wear is minimized. I do worry about flats, but I'd rather have years of excellent performance vs years of less than that just because I worry about a flat. I can deal with the flat when (if) it ever happens at all. Added stability and rigidity add up to a safer, more stable condition when working the tractor.

Ballast on the 3pt is different as it is mostly designed to help take weight off the front axle by shifting the load so it is more equally divided between the front an rear axles. such as when doing heavy loader work. Filling the rears or adding weight to them is a little different. That will help in keeping the tractor from tipping over frontwards when picking up a heavy load, but offers very little towards getting the weight off the front axle. That is what rear 3pt ballast does better.
Just my 2 cents...
 
   / Fill Tires or Add Weight? #10  
Farmwithjunk said:
Why would you think 1/3 less weight (of cast wheel weights) would accomplish same as fluid? Less weight carried on the 3-point hitch would accomplish the same as weight carried on the axle in regards to loader work.

Be it cast or fluid, weight is weight. No matter what form, carried on the axle, cast or fluid would provide the SAME amount of ballast. Cast ballast carried on the hitch would limit use of the hitch for implements.

Because on the three point, the weight is farther back on the tractor and behind the rear axle, the weight provides leverage to in effect lift some weight off of the front axle. If we are talking cast weights on the wheels, then other than additional stability from the lower weight of filled tires, then weight is weight.

If the weight is something that you would ONLY want on while doing loader work, then weight on the three point is hard to beat.
 
 
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