Ballast Filling tires

[JDeerekid]

Farm & Fleet has Zecol "Blast" WW Fluid on sale right now for $1.39 / gal.

Good down to -25 degrees.

Anyone have a clue what a 43x16x20 R-4 would take in terms of gallons?

Also - A lot of folks use WW Fluid in their tires. Anything bad we should know about it in terms of harm to the tire itself?

Thanks,

Lunk

I would estimate around 50 gals per tire. I went off of the rimguard website but could not find your exact tire size.

 

[Lunk]

Thanks!

Lunk

 

[5moons]

Just paid $285.00 with tax at C & C Tire in Harrison, Ohio to have both of my rear R4s filled with 50 gallons each of CC in tubes. Tratcor is a Kubota GL3240. Tires are 12.4/24.

 

[Westonium]

Fluid filling tires... a journey.

So I made a few mistakes the first time.
First off I underestimated the need to have the tractor jacked - I ended up with 2 tires off the bead and wouldn't hold air much less water. I used 3 ratchet straps at a time to squeeze em in the middle and got them mounted again (with the tractor jacked of course).

Secondly - I thought I had calcium chloride in the garage. I didn't (still don't). I put in water with 1 gallon of pet-friendly antifreeze in per side. Then I bothered to figure out I didn't have nearly enough AF to protect myself from busted tires. Fortunately I have a little while before the real cold sets in. I was going to add the calcium chloride in, but it turns out I didn't have any more from last winter.

Thirdly - I couldn't find Calcium Chloride in town yet except in tiny amounts for dehumidifying the air. I bought a bag of Potassium Chloride - hopefully it will be a better solution anyway.

So I did some reading, and there seems to be a number of cheap solutions out there (depending on availability).

Adding Calcium Nitrite to Calcium Chloride mixes is apparently used to prevent calcium corrosion on rebar in concrete. Masonry supply stores would probably sell it, but there wasn't one close and heck I couldn't even get the Calcium Chloride.

Sodium Acetate is apparently benign and non corrosive, but aside from making it from large bags of baking soda and bulk vinegar - I can't find it around cheaply, but I bet it is available in bulk for cheap if you look hard enough.

I was figuring the Potassium Chloride solution would work, but I was concerned about the corrosion. I then read this:
https://www.ussalt.com/info/info_potassium_chloride.htm

It seems to me that even if Calcium Chloride was same price as Potassium Chloride, you'd want to go with the Potassium Chloride instead since it won't kill your plants. We used it in our water softener at our last house and I did once spill some from a broken bag. Where it was saturated it killed the grass, but only temporarily and the surrounding grass was better for the potassium.

So I guess I will be the guinea pig. I bought my 50# bag of Potassium Chloride for $18.95 at the local hardware. Hopefully it will be enough to keep my rims ice free and no corrode them greatly.

 

[skipro3]

I don't know how cold it gets in your area, but

Potassium chloride, KCl when mixed with water to the point where it stops dissolving will protect down to -7ｰC (20ｰF)

Good info here;
Melting Snow & Ice with Salt

 

[Reg]

I don't know how cold it gets in your area, but

Potassium chloride, KCl when mixed with water to the point where it stops dissolving will protect down to -7ｰC (20ｰF)

Good info here;
Melting Snow & Ice with Salt

Good point, but I think a slush or soft freeze is probably acceptable.
I don't think anything dramatic is likely to happen at 20F and maybe even a few degrees below that the flat spots will just be a nuisance.
I have left 55 gallon plastic drums out filled with water and it takes a long time for that much water to freeze solid.

 

[Westonium]

These guys
https://www.ussalt.com/info/info_potassium_chloride.htm

claimed 12 degrees F.

I still think I'll go with it. The coldest it has been has been 18 degrees, and that was only for a few hours at night.

edit: that table you linked to refers to practicality as a de-icer vs. freezing point of a solution. Calcium chloride is extra powerful as a pellet because it not only lowers freezing temp, it is exothermic. The exothermic part goes away pretty quickly though.

Food for thought though.