Liquid Ballast

I guess if my main use was mowing I might not fill my tires but that is the only reason I would not. On my B21 with 12.4-16 R4’s it added about 350lbs using water and anti freeze. You could tell the difference and extra stability as soon as you drove the tractor. Our compact tractors have such narrow wheel bases that any weight below the center of gravity is a safety feature to me. Traction is also improved noticeably. I run out of traction long before I end up loosing power but not near as much as before filling the tires.

I used water and environmentally safe anti-freeze. Although calcium would have added more weight per gallon, they wanted a fair amount to fill the tires in my area. Filling them myself, the way HalseyGreen described, took about an hour and the cost was under $50. I do not run tubes, in the rear, and have had no problems in the last three years.

MarkV

Re: Rim Guard (beet juice)

Skent-

Don't give up on finding the Rim Guard (beet juice). At 11 lbs/gal, it's heavier than most of the calcium chloride solutions. It's not corrosive (in fact, it helps prevent corrosion) and non-toxic to animals or plants.

The guy who holds the patent on it is Glen Daly, in East Lansing, Michigan. If you give him a call at 517-351-6470 he'll send you info on it and tell you where the dealers are in your area. As of a few months ago, he was still hard at work expanding his dealer network. So there may not be much in your area, but it's worth a look.

On my 4300 I put in a total of 30 gallons in each tire (R-4's), including 25 gallons of windshield washer fluid and 5 gallons of water. Estimated weight of 240 pounds on each side. Laid the tires flat and broke the rims, then poured the fluid in. Had help raising the tire to upright position to roll them back to the tractor which was on blocks and a jack.

skent
Kubota dealer offered the option when I purchased. He's set-up to install it.
Mutt

Re: Liquid Ballast JD 4300 tires

Bob -

The JD4300 with R4's has 15-19.5 rear tires (per JD brochure). The Rim Guard brochure says these tires take 29 gal when filled. Rim Guard weighs 11 lbs/gal. = 319 lbs per tire.

An advantage of Rim Guard is that you don't have to fill all the way to 75% if you don't want that much weight (corrosion with calcium chloride will accelerate dramatically if you don't cover the tops of the rims). Most calcium chloride solutions weigh a bit less. For reference, straight water is a bit over 8 lbs/gal (if I recall correctly).

Re: Liquid Ballast JD 4300 tires

Funny, I just spoke to someone considered the best JD dealer around here, and his advice was to not use liquid ballast or chains for pushing snow. He suggested I just use a removable rear ballast.. like a few hundred pounds of sand in bags carried in my rear dirt scoop.

He thought the liquid ballast would be a bit of a problem when mowing, and said he felt chains were dangerous. He and I were both in a bit of a hurry, so I didn't pursue his thinking on this. Just thought it was interesting.

I'll try the sand.. it's cheap and easy. If I need more, then I can revisit the issue.

Thanks for all the thoughts, folks!

Bob


Bob Trevithick

To all,

Like I did with the Rim Guard (Beet Juice) post, I'm making this post active again and asking whether there are any updates to any of this information. I apparently missed this thread when it originally posted.

My "rough" summary of the issues in the posts that address WHICH fluid to use in the tractors are:
(1) What is the weight per gallon of the fluid?
(2) How expensive is the fluid?

(3) Corrosion issues:
(3a) How corrosive are the various fluids to the rim?
(3b) Are all rims subject to corrosion if not fully immersed in the fluid?
(3c) Does adding tubes to a tubeless tire decrease or increase the potential for corrosion?

(4) If the fluid leaked would it be hazardous to animals, plants, or humans?

Some of the fluid choices mentioned are:

Calcium
Magnesum Chloride
Methanol
Rim Guard (Beet Juice)
Water
Automotive Antifreeze (new; diluted or 100%)
Automotive Antifreeze (used; probably diluted)
Windshield Washer Fluid
RV Antifreeze

I'm going to try and summarize all of the information once I have a good handle on it. Or, maybe someone else has already done this.

Started off with just chains. Couldn't push the snow too well. Had chloride added. It worked great! Many years later, had a leak out on the lawn. Instant dead grass. Instant rust on any bare metal. Extremely corrosive. BTW...the installer put tubes in when adding the chloride. Claim was that the rims would be eaten through in short order. Now, I have none freezing washer fluid in the tires. Even the low-tox anti-freeze is still somewhat toxic. Don't need to make any of the local pets sick.

Pets can get sick even if they ingest windshield washer fluid. If you really want to be safe, use the non toxic anti freeze that is used in trailers domestic water supply. You can drink it without getting poisoned and it won't kill your grass.... It costs about $1.99 a gallon around here in CT/MA/RI. I have seen too many pets that have been poisoned by a leaking automotive radiator. Even the new "non toxic" auto anti freeze have a certain amount of toxicity to them after use.

Yeah, Junkman. I agree with that. That low toxic anti-freeze is still a danger to the environment. "Not-as-bad" is good advertising....two teaspoons of arsenic is 'not-as-bad' as three. The pink stuff will be going into the tires on my other tractor pretty soon. If there's a problem, I feel better on minimizing the environmentall impact.