Looking4new
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2012
- Messages
- 8,408
- Location
- Northern Ontario, Canada
- Tractor
- 2012 Kioti CK27HST w/cab
A US gallon of calcium chloride should weigh in at about 11. lbs., depending on the strength.
Buying Advice How To Tell What Tires Are Loaded With?
- Thread starter Stickbo
- Start date
A US gallon of calcium chloride should weigh in at about 11. lbs., depending on the strength.
MHarryE
Elite Member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2009
- Messages
- 2,946
- Location
- Northeastern Minnesota
- Tractor
- Kubota M7-171, M5-111, SVL75-2, RTV900XT & GR2120; CaseIH 1680 combine
“The traction or pulling power which a tire can exert is in proportion to the weight it carries. The greater the load on the tire, the more traction effort it can exert. The way to secure more traction and reduce tire slippage and tread wear is to add weight to the rear axle. Filling tires with liquid is one of the most widely used methods of adding weight to the drive axle of a tractor because of its economy and simplicity. Plain water may be used where freezing never occurs. In colder climates where freezing temperatures occur, calcium chloride flake can be added at the strengths of 3.5lbs per gallon of water. For extremely cold climates, 5lbs of calcium chloride per gallon of water is used. Note that calcium chloride not only provides freezing protection but also increases the weight added by 20% and 28% for 3.5lbs./gal. and 5lbs./gal. respectively. Front and rear tires should only be filled to 75% or “valve level”. Use of fills greater than this are not recommended because the tire becomes more susceptible to impact breaks. For softer ride and better control of power hop, it is recommended that 40% fill (4 o’clock valve position) not be exceeded. Liquid fill has a stiffening effect on tire deflection, especially at lower inflation pressure. Because of this, use of liquid fill may make controlling power hop more difficult. Either tube type or tubeless tires may be filled with calcium chloride solution. Rim corrosion is not a problem with tubeless tires as long as the tire is always kept inflated. This keeps outside air sealed away from the rim and restrains corrosion. A rim used tubeless with calcium chloride solution must be rinsed with tap water immediately after dismounting to prevent extremely rapid corrosion.”
The above is from Titan. At Caterpillar, we ship thousands of vibratory compactors each year with tires loaded with CaCl, tubeless. Like Titan says, as long as the tire is inflated, rim corrosion is not a problem although we do use special valves. All of our competitors also use CaCl in their tubeless tires. After all these are compactors and we need all the weight possible. Salt water is an irritant but not toxic like many anti-freezes, and is much less expensive than Rimguard. For a person not needing a great deal of fluid Rimguard is great but remember that it too has its problems if one has a flat. It is sticky and if it sprays out of the puncture against the tractor it can be quite a gooey mess to clean up.
The above is from Titan. At Caterpillar, we ship thousands of vibratory compactors each year with tires loaded with CaCl, tubeless. Like Titan says, as long as the tire is inflated, rim corrosion is not a problem although we do use special valves. All of our competitors also use CaCl in their tubeless tires. After all these are compactors and we need all the weight possible. Salt water is an irritant but not toxic like many anti-freezes, and is much less expensive than Rimguard. For a person not needing a great deal of fluid Rimguard is great but remember that it too has its problems if one has a flat. It is sticky and if it sprays out of the puncture against the tractor it can be quite a gooey mess to clean up.
TJP89
Veteran Member
Yeah, and there's a reason any metal in saltwater has to be specially coated...saltwater is mildly corrosive over long periods of time, and tractor rims aren't, to the best of my knowledge, specially coated.
paulharvey
Veteran Member
You are correct, they can rust through, over about 35-40 years; don't think most of the people on here will be alive to care then. We fill them with plain water here, but I certainly wouldn't avoid, drain, or replace one with Calcium; I would however make sure I don't let them sit half flat or anything else that would encourage early problems.
prs
Platinum Member
MharryE, the air in the tire per the inflation can be the source of oxygen that the salt water "uses" to corrode the metal. It is my understanding (perhaps errant) that slat solution ballast should fill the wheel/tire assembly such that all of the metal is submerged and only that air pocket above the 12 o'clock position is remaining and pressurized.
The glory of liquid ballast is that the weight is NOT on the axle, its on bottom of the tire where the rubber meets the "road".
prs
The glory of liquid ballast is that the weight is NOT on the axle, its on bottom of the tire where the rubber meets the "road".
prs
Well, being the constant worrier that I am I decided to have them take the CC out. Some here will of course think I am nuts, but that's ok, I already knew that.
I really don't think I will need the ballast anyway. A good friend of mine has a machine just slightly smaller than this one with no weight in the tires and his does everything that I am going to want to do with no problems. Some of my ground is low seasonally wet stuff and I am also thinking it will work better down there without weight. I just didn't want to worry about developing a leak somehow or have a valve stem go bad and end up with a problem down the road. I talked with a local tire guy that deals with tractor tires all the time and that was his advice. If I ever change my mind I'll probably add windshield washer fluid.
Thanks for the help!
I really don't think I will need the ballast anyway. A good friend of mine has a machine just slightly smaller than this one with no weight in the tires and his does everything that I am going to want to do with no problems. Some of my ground is low seasonally wet stuff and I am also thinking it will work better down there without weight. I just didn't want to worry about developing a leak somehow or have a valve stem go bad and end up with a problem down the road. I talked with a local tire guy that deals with tractor tires all the time and that was his advice. If I ever change my mind I'll probably add windshield washer fluid.
Thanks for the help!