Used Antifreeze for Tire Fill

[Dallas_Lilly]

I have wanted to fill my rear tires for some time now but never could justify the amount of money to fill with washer fluid or something else that would not freeze. I however have found out that the shop that I work at pays to have their used antifreeze removed and would be more than glad to give me all I want.

My question is what are the disadvantages of using antifreeze? I could get tubes but not sure it is necessary because all the antifreeze comes out of heavy diesel trucks and has corrosion inhibitor in it. Tractor is almost always away from animals and kids. What else am I missing?

 

[larryccf]

doubtful the antifreeze is bad - i've seen the same antifreeze in a car for over 10 years and still showed the temp protection it did when it was first poured in.

 

[westcliffe01]

If you ever have to let it out or have a spill, the stuff is pretty poisonous. Animals appear to be attracted to it and die afterwards. Large amounts can poison groundwater. There have been some well documented cases with it being used to deliberately poison animals by a few psychos. My wife lost an alaskan Malamute in such an incident while in the throes of her divorce to her ex.

 

[tessiers]

No if's, it will eventually come out and will be a bigger problem then, why not store gasoline in milk jugs

 

[BobRip]

I lost two cats from a small anti freeze leak on my van. The love the stuff and about one teaspoon will kill them. A very bad death.

 

[mrtfelton]

I am also debating the idea of antifreeze this week in my head. Maybe the rear 3pt weight will be the way I go..

 

[JayC]

What about putting a few gallons of RV antifreeze in each tire and then filling the rest of the tire with water? I hear RV antifreeze is environmentally friendly.

 

[WH401]

Anti-freeze is highly toxic. As another person said, it's not if you will spill it, it's when you will spill. Eventually it will come out and with that amount of anti-freeze it will end up being a big problem. It really doesn't matter if the tractor is around kids or animals regularly. If it leaks, most likely some kind of animal will come along to that spot eventually. If you want rear ballast, and want it done right, than don't skimp and instead spend a little money for something that is worth while. Look into RimGuard, it's bio-degradable, heavier than water alone, freeze resistant to around -40, and it's non-corrosive. It only cost me $170 to have the rear tires in my 3320 filled, I think that's a pretty reasonable price for safe ballast.

 

[westcliffe01]

Jay has a point with the RV antifreeze, since it is used to winterize water systems in trailers and RV's. I would be very surprized if it is cost efective though.

 

[flusher]

I have wanted to fill my rear tires for some time now but never could justify the amount of money to fill with washer fluid or something else that would not freeze. I however have found out that the shop that I work at pays to have their used antifreeze removed and would be more than glad to give me all I want.

My question is what are the disadvantages of using antifreeze? I could get tubes but not sure it is necessary because all the antifreeze comes out of heavy diesel trucks and has corrosion inhibitor in it. Tractor is almost always away from animals and kids. What else am I missing?

The cheapest and densest fill is calcium chloride, but you need tubes since that stuff will corrode your steel rims.

Rimguard (beet juice) is the next densest, but it's fairly expensive (29 cents/gallon) and not readily available everywhere. This stuff is pretty inert so you can use it with tubeless tires.

Since your rears are tubeless, RV antifreeze is the way to go.

It's propylene glycol that's used to winterize potable water systems on RVs and boats, so it's harmless, i.e. it's drinkable. Regular antifreeze is nasty stuff--ethylene glycol--poisonous.

There's no weight advantage over straight water using RV antifreeze or windshield washer solution.