fill tires or not?

   / fill tires or not? #111  
Link "explanation" looks more like a study on the negative without qualification of how negative various factors are. Some statements are simplistic and should not be taken at face value. Also prevalent is assuming worst case of fluid fill vs possible advantages to some types of users.
larry

All the extension info says to not fill the tires? Hmmmm, they have been so great in the past with ideas. Plant fescue they say. Then ten years later they say fescue is bad. New flavor of the month is native warm season grasses. My extension agent says don't do hay. Just stockpile pasture areas for over wintering. Okay, so if I'm only a few weeks late getting the hay crop, I'm losing soooo much forage quality, how good can it be sitting dead for months? Frankly, I would temper whatever you read from them as the story changes too frequently.

That said, for most agricultural row crop operations, proper ballasting is to increase traction to reduce wheel slippage to minimum. This is the most fuel efficient way. Depending on your soils, compaction can be an issue which increases costs for breaking up compaction which causes yield reductions. All noble considerations when you are cropping thousands of acres and these differences can make a change in yield of 10 bushels per acre of corn, or reduce fuel usage by 2 gallons per acre worked per field operation.

For the rest of the world of tractor use, we use ballast to lower the center of gravity, offset large front loads, for uses on land that you wouldn't be row cropping. For THAT purpose, filling tires with fluid is a time proven method. Does it make your ride suffer? At high speeds maybe. Does it add to compaction of the ground? Sometimes but depends on soil, time of year, etc.

The flip side - The ballast in my tires allows me to negotiate rough terrain to utilize my tractor in a safe manner. Compaction in my usage doesn't matter. Wheel slippage is only a concern if it is 100%. Ride quality impact in the woods pulling out logs at 3 mph means nothing. About the only operation I might notice it on is running the wheel rake.

Sorry guys, but I have met few extension folks or ag tire mfrs that put as many hours in the tractor seat as I do and I'm only a part time hobbyist farmer. I would rather take the advise of people like here on TBN who are out there regularly using their equipment than most of these off farm experts. Getting off my stump now..

Misty,

Very eloquently stated summary and reflects my thoughts exactly. IMHO, you get the prize. Bottom line is there are many factors to consider and everyone has to decide what is best for their use.

BTW, I'd never think of using my 3720 cab tractor w/o tire ballast and wheel extensions on the steep terrain where it is used.
Mm-hmm.
larry
 
   / fill tires or not? #112  
Water is the way to go for the southern states. Do it at home ... convenient as air. Here in Virginia I use it in my 7520 -- a ton of weight for about 25 cents. Long about Christmas I start parking it in the manure pile, but this year wasnt cold enuf to require that even.
larry
Yep. When its that cold for any real time its in the pile. Excavate a little trench and the tires are setting on 100+ heat. The surface rapidly cools but close under the surface its warm. Its enuf. I dont even bother till the tires start crusting inside too hard to break by pushing against the tire with my hand. This winter it never got that bad.
larry

Its not the money. Its the convenience of water. Absolutely no issues ... ever, if you have the wherewithal to control excessive phase change.
larry

If adding fluid adds 700- 1000 lbs to your tires, how does one remove them to change the tranny fluid?

I just drain mine out on the ground when I need to. And refill with the hose after Im finished.
larry
This thread has got me thinking. For all the benefits that CaCl or RimGuard may have, at the end of the day, plain old water weighs 8 lbs / gal (roughly) and, since I'm on well water, is more or less free. I'd like to load my tires, but I don't have the budget to pay $300 or so for RimGuard, which is what I'd really like. It got me to thinking: isn't something better than nothing? Why not get the drill pump and the adapter for the valve and fill them up with plain old H2O. Living in East TN, it doesn't freeze here very often, and if it comes to that, I'll just pump the water back out again.

What am I missing in my brilliant plan?
Posts previously dismissed? ... :confused3:
larry
 
   / fill tires or not? #113  
Posts previously dismissed? ... :confused3:
larry

Yeah, I guess I see your point. I had sort of worked my way through the thread slowly, and by the time I had gotten to the end, a lot of the previous stuff had fallen out of my head.
 
   / fill tires or not? #114  
Wife just took delivery of a new JD 5065M Friday and I asked about getting the tires filled when we were up there going over some details. The dealer also a good friend of mine recommended that she not have them filled but to add a minimum of 2 wheel weights per wheel. He mentioned something about wheel weights being static weight and immobile where liquid is moving as long as you're moving. He gets his wheel weights from someone else besides wheel weights somewhere other than JD, he said they're cheaper but the same but will need to be painted. All the other tractors here have the rears filled and without any problems so far.
 
   / fill tires or not? #116  
I got my tires on my former 4100 with used antifreeze and that worked well. I have a set of R4s filled for my current unit, and I am either gonna go with RIM Guard or used antifreeze again.
 
   / fill tires or not? #117  
I am either gonna go with RIM Guard or used antifreeze again.
Check the liquid ballast section of your owner manual. Mine says don't use alcohol, which necessarily includes anti-freeze. I went with RimGuard.

//greg//
 
   / fill tires or not? #118  
I am either gonna go with RIM Guard or used antifreeze again.
Check the liquid ballast section of your owner manual. Mine says don't use alcohol, which necessarily includes anti-freeze. I went with RimGuard.

//greg//
 
   / fill tires or not? #119  
It was all I could do to sit and watch when I KNEW there was going to be a flip. Very scarey. I am glad you are Ok.
 
   / fill tires or not? #120  
Find another dealer! There is no doubt that those tires need to be filler if you have a loader. Agreed - don't do CaCl but find an alternative as described. I didn't like the $$ for beet juice so I collected used antifreeze from local shops and gravity filled to the top of the rim. Works like a champ ... and the price was right.
 

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