Ballast BioBallast vs Rim Guard

[fruitcakesa]

I have rim guard in the tires on the M and have always had the box blade on whenever I am using the loader. It is spec'd at about 750 lbs per tire so there is a lot of useful weight back there
Lately however, I removed the BB to make the tractor a bit shorter and have been doing the usual loader work ie: full buckets of damp gravel or 40 foot maple logs and by operating smoothly and thoughtfully, the balance is safe and manageable. And the shorter length is very handy

 

[oosik]

I know EXACTLY what you mean - fruitcakes. I have an 1100# Rhino rear blade on the 3-point. That plus the Rim Guard in the rear tires keeps me pretty well grounded. Occasionally I will operate without the rear blade - kind of feel short & naked.

 

[crazyal]

I would like to know more about BioBllast before using it. When they say "byproduct" of ethanol exactly what byproduct. I's ask because ethanol is a solvent and, as plenty of small engine owners have found out, softens rubber. This stuff could sit in your tires for 20 years or more. I doubt 15 years from now if the company is going to say "we didn't realize it would break the rubber down. So sorry. But we aren't buying you new tires." It may be 100% safe for rubber, but I would still like to know more before I would put it in my tires.

 

[oosik]

My EXACT thoughts also - crazyal. The "wrong" byproducts will reduce rubber to something like jelly. Rim Guard is NOT an ethanol byproduct. It's essentially - sugar beet syrup.

 

[Cumbres]

My EXACT thoughts also - crazyal. The "wrong" byproducts will reduce rubber to something like jelly. Rim Guard is NOT an ethanol byproduct. It's essentially - sugar beet syrup.

Well I got the Bio Ballast put in yesterday. It was a clear thick liquid. Didn't smell bad. Certainly does seem to have any solvent properties. The fellow who put it in has done calcium chloride, Rimguard and foam in addition to BioBallast. He really hated RimGuard since it smelled bad. He didn't mind BioBallast. Didn't even wear gloves.

Now if it would only quit raining so I can find some dirt to dig to see how it changes the tractor balance.

Cumbres

 

[Dexterous]

I got Bio Ballast installed today on my new B2650 with R1s. If anyone is curious, here's my invoice. As you can see, $130 installed for 42 gallons of Bio Ballast. At ~9.25-9.5 lbs per gallon (I have seen both), I added roughly 400 lbs of weight to the machine.

 

[oosik]

The IMPORTANT thing - I know Rim Guard will not harm my tires or rims. The current tables list RG at $0.28 per pound. That would make the 1476# in my tires cost - $415. Bioballast costs ~ $0.32 per pound( as per post #26).

 

[Dexterous]

The IMPORTANT thing - I know Rim Guard will not harm my tires or rims. The current tables list RG at $0.28 per pound. That would make the 1476# in my tires cost - $415. Bioballast costs ~ $0.32 per pound( as per post #26).

That’s interesting on the price. When I decided to get liquid filled tires, I started by going to the Rim Guard website and getting a list of local dealers. The closest place was 30-40min away so I called them and got a quote. Unfortunately, I cant find the paper I wrote the information down on but I would swear that the price per gallon was higher than the BioBallast. In the end, I went with BioBallast because I had to pass the BioBallast dealer on my way home from the Kubota dealer and it was just easy.

 

[oosik]

To be honest - I DID NOT choose Rim Guard. It is what the dealer installed. I'm sure if he would have installed BioBallast I would have been just as happy. I seriously doubt that a Kubota dealer would instal BioBallast if it had known detrimental effects. I know that the local dealer WILL NO LONGER instal CaCl (salt). Just too many future problems using this stuff.

 

[Fallon]

To be honest - I DID NOT choose Rim Guard. It is what the dealer installed. I'm sure if he would have installed BioBallast I would have been just as happy. I seriously doubt that a Kubota dealer would instal BioBallast if it had known detrimental effects. I know that the local dealer WILL NO LONGER instal CaCl (salt). Just too many future problems using this stuff.

Ya, pretty much my situation too. I trust my Kubota dealer & BioBallast is what they use. I called a couple tire shops & the JD dealer the first time. My Kubota dealer didnt have the equipment yet & I wanted to run the L3200 without for comparison. I promptly got the tires loaded a month or 2 later when they got the stuff in. I just got my L4060HSTC rears loaded when I got it new.