Another tire loading question

[troverman]

I've been mowing fairly steep sidehills for two years now with my Kubota B2920, and 48" Vrismo flail mower behind. There are a bunch of areas with a lot of "pucker" factor. Even though I haven't rolled it yet, there are several places I feel like I'm right on the edge. I move at a creeping speed in these places.

I've done it a few ways: with no bucket and a 165-lb weight bar on the front, or with the bucket (lowered to the ground), or even with no weight bar and no bucket.

For this year, I'm planning to buy a 5-foot flail mower to try and speed up the job. My old Vrismo is indeed old (1990) and made form very heavy gauge steel. The new flail mower appears to have less steel (looking at a Peruzzo Fox) and despite being wider, might not be heavier?

To improve stability with the wider mower, I've just ordered a set of 2" Bro-Tek spacers for the rear wheels. I'm helping this improves stability considerably. However, I'd also like to load the tires, I think.

Questions:

Will making the tires weigh more improve side hill stability?
On the relatively small tires of the B2920, how much weight am I adding?
How much should the tires be filled?
Should I fill the front and rear or just the rear?
Can I do this myself at home somehow?
I understand calcium chloride rusts the rims out. What is the preferred liquid? Windshield washer? Beet juice?

Thanks much,
Tyler

 

[mcfarmall]

Loading the tires puts a lot of weight below the axle centerline which helps create a lower center of gravity overall. Combining loaded tires with the 2" wheel spacers will make a HUGE difference in the stability of your tractor. Go to the Rim Guard website and they have a chart that shows the amount of fill for a gazillion sizes of tires. The chart shows capacity for a 75% fill. I just had my rears filled and they put in a 90% fill. My tire store uses a functionally equivalent product to Rim Guard called TL 90 and is made in Michigan from beet juice and weighs 10.5 lbs/gal. Don't know of anyone who's done it at home but if the gorillas at the tire store can do it, it can't be rocket science. A quick Google search just now revealed several choices of adapters ranging in price from $10 TSC adapter to a $1,000.00 kit that includes a Wilden diaphragm pump and all the goodies.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

....
Questions:

Will making the tires weigh more improve side hill stability? Yes, quite a bit.
On the relatively small tires of the B2920, how much weight am I adding? Approximately 250lbs/ tire
How much should the tires be filled? to 75% or around 23 gallons from messicks site.
Should I fill the front and rear or just the rear? I'd recommend just the rear
Can I do this myself at home somehow? If you would be satisfied with WWF sure, for beetjuice/rimguard I don't think I'd want to try and do that at home. The big concern is a fluid inside the tire freezing solid.
I understand calcium chloride rusts the rims out. What is the preferred liquid? Windshield washer? Beet juice? Usually owners are concerned about cost first and weight added second. That usually goes water, wwf, cacl,rimguard, steel weights.

Thanks much,
Tyler

Also to note, are you mowing up and down the hill or across it? I can mow hills steep enough up and down that I will NOT mow sideways. I also need 4wd if the ground is a bit soft to get up and down without digging the ground up to badly.

 

[Looking4new]

I have this; Air/Liquid Adapter Kit | GEMPLER'S
or this will work too;Quick Fill Tractor Tire Attachment | GEMPLER'S

 

[Oldpath05]

"To improve stability with the wider mower, I've just ordered a set of 2" Bro-Tek spacers for the rear wheels. I'm helping this improves stability considerably. However, I'd also like to load the tires, I think. "<<<<<<<<Cant your wheel rims be reversed so you gain more than 2" and your better off keeping your loader on the tractor and keep it low.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

I believe WWF is something less than 6lbs/gal and RimGuard is 10.5. At 50 total gallons, that's a big difference to me.

Edit: I may be wrong about WWF. It may be heavier.

 

[TheMan419]

"To improve stability with the wider mower, I've just ordered a set of 2" Bro-Tek spacers for the rear wheels. I'm helping this improves stability considerably. However, I'd also like to load the tires, I think. "<<<<<<<<Cant your wheel rims be reversed so you gain more than 2" and your better off keeping your loader on the tractor and keep it low.

Op is in New Hampshire. So water won't work unless he will drain and refill each fall/spring.

Might consider water (at roughly 8 lb per gallon and free) as an initial fill to determine if using fluid filled tire helps you. If it does then you can consider the cost of a fluid that will not freeze on you during the winter.

Base on its corrosive qualities I would avoid CaCl. Rim guard or wwf depending on the cost v weight trade off that works for you.

 

[Texasmark]

I guess you have a ROPS on your tractor. Want to know where you are, tie a string and weight on the top-center of the roll bar. Make the string 2' (for a number) long.

When the weight moves outside the outside width of your rear tires, time to pay attention. Your going slow is certainly one of the best things you can do as if you hit a bump, especially on the high side front or rear tire, you totally upset the CG that you had.

It's a matter of foot-pounds on the loading: How many pounds do you have on the outside of your lower rear tire vs how many above. When the number tilts in favor of outside, you are in deep doo do. As others have said, the lower the counter weight, the better as lowering lowers the CG which shortens the imaginary string (puts it closer to the ground) which allows it to swing at a larger angle before it reaches out beyond the lower rear.

I mow a ⅓ bank of about 500' every time I mow around my pond. I usually sit on the upside of the seat what gets me vertical and helps move the CG favoring the uphill side. I posted on here several times, my home made 4" extensions for the rears, and added 50# wheel weights to each rear....as big as would fit within the 16.5" rim. Can't use liquid as I run my tires at 8" for a soft ride and it just doesn't stay in and makes the tires slip on the new (gloss painted) wheels.

HTH