#$%@&*! Barbed Wire

dummy · Dec 5, 2001

Bird, how do (did) you calculate how much anti-freeze to add per tire? Is your gadget basically just a tube with a tire chuck on one end and a valve stem on the other?

Bird · Dec 5, 2001

dummy, I don't really know how to calculate the volume of a tire. In my case, the tractor is stored indoors, highly unlikely to be used in subfreezing weather, etc., so I didn't worry about it much. I just put two gallons of antifreeze in each tire, and filled them to the 75% level with water. And the gadget you see is a piece of schedule 40 PVC with the air hose and clip on chuck (the core has been removed from the chuck). The other end has a screw on cap with a regular and complete valve stem. I remove the valve core from the tire, clip on the chuck, unscrew the cap from the gadget, fill it with antifreeze, stop leak, or whatever I want to go into the tire, screw the cap on, and give it one very short burst of air (you'd probably be surprised at how little air is required to put the entire contents into the tire almost instantly), then repeat the procedure until I've installed as much as I want. To put the water in, you can buy a garden hose air/water adapter at Tractor Supply Co. and lots of other places for less than $10, but I have another homemade gadget for that, too./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

mikim · Dec 5, 2001

...for less than $10, but I have another homemade gadget for that, too

sounds like me ... why spend $10 on a manufactured somethin' when you can have a homemade somethin' for $8 + 2 days labor/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird · Dec 5, 2001

Yeah, Mike, I've had lots of experience with that, too./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif But in this particular case, no investment of time or money. The gadget for putting in the antifreeze or stop leak was homemade, but not by me. A neighbor made up several and gave me one. And the gadget for putting in the water is one I made up for use with my insecticide/herbicide spray rig and I found it worked just fine for putting water in tires, too./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

mbjacobs · Dec 5, 2001

While we're on the subject of filling tires I have a couple of questions.
1) How can you tell when a tire is 75% full?
2) Is there something inside the tire on the valve stem that extends beyond the rim? (This is hard to explain.) 75% is suppose to cover the rims. Since the valve stem is in the rim, wouldn't I get liquid out even when the stem is at 12:00 if the rim is covered?

Maury Jacobs

Bird · Dec 5, 2001

1) As you mentioned, put the valve stem at the 12 o'clock position, jack up the wheel enough to take all the weight off that tire, and fill until some runs back out. Let it. And you'll be at about the 75% level.
2) Nope, nothing inside the stem sticking into the tire; just the back side of the stem; either all rubber, or metal with a rubber washer on tubeless tires; nothing on tubes.
75% is suppose to cover the rims
Even though the valve stem is in the rim, it's not in the center of the rim, but up fairly near the tire bead, so most, if not all, the metal will be covered with the liquid.

Anonymous Poster · Dec 5, 2001

...why spend $10 on a manufactured somethin' when you can have a homemade somethin' for $8 + 2 days labor...

plus you forgot driving 100 mile round trip to buy the parts... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

JJT · Dec 5, 2001

John, I also have "deadly" chemicals under the sink, but not in 55 gallon quantities. Each tire on my L3710 holds over 50 gallons. No way would I use antifreeze or windshield washer fluid in these quantities.

Chuck52 · Dec 5, 2001

What is in windshield washer solution? Seems to me many are methanol and a little detergent. Now you wouldn't want to drink much methanol; blindness is one of the side effects, death is another. However, as deadly chemicals go it ain't much. I don't think anyone (non-suicidal that is) or any animal would be likely to drink either a concentrated CaCl2 solution or a soapy MeOH solution. Believe it or not, I've actually tasted both! (This is why the lab instructor says to use a pipette bulb and not do it by mouth, and why I always told the kids to do what I say and not what I do!) Anti-freeze containing ethylene glycol is another matter. It tastes sweet, and some animals will indeed drink it, and ethylene glycol is toxic. The newer anti-freeze formulations containing propylene glycol are much safer, but last I checked they were lots more $$$. Has that changed? Are we worried about ground water contamination from spills? If so, I would think the anti-freeze solutions would be more problematic. Methanol evaporates, and it is metabolized by soil organisms. It is also present in small concentrations naturally in, for instance, fermenting fruits, etc. I haven't checked the formulations, but if methanol in the windshield cleaner is the problem, I'd be more concerned with the diesel I always manage to spill while trying to fill my old L210.

Chuck

MossRoad · Dec 5, 2001

You wouldn't put 55 gallons of antifreeze in your tires. You'd put just enough to keep the water from freezing. However, I would not put anitfreeze in my tires. If spilled, it never goes away, just gets diluted and diluted into smaller parts. Windshield washer solution seems to evaporate. It is usually alchohol and water. I'd still like to see some data on the beet juice. Anyone have a web site?

 MossRoad