bio-tire ballast

bigballer · Apr 23, 2009

hi - anyone out there have this in their tires? i am told by the shop it's basically the same as rimguard, is this really the case? any real difference in the actual weight of it compared to rimguard? i did a google search and only found something about it mentioning it was canola based..

DJCohenour · Apr 24, 2009

I've been told, haven't checked it out or anything, that Rimguard is just a brand name for beet juice and that is all that is in the tire.

Just what I have been told though. Take it with a grain of salt.

If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

AKfish · Apr 24, 2009

Yep.. RimGuard is a beet juice based product. No canola oil. Both organic, though.

AKfish

oregunbota · Apr 26, 2009

bigballer,
Do you have tubes in your tires? I have cacl and have tubes. I had it done when I bought the tractor and I know that they sent the tires off to a tire shop to have it done. One thing that you should keep in mind ( don't ask me how I know this ) is what ever it is you have in your tire, your tire gauge may not work very long with it. I now have one that is designed for such use.

bigballer · May 13, 2009

oregunbota said:
bigballer,
Do you have tubes in your tires? I have cacl and have tubes. I had it done when I bought the tractor and I know that they sent the tires off to a tire shop to have it done. One thing that you should keep in mind ( don't ask me how I know this ) is what ever it is you have in your tire, your tire gauge may not work very long with it. I now have one that is designed for such use.

hi oregunbota - i do not have tubes in my tires but had the bio-ballast added to my tires a few weeks ago, i did notice when the tire guy was checking the pressure there was a bit of spray coming out of the valve and i'm guessing too much of this will gum up the gauge.. so far so good, no seeping around the rim and lots of extra traction/ballast.. life is good here on the hill..

RWolf · May 13, 2009

One reason I haven't loaded my tires is that I've already had 2 flats on the front and 1 on the back. All of them happend after I shutdown for the evening and came back in the morning to find the tires flat. Don't really want to waste fluid if I don't have to.

wedge40 · May 14, 2009

RWolf said:
One reason I haven't loaded my tires is that I've already had 2 flats on the front and 1 on the back. All of them happend after I shutdown for the evening and came back in the morning to find the tires flat. Don't really want to waste fluid if I don't have to.

It sound's like a bad seal. Most places that put ballast in the tire will add tubes, that way you don't have to worry about a bad seal.

Wedge

RWolf · May 15, 2009

All flats have been due to mesquite thorns or something. I've plugged the holes and they were in the thinest part of the tire. They basically were slow leaks. As to why my back tire broke bead I can only assume due to tractor weight.

RollingsFarms · May 15, 2009

I just put my tractor in the shop to get the rear tires loaded and add on a few things I wanted(work light, brush guard, etc.). my dealer said they use water and add in 2-3 gallons of anti-freeze or either windshield washer fluid(whichever they have handy at the time). I asked them if they offered other types of liquid ballast(just out of curiosity) and they said this is what they've always used and it's seemed to work fine all these years. if it ain't broke don't fix it, right? I also added a set of 110 lb. rear wheel weights. I figured that extra 220 lbs wouldn't hurt. all in all my tractor will come home to me next week weighing about 1,100 lbs heavier then when it went in. I'm anxious to see how it performs when I get it back next week(waiting on my lights to come in). my last tractor was also ballasted but it wasn't large enough for the work I was using it for to begin with so I really couldn't tell what kind of difference it made. never had a flat either(knock on wood).

wedge40 · May 16, 2009

RWolf said:
All flats have been due to mesquite thorns or something. I've plugged the holes and they were in the thinest part of the tire. They basically were slow leaks. As to why my back tire broke bead I can only assume due to tractor weight.

If you're back tires only broke the bead, then a tube would fix this problem. I've had my tractor for almost 10 years and this spring I finally filled the tires with Rim Guard. Ya I know it's more expensive, but it also weight more per gallon than most. Believe me it was the second best investment I made, the first being the front end loader.

Wedge