Calcium in tires, no longer a fan......

[pmsmechanic]

Some of the information on here is interesting! Let me add some more. In this area in the past you could always sell your Ca-Cl if you no longer wanted it in your tires. Now you can't even give it away as no one wants it any more. I don't know what farmers are using as an alternative but I'm going to ask next time I go to the tire shop. I suspect it's cast iron as most farmers have over ballasted in the past.

After all the issues I see with fluid in tires I'm just very happy that I choose to use a set of cast iron weights on the three point. I probably only use those weights on the average of once a month. When I need the weight I'm glad I have it. When I don't need it I'm very thankful it's not there!

 

[LouNY]

Morning Gentlemen,
I've had calcium in a great many tires tube and tubeless, it does rot the rims out but it used to take several years, depending on how often you got a leak and how well the rim got cleaned out afterward, the worst part was the cost and inconvenience of flat repairs when your busier then ****. It takes a couple of hours to pump calcium out try and clean the rims patch the tube and then a couple more to get pumped back in and picked up, **** the whole **** day is ruined.
Thats why i bought 1200 pounds iron to put on my new tractor with 18.4-30 tires, the iron was about a buck a pound but the repairs will be some much easier and cheaper.

 

[sixdogs]

...

After all the issues I see with fluid in tires I'm just very happy that I choose to use a set of cast iron weights on the three point. I probably only use those weights on the average of once a month. When I need the weight I'm glad I have it. When I don't need it I'm very thankful it's not there!

This is the real way to ballast. It costs a little more up front but as mentioned can be added or subtracted at will and likely sold for equal or more money when I'm done. So, it's an inflation hedge as well.

The net cost of weight is much cheaper, aggravation much lower and it feels the same except in places like the severe slopes of West Virginia or similar.

 

[arrow]

This is the real way to ballast. It costs a little more up front but as mentioned can be added or subtracted at will and likely sold for equal or more money when I'm done. So, it's an inflation hedge as well.

The net cost of weight is much cheaper, aggravation much lower and it feels the same except in places like the severe slopes of West Virginia or similar.

You're starting to sway me. Here's why, perhaps not so much for resale unless the weights have multiple holes and would fit an array of wheels, but for the cost factor. I was charged $360 for what appears to be 40 gallons of beet juice. That's 9 bucks a gallon or about .85 cents per pound. Weights are what? a buck a pound? Next time I spring a leak, going to have a hard look at weights if indeed running like I'm figuring..

 

[sixdogs]

You're starting to sway me. Here's why, perhaps not so much for resale unless the weights have multiple holes and would fit an array of wheels, but for the cost factor. I was charged $360 for what appears to be 40 gallons of beet juice. That's 9 bucks a gallon or about .85 cents per pound. Weights are what? a buck a pound? Next time I spring a leak, going to have a hard look at weights if indeed running like I'm figuring..

Go back a page and click on the link in my post #71 of this thread. It shows pictures of the rusty rims on non-corroding washer fluid in some wheels that had tubes in them. They still rusted and still leaked and still caused trouble.

Look around and you can find weights cheaper, often in the 40 to 60 cent range. Even a dollar is OK. Many weights are somewhat universal in that they will fit across many models and brands. My Kubota rear M7040 weights fit maybe 20 other models and have a simple bolt pattern. Front end weights are a little more difficult but not all that much.

 

[leonz]

You might want to consider using straight windshield washer fluid as its good down to -30?

I was so fed up with the lack of traction with two link chains on my LA115 I bought a tire filling
valve from Gempler's and used part of an old garden hose snake and a funnel to fill the rear tires
and it made a world of difference when working and removing the snow pack as long as it was
not too frozen.

 

[ovrszd]

Go back a page and click on the link in my post #71 of this thread. It shows pictures of the rusty rims on non-corroding washer fluid in some wheels that had tubes in them. They still rusted and still leaked and still caused trouble.

Look around and you can find weights cheaper, often in the 40 to 60 cent range. Even a dollar is OK. Many weights are somewhat universal in that they will fit across many models and brands. My Kubota rear M7040 weights fit maybe 20 other models and have a simple bolt pattern. Front end weights are a little more difficult but not all that much.

Didn't realize they were tubed. So how did the wwf rust the rim while in the tube?

 

[FarmHack]

I've had Ca-Cl in the tubes of my 8N since 1998 and had no problems. You do have to pay attention though. If the valve stem starts to leak (happened to me once), if will dribble fluid on the rim. But it's hard to miss the fact that the rim is wet and the tire is low - that's your key that you need to fix something. May be as simple as threading a new valve stem in and rinsing off the rim. Having said that, I run dry tires on my 3010 because it came with four 140 lb rear wheel weights and seems to have sufficient traction for my purposes.

 

[sixdogs]

Didn't realize they were tubed. So how did the wwf rust the rim while in the tube?

Had to be some sort of a small leak. Even a teenie-tiny one that you would barley notice will eventually cost a bag of money. "Go cast and make it fast" is my free advice. I didn't originally think this way but the cost of ruined wheels and related woke me up.

 

[fried1765]

Go back a page and click on the link in my post #71 of this thread. It shows pictures of the rusty rims on non-corroding washer fluid in some wheels that had tubes in them. They still rusted and still leaked and still caused trouble.

Look around and you can find weights cheaper, often in the 40 to 60 cent range. Even a dollar is OK. Many weights are somewhat universal in that they will fit across many models and brands. My Kubota rear M7040 weights fit maybe 20 other models and have a simple bolt pattern. Front end weights are a little more difficult but not all that much.

In your link from post #71 your comment is: the tires were loaded for "a couple of years I was told".
Certainly the seller told you that, and when you drained the WWF, you then assumed that the WWF fluid had caused the wheel corrosion over 2 or 3 years.
My supposition is that someone did load the tires with WWF "a couple of years" prior, but .... prior to that, someone else had kept CaCl in those tires for many additional years.
How old was the tractor when you bought it?