Ballast Can I do it Myself?

[olPete]

Are you licensed? de K0UA

ZL4PJ. Got my license at age 11 and sat my 12wpm CW to get my general call at 13, havent even got set up for HF here yet but will pop up a G5RV when i get some tower up! And then I will track you down!!

 

[k0ua]

ZL4PJ. Got my license at age 11 and sat my 12wpm CW to get my general call at 13, havent even got set up for HF here yet but will pop up a G5RV when i get some tower up! And then I will track you down!!

Very good.. I look forward to meeting you on the air. 73 de K0UA

 

[olPete]

Very good.. I look forward to meeting you on the air. 73 de K0UA

I look forward to it too. What bands do you prefer? Used to give 80/75 most of my time, need the nightime bands when you live on the wrong side of the planet...

 

[arrow]

I was in the ops shoes once. Had calcium in the tubes. On the advice from Carl in NewHamshire, (a guy on the Forum here. Thanks again Carl) I was bolstered to tackle this myself.Went to Harbor Freight and bought a cheap ($29) transfer pump. Ordered the hose fittings from Gemplers and two 30" tire irons from Northern products to the then tune of $8 a piece. I also bought a new tube from Gemplers along with their valve stem "fishing tool" that allows you to easily get the tube stem through the tire hole.

I demounted the rim and tire after taking out the air and calcium, placed it flat on the ground, and drove my pick up truck onto the 2x6 I strategically placed on the tire to break the bead. Had to wait till the next morning for one of the tires to unseat leaving the p.u. on the 2x6. The other broke immediately. I then used the two 30" tire irons to demount the tire.

Now for the good parts: I had CaCl in my tires for 26 years. I drained the remaining calcium out of the tires using two 18 gal. muck buckets and the above mentioned pump. Your tires are might need something larger depending on how much is left in there. The calcium wore two dime size holes in the rim. I had these tig filled at my local welders. When I got it back, I also decided to do the other tire seeing it was only a matter of time. The other rim had no holes. Both rims were rusted pretty badly. Wire brushed the rims with a hand held grinder then sanded them smooth. I then got some POR 15 and brushed that on. Primed the rims then used bridge paint I had laying around and brushed this on to the inside part of the wheel as well. From the advice of an old farmer, I then duck taped the inside part of the rim so I would get no chafing from all the uneven rim indentations the rust caused to the metal of the rim.. After I painted the rims and made the outside pretty again with JD yellow, I mounted the rims on the tractor and proceeded to soap up and mount the rear tires. I used vice grips to prevent that part of the tire wanting to come off the rim as you're going around with the tire irons. I put the tubes in using the fishing tool and proceeded to refill the calcium again with the pump. I got the self burping fitting so I did not have to stop the fill process. Took less than 5 minutes per tire to refill with the calcium.

Since I was working alone, I was careful to place the tractor while on jack stands, where I could still use the front end loader to place the rim and take it off the back of the pick up.

This is what it takes to do it yourself. I did not expect to have to deal with these tires again until I was dead. As I traded the tractor in shortly after this, I did not have to wait to be dead to fix them again.

 

[k0ua]

I look forward to it too. What bands do you prefer? Used to give 80/75 most of my time, need the nightime bands when you live on the wrong side of the planet...

I think we would have a good chance on either 40 or 80. As you know we are heading down in the depths of the sunspot cycle and our chances on the upper bands are not that great. Maybe still possible on 20, but it is slipping away fast. I think we are all going to have to live and get along with 160, 80 and 40 meters for several years to come.

 

[olPete]

I think we would have a good chance on either 40 or 80. As you know we are heading down in the depths of the sunspot cycle and our chances on the upper bands are not that great. Maybe still possible on 20, but it is slipping away fast. I think we are all going to have to live and get along with 160, 80 and 40 meters for several years to come.

I like 80. Its 'proper' HF imo. The way music is better on vinyl, and guitar needs a tube amp. Pleased to have our own land after 7 years of moving around, and should be fairly quiet where we are regards QRM. I only twigged a few days ago your handle was a callsign

 

[BHD]

one can do it your self, and I do it for my self, but I have two debeaders, and some times need both of the, a number of good tire irons, an air powered fluid pump, 20 ton jack, vice grips, and so on, and the experience to do the job,

I have had a number of "new" tubes split on a seam, if you do plan on doing this just buy a new tube,

on the rim wash it up very good, and a few rolls of duct tape put on the rim can protect the tube from a rusted up rim, a good cup brush on a 4" grinder helps a lot, (if doing it your self repaint it), lot of drying time is needed,

one can get a lot of the fluid out if the tube is not tore loose from the valve stem, by airing up the tire and then rotate the stem down to the bottom of the wheel and with a hose put in to a plastic drum, or two, depending on the size of the tire, one may have to do this a number of times, but one can get about 90% out this way (I would guess by letting the jack down and flatting the tire at the last would get a lot of the last (below the vale stem with it down), to where one could work it out the tube out of the tire and rim with the tire off the wheel one sided, Gemplers has some tips on tire repair,
near the top of the page there is a menu with various aspects of tractor or large tire repair,
Changing a Tractor Tire - Dismounting | GEMPLER'S mounting, dismounting, liquid ballast. and some on safety,

use a special tire gauge that is made for liquid ballast filled tires, the crap will destroy a gauge or even a air head at times if it get in to them

(can you air up the tire and drive the tractor to a location where they can work on it)

I would suggest for a beginner, hire it done, and watch and ask a lot of questions, before trying it your self with out experience.

 

[SandburRanch]

If you don't have a valve stem retainer to pull the stem through, a strong string/cord can be attached to the stem threads with a clove hitch knot and the two ends brought through the hole for later use as the vid showed with the cable. I use waxed linen boot thread.

 

[mmranch]

Thanks again to all for the ideas! I really appreciate it. I will update this after I've gotten it solved but for now I'm busy with clearing roof snow & ice.

Thanks again.

 

[mmranch]

Howdy folks... an update and a question.

I finally got all my tools to repair the tire and am in the process of pumping out the Calcium Chloride with my fluid pump. I have gotten approximately 90-99% of the fluid pumped out into some containers.

My question is this... the suction of pulling out the last of the liquid has made the tire suck inward on itself and look very deformed. The tire beads have also pulled inward away from the rim.

Is this normal? Am I damaging the tire?

Have I gotten all the liquid out that I should expect? There is still smaller squirts of liquid passing out through the pump & hose.

If there is a tube inside (I expect there is), should the tire be sucking in on itself like this?

I'll post some photos in a bit.

Thanks for any guidance!

 

[whis]

if the nut holding the valve stem to the wheel is plastic you have a tube, if its metal its tubeless

 

[mmranch]

Thanks for the info! The nut is plastic & I would expect a tube.

After stopping the pump & waiting... the tire resumed it's normal shape. I continued pumping again and stopped/started several times and got quite a bit more fluid out. Then the liquid totally stopped coming out. Got about 60 gallons out.

Because of trying to pull out the fluid from a mostly closed tube, the process was slow. When flushing the pump with clean water afterwards... the pumping was very fast shooting out a large volume of water.

When filling the new (closed) tube, I expect the process to be slow again. I'm a bit concerned about the pressure buildup when filling the new tube.

I know that I should reverse the lever on the pump to relieve pressure. The pump has a pressure gauge on the outflow side. I'm guessing this is what I should be watching to determine pressure buildup in the filling tube? What sort of reading should indicate too much pressure buildup?

Thanks again.

 

[mmranch]

Another question:

The tire has an 'Easy Notch' right where the tire bead meets the rim. It is a 6" gap in the bead shape. I'm assuming this is the best spot to start prying the bead off the rim?

Thanks!

 

[olPete]

Hi, yes you got the idea of what that notch is for. I have sometimes had to use vise-grips on the rim, to stop it coming off the rim fast as you put it on!
I don't know if you guys use filling adapters for loading or not. Because we just use water, I've always used an adapter, which has a water fitting and screws onto the valve, plus has a tiny hole to let the air escape. Guess you could make one, if you have a suitable T and spare hose. Could just run the extra line back to the container of ballast, kinda like the return on an injection system. I usually have the valve near the top, they say to have it 10 or 2 o'clock but I usually go higher with water, don't want rusty rims!
Hopefully, the weight of the ballast will have at least loosened the bead for you. If you can get a bar in the notch first, and then just work slowly around. You will get it, but there's no recipe for success, you will just need to persevere and experiment what works.
Once you can see in there, you will know whether you need to completely dismount it, or hopefully you can just inspect the inside of the tyre carcass and rim and deem them to be near enough to put the new tube in. Pay particular attention to the rim for rust, it makes sense to give it a dust-up with a wirewheel while you can, and a spray with primer if you do; also it pays to check the inside of the carcass for any rough areas, damage, punctures. These can be ground or sanded smooth. If there is any debris, vacuum it out!
When it comes time put put it back together, the only tips I have are: 1 use plenty of baby talc in there to stop the new tube being a PIA by sticking to itself and the tire
2 put a little air in the tube so it holds a little shape, this will make it a lot easier to get it free of kinks+folds, and make it a lot less likely that you will pinch it with the bars. I usually try to start opposite the stem and finish at the valve, but that's only a nicety. It's whatever works for you!

 

[olPete]

Finally watched the video. Noticed he also used the vise-grips.. but didn't have much air in the tube. He knows what he's doing better than me, but I would fill the tube out a little once you get the valve through. That will help keep the valve through, and then you won't pinch a fold between the tip of the bar and the rim, if you have the tip of the bar in a little deep. Best of luck!

 

[Oldpath05]

Another question:

The tire has an 'Easy Notch' right where the tire bead meets the rim. It is a 6" gap in the bead shape. I'm assuming this is the best spot to start prying the bead off the rim?

Thanks!

I'm understanding most of this, except for (Easy Notch) <<<<<What is that, and isn't this calcium stuff the same as used on snow covered roads? Vehicles in my state rust away in 10 years if not washed, that's why the car wash stations here are the busiest this time of year.

When I bought my tractor tires a couple years ago, the place where I bought my tractor said they couldn't replace them for atleast two weeks and they refill with beet juice, but I needed tires ASAP, so went to a truck tire place and they replaced them the same day, the only issue was they only use calcium and they put it in tubes. Hopefully in ten years or less when I replace the tires, I wont need the tractor ASAP and have new tires with beet juice put back in, be inneresting to see if my rims are rusted out, if they are that would make a good reason to change from AG tire to R4 tires.

 

[olPete]

I'm understanding most of this, except for (Easy Notch)

You will be right to run any liquid in your tires, so long as the rim is always submerged in the liquid it can't rust. I would always put it in a tube though, to be safe. The problem with corrosive stuff, as I see it, is if you have a slow leak then it needs to be fixed quickly. Other than its nasty and a pain to keep off yourself when fixing leaks etc. Glad I don't need it!

 

[fried1765]

I'm understanding most of this, except for (Easy Notch) <<<<<What is that, and isn't this calcium stuff the same as used on snow covered roads? Vehicles in my state rust away in 10 years if not washed, that's why the car wash stations here are the busiest this time of year.

When I bought my tractor tires a couple years ago, the place where I bought my tractor said they couldn't replace them for atleast two weeks and they refill with beet juice, but I needed tires ASAP, so went to a truck tire place and they replaced them the same day, the only issue was they only use calcium and they put it in tubes. Hopefully in ten years or less when I replace the tires, I wont need the tractor ASAP and have new tires with beet juice put back in, be inneresting to see if my rims are rusted out, if they are that would make a good reason to change from AG tire to R4 tires.

You will likely be just fine with CaCl in your tires (with tubes) if you get it out at 10 years, or before.
Over time, what may happen, is that the tubes may fail where the valves are vulcanized into the tube.
This can be very slow, and subtle, and will first show up as slight rust around the fill valve area.
If you see ANY rust in that area, get the CaCl out!
Of course, leakage anywhere else in the tube, will also cause rust to form in that same valve stem area.
"Beet juice" is expensive, and requires filling by a tire, or tractor, dealer.
Windshield washer fluid is about 1/3 the cost of "beet juice", and YOU can do it, with a simple special liquid fill valve purchased ($10) at TSC.

 

[Oldpath05]

First thing I'll do is look for is that mysterious Easy Notch when I get my tractor in the garage today. In that earlier tire changing video, he dosen't take the rim off, is that the norm or because the tire hasn't been on there that long, or is easier to change tire with rim on tractor? Did the OP say what size his tire is? He took out 60 gal. CaCl, must be a big tire, my rear tires are 11.2-24, cant imagine having 60 gal in them.

 

[olPete]

First thing I'll do is look for is that mysterious Easy Notch when I get my tractor in the garage today. In that earlier tire changing video, he dosen't take the rim off, is that the norm or because the tire hasn't been on there that long, or is easier to change tire with rim on tractor? Did the OP say what size his tire is? He took out 60 gal. CaCl, must be a big tire, my rear tires are 11.2-24, cant imagine having 60 gal in them.

Way easier to do it upright and on the tractor. I did enough time in a tire shop to hate seeing a tractor wheel come in on a trailer, especially larger size ones. On the tractor is best as it's all up in the air and sturdy as you work