Traction diy tire antifreeze

Tractor Seabee · Jul 5, 2013

Your BX only holds approx. 100# in each tire if using Calcium Chloride. Other anti-freezes do not add as much weight. Someone mentioned $200. you are only looking at 12 gallons of water per tire+ the anti-freeze weight. I opted for suitcase weights from Home Depot. 450# @ 45#/weight for less than $600 minus 10% military discount. Now I do not have to carry around 200# whether I need it or not. Adjust the weight to match the load. Yes you will have to build a rack front and back too hook them onto. The front brush guard works if the FEL is off. I am working on making the racks now.

Ron

tjkubota93 · Jul 6, 2013

The john deere weights?@hd

Tractor Seabee · Jul 6, 2013

No I got the MTD ones, they are a little cheaper. Concrete filler vs solid steel. Very easy to handle. I use then on the rider mower also.

Ron

CliffordK · Jul 6, 2013

Are the lighter alcohols (ethanol, methanol, isopropanol) hard on rubber? I'm not sure I'd put them in a tire, although I'm not seeing a lot of notes about it.

Personally, I don't think I'd put anything, except perhaps beet juice in a wheel without a tube. Perhaps use a tube for everything. Check what you have.

I'm having troubles finding the actual cost of beet juice.

Here it suggests that Beet Juice is $3.20 to $3.60 per gallon, if sourced locally, and filled private containers. I can buy used plastic 55 gallon barrels for about $10 each. Thus, it could be competitive in cost with other liquid antifreeze options if one can find it, and fill one's own tire with it.

I'm seeing beet juice for deicing could potentially be less than $1 per gallon. Is it the same stuff?

I just bought a pair of rims to adapt to my Toro that had Calcium filled wheels (one with a tube, one without, both had quite a bit of rim corrosion, but the one without a tube now has eaten a hole 100% through the rim.

My Ford has some light corrosion where the valves have leaked Calcium, but not too bad. I think I need to replace one tire valve now.

I'm just buying an older Massey that has had massive wheel damage on one side due to a leaking valve stem and calcium. It'll need a new rim, and tire.

sd455dan · Jul 6, 2013

tjbeck93 said:
I saw on the internet where a lady makes her own windshield washer fluid with 1 gallon water, 8oz isopropyl alcohol, and 1oz castille soap. Yall think I could load my tires with a 1 gallon water/8 oz isopropyl solution? That would cost about $0.88 per gallon. I dont need soap or blue color for Inside tires (unless soap would help the rubber). I am a tight waud so I like stuff like that. I also thought about using rv antifreeze. Any thoughts?

The 8oz to 1 gallon sounds weak in very cold winter environments freezing just one time and using the tractor destroyed both rear tires in a matter of a couple minutes operating time for a relative of mine... total cost 800 dollars... just something to think about...

burnieman · Jul 6, 2013

We put jack Daniels in all our tractor tires. They never freeze but we spend a lot of time stopping and letting some out into a coke. Very convenient and the wife doesn't know where I hide the whisky.

Don87 · Jul 6, 2013

CliffordK said:
Are the lighter alcohols (ethanol, methanol, isopropanol) hard on rubber? I'm not sure I'd put them in a tire, although I'm not seeing a lot of notes about it.

Personally, I don't think I'd put anything, except perhaps beet juice in a wheel without a tube. Perhaps use a tube for everything. Check what you have.

I'm having troubles finding the actual cost of beet juice.

Here it suggests that Beet Juice is $3.20 to $3.60 per gallon, if sourced locally, and filled private containers. I can buy used plastic 55 gallon barrels for about $10 each. Thus, it could be competitive in cost with other liquid antifreeze options if one can find it, and fill one's own tire with it.

I'm seeing beet juice for deicing could potentially be less than $1 per gallon. Is it the same stuff?

I just bought a pair of rims to adapt to my Toro that had Calcium filled wheels (one with a tube, one without, both had quite a bit of rim corrosion, but the one without a tube now has eaten a hole 100% through the rim.

My Ford has some light corrosion where the valves have leaked Calcium, but not too bad. I think I need to replace one tire valve now.

I'm just buying an older Massey that has had massive wheel damage on one side due to a leaking valve stem and calcium. It'll need a new rim, and tire.

I'm fairly certain that it is. Although I have no documentation to back that up. The sites I've found indicate that it is mixed with salt brine, in differing quantities just prior to being put on the highways.

I have Rimguard in my tires.

Tractor Seabee · Jul 6, 2013

If you use calcium (the heaviest additive) you must also use a corrosion inhibitor. In my younger day as a pipefitter we did a lot of calcium chloride brine system for low temp refrigeration. It was used in a spray mixture to prevent icing of coils and in pumped systems for things that run through a trough on a conveyor chain. Corrosion was a problem if the inhibitor was allowed to deplete or get diluted. No corrosion when it was up to snuff. In a closed system like a tire it should stay stable unless you have air leaks and keep adding air. Oxygen breaks down the inhibitor. Bottom line: if the tire leaks air, fix it and replace the fluid, do not keep adding air. I know nothing about theses new fangled things. Glycol antifreeze, same as calcium, keep adding air and the inhibitor will break down and corrosion will develop. Alcohol is lighter than water so there is a weight loss there instead of gain.

Ron

Ron

Larro Darro · Jul 6, 2013

What we always did for our tractor tires, if you put fresh antifreeze in your cars, trucks and RV's, save the old stuff and put it in your tires. We rarely used over a quarter/three quarter antifreeze to water mix. But then we live in North Florida. Those two or three days a year when it got down into the teens or single digits, we fed the cows extra hay ahead of time so we didn't have to move the tractor.