fill tires or not?

[sunnyside360]

....... he says deere doesn't recommend filling them because of the damage to the rims. will this scew up my warranty if i fill them somwhere else?

With a FEL you need rear ballast in the form of liquid in rear tires, rear wheel weights and 3ph ballast (ballast box, blade, box blade, etc). None of the dealers (green, orange, red) in my area will sell a tractor with FEL w/o rear weight for safety reasons. I personally use RimGuard or windshield wiper antifreeze in the rear tires along with 3ph ballast (box, blade, etc). Some dealers still use calcium chloride after installing tubes to minimize rust. Again, the whole idea is safety and your front axles, gears and seals will love the rear ballast box to help reduce downward forces on the front.

 

[ljohnson778]

Trust me, if you use liquid ballast in your tires, you will notice a huge difference. Great advice has already been given by earlier posters as to what to use... Rim Guard, windshield washer fluid, rv antifreeze, etc.

 

[charleyfarmall]

Interesting. My dealer will not deal with Rim Guard at all. Apparently they had some issues with it and it's very expensive and they need different equipment. They will only use calcium chloride which is what is in my manual.

CaCL is fine once it is sealed in the tire. However, it is an issue if you get a puncture. It is much heavier than alcohol and windshield washer fluid ( I wonder how toxic that is..).

I chose nothing. The ride is better, the risk is zero. If I get a puncture nothing is going to ruin my tractor or my property. I spent the money for wheel weights and when I use the loader, I pick up a heavy counterweight and I am in the process of making one even heavier. This way, i am not dragging so much excess weight across the property and compacting the soil. Plus, a heavy weight hung out way behind the rear wheels is more effective than loading the wheels ( longer moment arm).

 

[greg_g]

CaCl is definitely old school. Dealers that still use it need to join the 21st century. RimGuard provides the same weight as CaCl (~11.3 lb/gal), but without the corrosion and pollution potential. I towed my John Deere 75 miles one way for just that reason. In contrast, the alcohol based stuff is actually lighter than water (~8 lb/gal). I put 36.5 gal in each rear, 7. gal in each front; total 995 pounds liquid ballast. Had I used an alcohol based product, I'd have only been able to add ~700 pounds.

And/or those recalcitrant dealers are simply cheap. RimGuard does in fact require storage tank(s) and installation equipment and fluid be purchased exclusively from them. It's an up front investment some dealers apparently aren't willing to make.

//greg//

 

[kiotiken]

Loading the tires is not an option for my dealer either... they automatically load them all as part of their prep :thumbsup: Then again, Kioti has a free FEL offer running most of the year so you won't find many Kiotis without one.

 

[JD3520Turbo]

There are alternatives to using fluid. As mentioned, you can put a ballast box on the rear and load it that way, or buy wheel weights. The ballast box is nice because you can take it off when you are not using your FEL, and therefore not dragging around weight you don't need.
The tires can do their job better without fluid in them as they are designed for air, not fluid.
Also, I would not put any fluid in the fronts. You already have enough weight up there, that is why you are weighting the rears.

If you are running radial tires, you will loose the flex you get from them when you put fluid in. With a larger contact patch, you get less soil compaction and more lug in the ground for traction. Fluid doesn't compress at the same rate as air, so you loose the benefits of the radial tire.
Bias tires are not as affected by this as they have very stiff sidewalls, and don't flex much anyway.
If you use the FEL all the time, then fluid will work fine. Just don't tube them and don't use Calcium. When you poke a thorn in a tubed tire, it is flat until you fix it. Tubeless, you might not ever know the thorn is in there.
Calcium is cheap, but corrosive and kills all vegetation it contacts.

Just use something, because it is pretty easy to lift the rear end off the ground and that is not a warm and fuzzy feeling. I know from experience. Gets the pucker factor going.

 

[kiotiken]

There are alternatives to using fluid. As mentioned, you can put a ballast box on the rear and load it that way, or buy wheel weights. The ballast box is nice because you can take it off when you are not using your FEL, and therefore not dragging around weight you don't need.
The tires can do their job better without fluid in them as they are designed for air, not fluid.
Also, I would not put any fluid in the fronts. You already have enough weight up there, that is why you are weighting the rears.

If you are running radial tires, you will loose the flex you get from them when you put fluid in. With a larger contact patch, you get less soil compaction and more lug in the ground for traction. Fluid doesn't compress at the same rate as air, so you loose the benefits of the radial tire.
Bias tires are not as affected by this as they have very stiff sidewalls, and don't flex much anyway.
If you use the FEL all the time, then fluid will work fine. Just don't tube them and don't use Calcium. When you poke a thorn in a tubed tire, it is flat until you fix it. Tubeless, you might not ever know the thorn is in there.
Calcium is cheap, but corrosive and kills all vegetation it contacts.

Just use something, because it is pretty easy to lift the rear end off the ground and that is not a warm and fuzzy feeling. I know from experience. Gets the pucker factor going.

Well, the big difference is where the weight lies. If you have loaded tires, the weight is as low as it can go, mostly below the level of the axle and provides great stability.

 

[greg_g]

Well, the big difference is where the weight lies. If you have loaded tires, the weight is as low as it can go, mostly below the level of the axle and provides great stability.

Absolutely. Plus liquid ballast is a helluva lot cheaper than are wheel weights. Tire ballast is a primarily a traction measure, secondarily a counter-balance measure. Conversely, a ballast box primarily counters front weight - and only secondarily assists traction. It goes to placement versus center of gravity

//greg//

 

[thomas9n]

thanks for the repleys. going to think this one over awhile. tom

 

[beenthere]

thomas9n
Your manual says this... I use windshield washer fluid in mine, and has worked fine for over 13 years...and tubeless.
I think your dealer is pushing to sell weights. I add a heavy ballast box to get additional weight, that I pick up with the iMatch so it is easy and quick to add or subtract.