Good time to by WWF for loading tires

IslandTractor · Jul 17, 2008

There are always discussions of what the best ballast fluid is to use for loading tires, especially in freeze prone areas. Cost is a major consideration with non corrosive fluids like RimGuard costing over $3/gallon. One common less expensive and do it yourself solution has been to use common windshield washer fluid (WWF) which is essentially water, methanol and dye. In my part of the country it sells for about $2/gallon retail sometimes more. The deicer versions which are simply higher concentrations of methanol and a different color dye cost almost $3/gallon in New England. I was walking through Home Depot the other day and saw they were clearing out their last years stock at 69 cents per gallon for either the blue stuff or the high test orange deicer.

I bought all 60 gallons of the orange stuff (I have a Kioti and it had to match

) that the store had. As I need about 120 gallons total I asked if any other HDs still had product in stock. There were several local stores that did but only at retail prices. I went to one of them and explained (and showed the receipt) how I'd bought half of what I needed at 69 cents/gallon and the manager met the price on the next 60 gallons. 120 gallons of -30F rated deicer for a little over 50 bucks ain't bad. I was quoted over $700 by a local tractor dealer to take my tractor to his shop and load with RimGuard.

Point being that if you were thinking of loading your tires (or just loading up on WWF), you might keep your eyes out at the big box stores and even make a low ball offer if you are willing to take a number of cases. Can't hurt to try. I figure the savings on WWF will partially compensate for the rise in beer prices this summer.

In case you are wondering, you can get about 60 gallons of WWF into a full size SUV using the back seats and cargo area.

jk96 · Jul 18, 2008

Thanks Island, although you posted too late for me.

Just got my tractor back from the dealer 2 days ago after having my rear tires loaded. Now I'm just waiting for the bill to arrive.

You'll love the added stability and traction. I'm amazed at the difference it made in mine. I use my tractor to move alot of heavy pallets and am able to do most of my loader work now in 2wd instead of 4wd. Should save alot of wear and tear on the front end and the front tires as well. Good luck.

jk

smitty9266 · Jul 18, 2008

you can buy WW fluid concentrate you add 10 gallons of water to 1 gal of concentrate much cheaper than buying premix. Here is a link windshield washer solvent, windshield washer, windshield washer antifreeze, windshield washer antifreeze concentrate, windshield fluid, windshield washer fluid $40.00 for 6 gal with pump or $90.00 for 15 gal drum

It can usually be bought local with no shipping from you oil distributor or parts supplier

Jeff

Reg · Jul 18, 2008

IslandTractor said:
There are always discussions of what the best ballast fluid is to use for loading tires, especially in freeze prone areas. Cost is a major consideration with non corrosive fluids like RimGuard costing over $3/gallon. One common less expensive and do it yourself solution has been to use common windshield washer fluid (WWF) which is essentially water, methanol and dye. In my part of the country it sells for about $2/gallon retail sometimes more. The deicer versions which are simply higher concentrations of methanol and a different color dye cost almost $3/gallon in New England. I was walking through Home Depot the other day and saw they were clearing out their last years stock at 69 cents per gallon for either the blue stuff or the high test orange deicer.

I bought all 60 gallons of the orange stuff (I have a Kioti and it had to match ) that the store had. As I need about 120 gallons total I asked if any other HDs still had product in stock. There were several local stores that did but only at retail prices. I went to one of them and explained (and showed the receipt) how I'd bought half of what I needed at 69 cents/gallon and the manager met the price on the next 60 gallons. 120 gallons of -30F rated deicer for a little over 50 bucks ain't bad. I was quoted over $700 by a local tractor dealer to take my tractor to his shop and load with RimGuard.

Point being that if you were thinking of loading your tires (or just loading up on WWF), you might keep your eyes out at the big box stores and even make a low ball offer if you are willing to take a number of cases. Can't hurt to try. I figure the savings on WWF will partially compensate for the rise in beer prices this summer.

In case you are wondering, you can get about 60 gallons of WWF into a full size SUV using the back seats and cargo area.

Let me know if you need to borrow the fill adapter, I'm in Mass but travel through RI frequently.
I don't foresee needing it myself again for quite a while, so I could drop it off "sometime" and pick it up "some other time". (-:
I rigged it with a ball valve so it is easier to KEEP the siphon while positioning everything.

dknarnd · Jul 18, 2008

Reg said:
Let me know if you need to borrow the fill adapter, I'm in Mass but travel through RI frequently.
I don't foresee needing it myself again for quite a while, so I could drop it off "sometime" and pick it up "some other time". (-:
I rigged it with a ball valve so it is easier to KEEP the siphon while positioning everything.

That is a good price on the WWF, now the tire tubes will cost you just as much as the WWF.

IslandTractor · Jul 18, 2008

Sorry for the title typo (by vs buy). Gotta stop trying to post late at night.

No need for tubes with WWF. I intend to simply block up the axles and use a fill adapter (have one already from Tractor Supply thanks) and probably gravity to fill.

Regarding the WWF concentrate economics: these products are not really 10x WWF regardless of what they advertise. If you look at the directions for use in winter you see that they say for a -18C freeze point (the same as basic blue WWF) you dilute 3:1 with water. That makes the concentrate pretty pricy for ballast. 15 gallons plus 45 gallons water yields 60 gallons for 90 bucks or $1.50/gallon which is pretty close to retail for the blue stuff. For the -30 product you can only dilute the concentrate less than 2:1 with water so that would end up costing over $2 per gallon. Given that the antifreeze component in the concentrate is methanol it appears that the concentrate must be close to 100% methanol plus some dye (MSD sheet bears this out). 20% by mass methanol in water has a freezing point of -18C and that is about a 3:1 dilution by volume. Bottom line is that the concentrate is really just methanol at $4 to $6.50/gallon which is not cheap. I looked into buying pure methanol and I recall it was going to cost in the order of $2-3/gallon in 55gallon drums.

I had RimGuard in my last tractor but was wrongly concerned about too much weight on my old barns wood floor when I ordered the new tractor so I went without ballast. Mistake. I liked RimGuard but it is very expensive to do after you leave the dealer as it requires returning to the shop plus the current price is about $3/gallon if not more. Without ballast in the new tractor I am constantly spinning tires even in 4WD when pushing or digging. So, I will use the lovely Kioti orange deicer WWF (-30 rated) to about 75% fill of front and rears which will give me something in the range of 800lbs ballast for a little over $50 plus some time and work to load it. Not bad.

LBrown59 · Jul 18, 2008

IslandTractor said:
the high test orange deicer.

I bought all 60 gallons of the orange stuff .

I tried the orange stuff once / never again.
It left a white milky film on the windshield and the glare from on coming head lights was so bad that i had pull over off the road as i couldn't see a thing through the glaring film .
//www.hubcapcafe.com/i/2001/storycty/chev6001a.JPG rear view
MY TRACTOR http://www.jenningsequipment.com/storepics/ksBX22.jpg BX23

IslandTractor · Jul 18, 2008

LBrown59 said:
I tried the orange stuff once / never again.
It left a white milky film on the windshield and the glare from on coming head lights was so bad that i had pull over off the road as i couldn't see a thing through the glaring film .

It's just orange dye rather than blue dye. The forumulas for the deicer and the regular WWF are different only in the amount of methanol. More in the orange flavor. The white milky film you saw must have been on a particularly cold day where the deicer froze. Happens occasionally with water, blue stuff or even orange.

canoetrpr · Jul 18, 2008

Island - thats a great deal!

I had a local tire guy fill me up with tubes and CaCl2. No one around here ever heard of RimGuard

If I was to do it again, I'd do it like you with windshield washer. Tubes are a pain in the **** when you get a puncture.

At the time I also wasn't terribly confident about attempting anything with my tractor but I've managed to do a lot with a little help from you guys at TBN so I'm sure filling the tires wouldn't be a problem with winshield washer.

SPYDERLK · Jul 18, 2008

IslandTractor said:
I went to one of them and explained (and showed the receipt) how I'd bought half of what I needed at 69 cents/gallon and the manager met the price on the next 60 gallons. 120 gallons of -30F rated deicer for a little over 50 bucks ain't bad.

Im not sure how that works out. Seems like it would be more.