School me on liquid filled tires

[Zebrafive]

I am told my new to me tractor has liquid filled rears. I have not tried to check yet.
Special pressure guage needed? If so how does it differ?
When checking pressure does it matter where the valve stem is? Like at 12 o'clock.
Same for adding air?
If long term storage do I need to park valve stem up?
Any other things I need to know?

 

[MikeD74T]

Special gauge -no

check at 12 oclock - best 10-2 ok

let out a puff of air or put a puff in before checking to get fluid out of stem - often corrosive to gauge

if calcium chloride -very corrosive to rims unless in tube

if glycol antifreeze leakage is toxic

if plain water -freezing may be an issue depending on yopur climate

MikeD74T

 

[bp fick]

Much more common these days is windshield wiper fluid (methanol) or RV anti-freeze, which is non-toxic.

Top of the line stuff is beet juice based. Retailed under Rim Guard brand, among others.

 

[sweettractors]

You can get more ballast with calcium chloride than with antifreeze and water mix. Ken Sweet

 

[RoyJackson]

I am told my new to me tractor has liquid filled rears. I have not tried to check yet.
Special pressure guage needed? If so how does it differ?
When checking pressure does it matter where the valve stem is? Like at 12 o'clock.
Same for adding air?
If long term storage do I need to park valve stem up?
Any other things I need to know?

12 O'Clock works best for both checking and adding air pressure.
Air/liquid gage is best. They're spring loaded so they expell any liquid when removed from the valve stem. Readily available at tractor dealers and NAPA...Tractor Supply too.
As far as long term storage (over the winter, for example), you could take the pressure to maximum (prevents flat spots on the tire), but I never did.

Ken Sweet is correct (as he is about 99% of the time) about Calcium Chloride being the cheapest ballast for the buck. Granted, it's corrosive as all get out, but there's a lot of old iron that's had it in the tires for decades. I use windshield washer fluid myself.

 

[stevefromindiana]

I just had my Deere 3520 15-19.5 R4's loaded with beet juice. They said to load them to at least the top of the wheel to avoid sloshing issues while driving at road speed.

Deere says to not load the front tires for the 3520. I have seen other MFWD models (larger ones) that they say it is okay to load the front tires. I need to get some weights for the front for bushhogging when my loader is not attached. It would be nice if I could just load the fronts and not have to mess with putting weights on and taking them off depending on whether the loader was attached. I would get about 160 pounds if I loaded them at 90%. That is almost (4) 42 lb weights.

Anyone know why you aren't supposed to load the fronts on this tractor?

 

[RoyJackson]

Anyone know why you aren't supposed to load the fronts on this tractor?

You could ask your dealer, but my guess it would stress your front axle (while in MFWD).
Suitcase weights would be my choice, however, I leave my loader on when brushcutting.
You could just drop the bucket and leave the loader frame mounted.

 

[Mechanos]

Anyone know if it is ok to load the front tires on a 955? Or is it also recommended that you don't load the fronts?

 

[jcmseven]

What I have heard is that doing loader work, sharp turning in four wheel drive, etc, with this additional weight outrigger style on the front axle is that it can excessively wear the bevel gear in the front axle. My understanding (JD mechanics or others with better knowledge than I pipe in) is that the 4000 series machines have a heavier gear and axle setup than the 3000 series and are more able to handle this. My previous 4520 had loaded tires front and back (was that way when I bought it) with RimGuard--which is around 10 pounds per gallon. I could perceive no steering issue v. other 4000 series machines I had used and traction when doing loader work or pulling a heavy box blade was notably better with the fronts also loaded. I could perceive some excess tire wear in front, but I was on pavement a lot making turns,etc with a heavy bucket. The 3000 series in all likelihood could also handle loaded fronts, but given the tire size I doubt it would make a perceptible difference in stability or performance but likely is enough weight to stress that bevel gear under a heavy load or repeated heavy load situations perhaps leading to gear compromise.

John M

 

[Zebrafive]

Any way of determining what my tires are loaded with?