Tire Ballast Seepage Leak

[mmranch]

Sigh...

Went to start putting on the snow chains and noticed that my Rear Right wheel has the tire tube stem seeping calcium chloride ballast pretty good.

I change the rear wheel valve cores about every 6 months to stay ahead of the corrosion there and I did this about 2 months ago. But this seepage/leak seems to be coming from where the stem goes into/through the wheel. The stem has had a minimal seepage leak for about 2 years but clearly it is worse than it was. The wheel is basically dry everywhere but this is happening at the stem.

Because of our difficult winters and being remote, etc. I'd really like to not get into fixing this until Spring if I could get away with it.

Just wondering what other's experiences are with this kind of tube stem leak? Can it hold together for a long time and just be messy or is it about to blow??

Thanks!

 

[Mike1955]

It sounds like it would be equally as much trouble to just patch that up as to fix it. And I don’t know how I would just temporarily stop the seep. Would it be to much to just get organized and remove the wheel, take it in for repair and put it on. I do that stuff easily all time

 

[DarkBlack]

Calcium chloride. Better deal with it ASAP, rather than the spring, since it’s going to rust your rim starting at the stem hole.
If you’re positive it’s not just the valve core, you should pull the wheel and either replace the tube, or change to tubeless with a non corrosive ballest.
I suppose you could go through the effort to always park valve stem at 12:00 orientation, if you really don’t want to deal with it till spring. You could even release air pressure for long spans of non-use. That would minimize losses when not in use

 

[mmranch]

Thanks for the ideas!

It's a major project for sure. I did it about 8 years ago on the Left Rear wheel.

Because we're on the top of a mountain far from civilization in an extreme climate environment... everything is hard, particularly in winter. Our shop is very tight and that makes things hard. I use an engine lift to remove the rear wheel and I've got to have room to maneuver that as it only works from certain angles. The 60 gallons of CC have to be pumped out and stored first before removing the wheel. Once the wheel is off, I fight to disassemble the wheel, grind and paint the wheel, install a new tube, remount the tire, reinstall on the tractor, and refill with CC. Doable... but a pain. (My ancient pickup truck is put away for the winter and doesn't really function in winter so using that to haul the wheel to the city adds to the difficulty). We are just a few days away from the snow flying here. Big projects like this are much better done in the summer but oh well... I may have no other choice.

I'm not worried about the CC corroding things as the wheel will be cleaned up before reassembly. I've thought about using Permatex Ultra Black to cover the stem/wheel hole (except the cap) to try to minimize seepage at the stem until spring. It's totally dry everywhere except at the stem hole.

Thanks again.

 

[John_Mc]

Are you really replacing the valve stem every 6 months? I had my tires filled with CaCl 24 years ago when I bought the tractor (Rimguard was not available in my area at the time.) I had no tubes in the tires. I've replaced one of the valves once. It was finally time to replace my tires this year. I switched to Rimguard when they were replaced - one less thing to worry about.

I would be worried about the corrosion caused by leaking CaCl. It's highly corrosive, and can do a real number on your valve stem area fairly quickly. In addition, if a significant amount leaks out, it can start exposing your rim and cause problems there as well. I've seen the results of a rim that had untreated leaks of CaCl... not pretty. Some rims were damaged beyond repair.

 

[mmranch]

Thanks for the ideas!

No... I replace the valve stem cores every 6 months.

The valve stems themselves are part of the tire tubes. The CC is inside the tubes. The tiny metal of the valve stem cores will be eaten by the CC in about a year or more. I stay ahead of that problem by changing the cores early... works well.

I'd love to use Rimguard for the ballast. But getting 120 gallons of Rimguard to our remote location is not easy. And almost impossible in winter.


If the leak was a real leak, it'd be a no-brainer to just fix the problem properly (but a huge hassle none the less as mentioned above).

But the leak is seep of just a couple of droplets. And it has been a tiny seep for a couple of years (there's no leak onto the ground anywhere at this time). If I can squeak through the winter, the project will be much easier next spring.

The leak may blowout and force me to deal with it now... we'll see!

Thanks again.

 

[gstrom99]

As you probably suspect, a leak at the base of the stem is coming from a hole in the tube. It will have to come all apart and have a new tube put in (I would not bother with a patch), then refilled with ballast. I'd suggest taking it to an industrial/tractor tire shop that can re-fill with RimGuard. Sounds like you'll be waiting til spring and keeping your fingers crossed. Do you use this for snow clearing? If not, jack up the rear and remove the pressure if you can until it can be fixed.

 

[nyone]

Thanks for the ideas!

It's a major project for sure. I did it about 8 years ago on the Left Rear wheel.

Because we're on the top of a mountain far from civilization in an extreme climate environment... everything is hard, particularly in winter. Our shop is very tight and that makes things hard. I use an engine lift to remove the rear wheel and I've got to have room to maneuver that as it only works from certain angles. The 60 gallons of CC have to be pumped out and stored first before removing the wheel. Once the wheel is off, I fight to disassemble the wheel, grind and paint the wheel, install a new tube, remount the tire, reinstall on the tractor, and refill with CC. Doable... but a pain. (My ancient pickup truck is put away for the winter and doesn't really function in winter so using that to haul the wheel to the city adds to the difficulty). We are just a few days away from the snow flying here. Big projects like this are much better done in the summer but oh well... I may have no other choice.

I'm not worried about the CC corroding things as the wheel will be cleaned up before reassembly. I've thought about using Permatex Ultra Black to cover the stem/wheel hole (except the cap) to try to minimize seepage at the stem until spring. It's totally dry everywhere except at the stem hole.

Thanks again.

Dont remove the wheel filled. Pump the fluid out with an adapter and cheap pump into a 55gal drum. Keep the valve stem on the bottom and let the weight of the tractor flatten it. Then take the wheel off.

Your getting a leak there because your tube has a hole in it and thats the easiest place for it to come out. You need a new tube and to repair the rust inside the rim quickly before you need a new rim or to weld a section in.

 

[John_Mc]

Dont remove the wheel filled. Pump the fluid out with an adapter and cheap pump into a 55gal drum. Keep the valve stem on the bottom and let the weight of the tractor flatten it. Then take the wheel off.

Your getting a leak there because your tube has a hole in it and thats the easiest place for it to come out. You need a new tube and to repair the rust inside the rim quickly before you need a new rim or to weld a section in.

exactly. It does not take long for the CaCl leaking out of the tube to do significant damage to the rim... beyond just what a "clean-up" will take care of.

 

[anomad]

Have you checked to see if a shop will send a truck out to get your tire and wheel? Or a tow truck? If those guys are hungry they will haul anything. There was a lot of farming along the Tomichi there when I frequented the area.