Tire filling

[Lunk]

$ 395?

Go buy the 5$ burp valve from napa or tsc, and a couple gallons ( depends on tire size ) of rv holding tank antifreeze, eco safe stuff preferably, and yer garden hose.. then take a couple hours and load them yourself.. your cost will be the time, the burp valve and the antifreeze used in each tire.. just need to add enough so it won't freeze solid.. slushy is fine..

soundguy

Amen Brother!

I did that, but used ww fluid (the better stuff). I put about 44 gallons in each rear tire. It added about 350# per wheel, but my tractor does not finish mow either...

Total cost was around 180 bucks.

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. On mine, I went cheaper.. I used pretty much straight water with just enough AF to prevent solid freezes.. since I'm in florida, having a weak mix figured for 20' protection, I only put a few gallons of af in each 16.9-24 tire.. total weight was a hair over 500# per side.. cost was cheap since napa had the af on sale for 5$ per gallon. I see TSC had rf AF on sale for 2.99 / gallon I might go stock up..

soundguy

 

[HCJtractor]

Yep.. On mine, I went cheaper.. I used pretty much straight water with just enough AF to prevent solid freezes.. since I'm in florida, having a weak mix figured for 20' protection, I only put a few gallons of af in each 16.9-24 tire.. total weight was a hair over 500# per side.. cost was cheap since napa had the af on sale for 5$ per gallon. I see TSC had rf AF on sale for 2.99 / gallon I might go stock up..

soundguy

Soundguy, I agree totally. No way that I would spend $300 bucks for water. Here in S.C., temps rarely get below 15 degrees, so the antifreeze solution works great. It is also nice to know how to do this so that when you have your first flat, you can refill it yourself

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. ditto that.

while I keep telling myself I'm gonna stop messing with my own tires.. I have as of yet not caved in... I must still be too tight with the wallet...

soundguy

 

[Barry Bowen]

Here is a link for a tire fluid filling chart.

Ballast Star - Charts

If your tires are tubeless do not use calciumchloride, it will rot your wheels. You can use automotive washer fluid, but it is not as heavy as the calcium. Some dealers also have a beet juice product, but it is very expensive.

Just for running your loader you can accomplish the same thing with put weight on the 3 pt. Fluid will make the tractor more stable, with in reason.

 

[kthompson]

DHD, sure not saying what you posted is not correct but left me little confused.

Fluid in the tire or wheel weight don't have the load on the axle as does 3 pth weight? Are you saying that is due to the weight being on the axle and ground and not on the tractor? Sort of makes sense. Yet if the weight is needed to keep traction is it not then applied to the bearings for as the tractor lifts the weight of the tires pulls down on the bearings.

But how is there a difference between any of those in relationship to the weight on the front axle?

 

[Sockwell]

The timing of this post is kinda ironic. This is going to be my weekend project. I've bought the air valve adapter at TSC, the -20F WW fluid at Wally World, and made an adapter and hose assembly to go from a 1 gallon funnel to the air valve. I'm hoping I'll be able to strap the funnel to the ROPS and pour in the WW fluid a gallon at a time. Will see how it goes.

 

[HCJ]

Sockwell, I have my doubts if you can do it that way. My tires hold up to 70 gallons and it seems that's a lot of fluid to drip through a 1/4" hole. You need a pump. I used a little gasoline Honda pump but an electric or D.C. one would work. Some have even used the cheap little pumps driven by a drill. Do you have tubes in your tires? My tires have tubes. Even with a pump, it took 20 or 30 minutes or so to fill it. Using your I.V. method, it seems that you will be there all day. Hopefully, I am wrong and this will go easily for you. My advice would be to obtain a pump and to draw the fluid out of a large trash can. Make sure you support your tractor with a jack stand. The weight of the fluid popped my bead so I had to overinflate to re-seat the bead. This was kinda scary, as it sounded like a rifle shot when it re-seated. If your tires are tubeless, this could be a problem as the fluid would have spilled out. Some guys who have done this with tubeless tires may need to advise you.

 

[kthompson]

Sockwell, agree with all HCJ said but I have put antifreeze in mine as you said with the tire free of all load fine. My dealership uses an air tank with a plug they put the antifreeze in and let the air pressure push it in.

 

[gerard]

DHD, sure not saying what you posted is not correct but left me little confused.

Fluid in the tire or wheel weight don't have the load on the axle as does 3 pth weight? Are you saying that is due to the weight being on the axle and ground and not on the tractor? Sort of makes sense. Yet if the weight is needed to keep traction is it not then applied to the bearings for as the tractor lifts the weight of the tires pulls down on the bearings.

But how is there a difference between any of those in relationship to the weight on the front axle?

Theres no difference on the weight of the front axel, but liquid ballast does not load up the rear axel. All the weight is pressing down on the inside of the tire which is against the ground.