Why not sugar for ballast instead of salt?

[DaveMueller]

Beet juice is all the rage but it's expensive. Salt is cheap but corrosive. Why not sugar? I doubt there's anything unique about beets that makes their juice "special", more likely it's just the high sugar content. You can dissolve more sugar per gallon than salt so you'd get more weight per tire. Sugar is a little more money than salt but still cheap. Freezing point may not be as good as salt water but it doesn't cold enough in PA to worry about that.

Thanks
Dave

 

[MossRoad]

Beet juice is all the rage but it's expensive. Salt is cheap but corrosive. Why not sugar? I doubt there's anything unique about beets that makes their juice "special", more likely it's just the high sugar content. You can dissolve more sugar per gallon than salt so you'd get more weight per tire. Sugar is a little more money than salt but still cheap. Freezing point may not be as good as salt water but it doesn't cold enough in PA to worry about that.

Thanks
Dave

There was a lengthy thread about this a couple years ago here...

Why not sugar water in tires instead of beet juice?

I have seen the ads for beet juice for tires. I have not been able to find pricing. In order to get pricing I must fill out a form with all my info and then I will get a quote. But after speaking to a few folks they spent over 300 bucks per 11.2 x 24 tires. I assume beet juice is used because of...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[DaveMueller]

Thanks for that thread. A few nuggets of useful information in the 13 pages:
Beet juice is what's left after the sugar (and pulp etc) has been removed. Supposedly non-corrosive.
Sugar solution is corrosive, but nobody was sure if it was more or less corrosive than a salt solution.
A few other minor points but in the end, no major pros or cons.
Mine are filled with something that looks like windshield washer fluid (blue/green, not salty to the taste), so I'll stick with that and if I need more weight, I'll build a ballast box.

Dave

 

[garry1p]

Make it to sweet and ants will eat the tires.

 

[YanmarFever]

I saved my old antifreeze and put that in the tires along with water, never had a problem..

 

[paulsharvey]

I just finished loading mine Saturday morning; CK2610; R14s; 1 gal of -20 de-icer per tire ($2.79/gal) and rest water; funnel and hose method for windshield de-icer and garden hose, and 'burping' for water. Total cost; just over $20, with water fill adapter and de-icer. No pumps, nothing else; 1h15m start to finish on both tires.

No idea on freeze protection of 1 gal of -20F to 12 gal H20; but my assumption is, it's got to be atleast a few degrees lower than H20.

 

[Bansil]

Where did you get a fill adapter at? I have to do one of mine after yesterday....the valve stem was loose, and

Nice muddy ground

 

[paulsharvey]

Slime water fill adapter on Amazon $14.49

 

[Bansil]

Thank you!

 

[paulsharvey]

So, I actually jacked the back up just a bit; taking pressure off rear tire when deflatting; then let it down where the tire was touching, and maybe 1" depressed from inflated; so the weight of the water was sitting on the ground, not trying to break the bead.