Loading Tractor tires

[Pete S]

Has anyone here successfully loaded tractor tire with liquid?

I'm in WI so I'm supposing some calcium Chloride would be in order.

I've located the device that would allow to fill while the air bleeds out.

Thoughts and experiences appreciated.

Thanks!
Pete

[Thad Blaisdell]

We filled my tires with windshield wash. A little more expensive but far less corosive.

[morningstarfarm]

I use magnesium chloride in my tires. The important thing is to be sure to use a tube in the tire. mix it up in a couple trash cans and pump it into the tire with a piston pump through the fitting. Not too difficult to do

[Brokermike]

beet juice, completely non toxic. You will someday get a flat and you don't want the household dog licking anything up. Also you don't want corrosion. I ended up just paying the dealership to do it, it wasn't much in labor and they have the tools to handle such large tires

[Brad W Wi]

Filled mine with rim guard. After my last ones were cancered out because of a leak in the tube. It will handle the cold weather we get in Wisc. and not rot out your rims if it does leak

[Flat47]

x2 on the windshield washer fluid. I used a drill pump with an adapter from a can of fix-a-flat to be able to screw on to the tube valve. For our 13.9x26 tires, I used 30 gal of washer fluid (the winter stuff rated down to -20) and 10 gal of water per tire. Still room for another 5 gal per tire. It wieghs less than calcium, but a whole lot less toxic.
I jacked up one side, let the air out of the tire, screwed on the drill pump/adapter and pumped in 5 gal at a time. It builds up some pressure, so stopping between jugs also lets the pressure escape. In all, it took me about 3 hours to do. And I was taking my time.

[Pete S]

Brad, where did you get your Rim Guard?

[jasonl6]

We fill ours with old antifreeze. A local garage near us gives us all the old stuff we want. Just have to pump it in. It's not corosive and is free. Not sure on the toxivity level (i know some antifreezes are non-toxic but this is a mix of everything).

Jason

[Brad W Wi]

Pete, I got it in Phillips but any implement dealer should be able to help you. Where are you located? I've got plenty of weight with it. I've got a Allis Chalmers WD With a loader on it, and I get plenty of traction with it.

[Pete S]

West of Plymouth. Thanks much for the tip! I'm in the look'n see mode right now but someday,...............!

Thanks guys!

[gator330]

I also used rim guard it is made of beet juice from what I understand. High sugar won't freeze and is safe just a little sticky!!!! More weight per gallon. Most any tire dealer that will service on the farm will come out and load your tires.

[maple flats]

I bought one of my tractors new and had the dealer load the tires. About 20 yrs later I had to buy new rims because the calcium had eaten the old ones beyond repair. I now just use iron weights. That tractor was bought with e weights on each side which filled the space out to the face of the tire. I bought a second tractor from the same series a few years ago with a loader on it, and a set of weights. I now only use my 1st tractor for cultivating my blueberries and I took the weights off it and mounted double weights on each wheel of the bigger tractor with the loader on it so I now have 2 on the outer and 2 on the inner side of each rim. I did this because I do a fair amount of woods work with that tractor and as such I hit pointy tree stumps, rocks and such and with tires loaded there is a much higher rate of tire puncture with the tires loaded rather than with the weights. If a tire is loaded there is very little room for a tire to compress and ride over a pointed stump or rock and then the tire fails. Now you have a flat in an out of the way location.
On the other hand if you do decide to load them I highly recommend the Rim Guard (beet juice) because it does not eat the wheel if you get a small leakes undetected for too long. When I had to replace my wheels on the one tractor the dealer could no longer get them and I had to go after market which did not fit. To mount them I had to do some grinding on the bolt loops before the bud would bolt up to it and this was very time consuming. Had i ground too much the bud would have had some movement as the wheel turned while driving and this would have been a wear on both which would have gotten worse with time. Some tractors might not have this problem, new wheels from OEM might be available or after market might be available that fit correctly. When I bought mine the only place I found them was from Mississippi and was told I would need to grind to fit slightly. By the way, both of my tractors are Fords, a (1981) 1500 and a (1979) 1700, Ford stopped making the rims about 10 yrs before I needed them and none could be found thru dealer network anyplace in the world. He tried for about 8 mos.