Liquid tire ballast

I have a 1966 International 504 with an International 2001 front loader. It has a narrow manure bucket on it, I don't plan on doing any heavy work with it and wonder if I really need the calcium chloride in the rear tires. I would like to get rid of it and add wheel weights one day if I needed them. What do you guys think.

In my opinion any time you have a loader on a tractor you can NEVER have enough weight on it on the rear . As there will come a time when you will try to lift and move something that will max your tractor out . It is in your best interest for safety To load the back , it is better to have MORE then then not enough.

See yesterdays post concering ballast. There are other options than calcium cloride. I do not like the crossive tendencies of calcium. Expensive as it is I prefer antifreeze.

And what if ya spring a leak with antifreeze and your animals get ito it before you see it . As this myth of the cal . eating out rims yes it does happen but it does not happen over night and like my old 806 i am sure that she has had it in the tires since new and they are not ate out . Or the 1066 of my buddys same here . So if you do have a leaky tire and some does get on the rim ya fix the problem and wash it off and be done with it . Now if you are the lazy type then ya just keep adding air and maybe in five or ten years you might have to replace the rim .So what's the big deal here .

Yes. It takes YEARS, even decades, of neglecting a known leaky tube for calcium to rust out rims. That's why it's so common... These rims are 40, 50, 60 years old for crying out loud!

If it took 50 years for the rims to rust out the first time, it'll take another 50 years for the rims to rust out again. If you're careful about installing the tube, they'll never rust out.

i run chloride for ballast in my loader tractors, also for ballast on tillage tractors. i run the 5 lb per gallon mix. like the other guys said, if you get a leak, fix it. a loader tractor without rear ballast can become very unstable if you get too much weight in the bucket, if its got a widowmaker front end, it can tip real easy.

Yes, you are correct as is usually the case. I said that antifreeze is my preference, and I do not have livestock. If I did, I might consider simple water or maybe juce. I am like the guy from Lousiana, the temperatures here do not stay low enough to freeze the tires when we are willing to operate the tractors. Leaks can be very small and the cost to break down a tire, well you know what that is. Damage from salt is something I do not want to deal with. So it is antifreeze or water. Of the 8 rear tires I now run, one has antifreeze, three have water, and the rest have air only.

James: That liquid ballast has saved more lives on loader tractors than any other factor. It's all about lowering the center of graviety, and that factor suggests added weight as close to the ground as possible. Nothing come closer to ground than liquid in tires.

I've seen more low use tractors upset than high volume loaders going full out all day. Problem is they think, oh I'm not doing much, I can get away without ballast. It only takes one slight side hill event with a loader bucket above radiator cap, and over you go. My dad's first loader tractor was a Farmall H with 4 wheel weights, maximum chloride, and when doing a lot of loader work, barrel of concrete on drawbar. Of course the barrel had to come off for doing PTO work. Usually the bucket or whole loader was removed for PTO work. One day H was parked loader on, but no barrel of concrete. Dad needed a bucket of gravel from a stock pile he had, rushed out in the rain to get the gravel. On the way back, bit of a side incline, the uphill rear tire went over a stone, H and dad landed on it's side. Luckily no damage and dad only got wet. Got another tractor, pulled the H back on it's wheels, checked the liquids and carried on.

My point is this didn't happen when he was full out loading 5-6 manure spreaders all day. When he got the H it was only loader in our neighborhood, he loaded all the manure on 5-6 farms, and most of those manure piles were not loader use friendly. Side hills, holes, etc. were the order of the day. The contorsions I've seen my dad put the old H through getting that manure are nubelieveable. No, this happened on a day he doing indoor concrete work, and just needed 3 wheel barrow loads of gravel.

Have loader, need ballast... That is all it is to it. I use water loaded tires and 2 sets of split weights (300 lbs per pair) and (55 gallons per tire at 90% fill). So I have 110 gallons = 880, 300 per pair x 2 = 600. So I have 1480 lbs of ballast for my 6' bucket on a 504.

In this pic I have 1 set of weights. I am the LA guy with pure water.