Tire valve stem leak

So, my tractor tire developed a leak at the valve stem today. I didn't hit anything, in fact I was operating in a area with zero obstructions. Guess it was it's time to die. So anyhow, it was peeing out ballast and air and I tried to tighten the nut on the valve stem but it was at the end of the treads. So now I'm looking at getting the valve stem replaced by the tire store and I suppose it's safe to assume that I'm going to lose all of my ballast. Whatever they used as ballast was water-looking, probably glycol or washer fluid since the leaking water isn't rusty at all. I assume the tire shop will charge a zillion dollars to fill em with ballast, so I'm looking at doing it myself. I looked at a tire chart and my 13.6x28 tire needs around 43 gallons of ballast, since that's ALOT, I'm looking at the washer fluid. Any drawbacks from washer fluid or advice on this topic?

Jack the tractor up and rotate the tire so the valve stem is on top. Won't fix the problem but will keep all the fluid from
leaking out.

Filled a pair of 16.9X34's with windshield washer fluid a few years ago. Not as heavy as calcium chloride but for the difference in cost I was more than happy to give up a couple hundred pounds. Ordered mine bulk from the local auto parts store, came in 55 gal barrels.

Never tried it but RV antifreeze is econical.

What tractor? You sure you have tubeless tires?

It's a ford 2000/3000. Front half is a 3000, back half is a 2000. 1971 3000/1967 2000.

Unless it has been contaminated, Calcium Chloride will be clear, similar to water. Most wind shield washer/RV anti-freeze I have seen is colored a light blue, orange etc. Calcium Chloride will taste very salty, just wet your finger and touch it to your tongue. Be sure to have a glass of drinking water handy, to get the taste out of your month.

Once you have the tractor tire jacked up and the valve stem at 12:00 position, you can pump the fluid out and save it for reuse. I use a 12 volt, 1 GPM diaphragm pump and pump it into a 55 gallon plastic barrel. A length of 1/4" OD copper tube should fit through the valve core; be sure the tube is long enough to reach from the valve stem and touch the opposite inside wall of the tire. Use plastic or rubber tubing from the "copper straw" to the pump and from the pump to the storage barrel.

Turn the pump on and rotate the tire from the 12:00 position to the 1:00, 2:00 position until the pump begins to draw liquid from the tire. Simply follow the fluid level until you reach the 6:00 position. By following the liquid level, air is allowed in through the clearance between the copper straw and the valve stem and the liquid will not leak out. Once at 6:00, position the straw to find the last of the liquid just as you used to do with your milk in grade school.

To fill the tire, position the tire at the 12:00 position and fill to your desired level. Typically tires are not filled above the 12:00 position.

I will have to give 'er a good inspection tomorrow morning. I was extremely rushed this morning as I had an all day training/ meeting for work today. Thanks for all the responses, I have some things to consider. Stupid thing is, I never even for one second considered that they might not be tubeless. I just took it for granted that they were....

Eeyore much?

Check with the tire guy before assuming they're going to charge a "zillion dollars" to pump the fluid. Ours only charged $50 extra to pump the fluid out into their service truck's tank, and put it back in when they were done with the service. You can't buy a pump suitable to put the fluid in for that, let alone hoses, the adapter, etc..

Like the others have said already, get the valve stem up on top and block up that side of the tractor so it can't squash the tire, and your fluid loss will be minimal.

The nut, by the way, only holds the valve stem against the rim so it doesn't fall in when deflated. It has nothing to do with holding air or fluid in the tire.

The valve stems on these tractor rears are 2-piece, screws into the tube, but if it's leaking around the nut your tube is shot. Otherwise it may be as simple as replacing the valve stem. You can find the replacement stems at Tractor Supply. Once you see them you'll understand how they come apart and work.

"Oh bother".... yeah, sometimes my mind seems to come up with all kinds of crazy ideas.

My 8n damaged tube once and I set up a drain hose on the adapter to run in to bucket and caught the antifreeze in tube then reversed procedure with reinstall. No pumps just gravity. Just keep rotating wheel back and forth to breathe. Caught like 25-30 gallons (IIRC). I didn't time procedure but it was in July-August and I welcomed the breaks waiting on tube needing a breath.

I use a pto roller pump with quick disconnects on the input and the output
one hose has the valve stem adaptor the other hose has the barrel suction hose
I pump the fluid out of the tire and reverse the hoses to pump the fluid back in the tire when finished with the repair

(quoted from post at 23:52:17 12/23/19) I use a pto roller pump with quick disconnects on the input and the output
one hose has the valve stem adaptor the other hose has the barrel suction hose
I pump the fluid out of the tire and reverse the hoses to pump the fluid back in the tire when finished with the repair

Click to expand...

When adding fluid with a pump, or other pressurized source, one needs to stop pumping and bleed the air out regularly to avoid over pressurizing the tire. Likely you, do but I want to be sure some one trying to fill their own tires the first time understands that step is needed. When filling without a pump (gravity), bleeding the air out reduces back pressure allowing the gravity fill to work a bit quicker.

The stem will screw out of the tube boned to the rubber tube. As for draining you can get the apparatus that screws on to the tube to do that at Gemplers and several other places that handle tires repair parts.

I agree with Indiana Ken. Jack up rear tire then rotate valve stem to 12:00 o'clock remove valve stem with core 7 install a new one similar to photo below.

If the fluid is coming out the stem I agree with Indiana Ken and Tx Jim. If it is coming out around the nut/stem down at the rim, you need a new tube.