Tractor Tire question

I've got a 13.6 x 28 that needs to be loaded with CACL, according to the chart, 78lbs of 77% CACL ought to do it, as it will take -23F to freeze it solid, local supplier has 50lb bags of flakes, so 100 lbs ought to be fine, we don't really seem to get down that cold, -10F maybe -15, not lately though, and she'll go in the heated garage if that cold as I need it to start for snow removal, 100 lbs ok you think?

Also when loading, how much pressure do you leave in the tire, just enough to keep the tube inflated, it's got about 14 lbs, maybe a few lbs, kind of forget, I'll be using a barrel, drill pump garden hose and one of those slow inexpensive valves with the air bleeder.

First of all I wouldn't load my tires. I would hold out for some cast iron wheel weights even if they cost me more $. You can always resell them if you wish. Try that with fluid.
Secondly if I was forced to load my tires I wouldn't use CaCl. I would use windshield washer fluid, RV antifreeze, regular antifreeze or that new beet juice product.
If I was forced to use the absolute cheapest, most caustic, most weighty, most bang for the buck type ballast only then would I use CaCl.
Dunno what, how and when you use your tractor for.
But remember all you have to do is keep them from freezing Hard in winter, Shush in your tires at minus 20 is ok.
Good luck

just a thought but maybe get some inter tubes and have them deflated like when new and fill with what ever you want to use. that way the calcium is not eating away at your rims. use good old anti freeze that way you can rig up a siphon to pull it into the tube while filling with water.

Billy, you don't want any pressure in the tire. just block it up and let all the air out that will come out.

Same here - I have a Case DC i wish didnt have fluid in them. The stuff is just to corrosive to mess with. The tractor does just fine as I dont use it to plow any more.

billy, i run chloride in about half of my tractors. i run 5 lbs/gallon mix, it loads em heavy. for a 13.6x28, you can load each with 175 lbs chloride and 35 gallons of water, giving you about 467 lbs added per tire. let the air out, jack the tire up so its off the ground, rotate the valve so its at the top and start filling. every now and the press the bleeder button on the valve to release built up air pressure. i load till the level is just about at the top of the rim, then add maybe 15 lbs of air. chloride is about the least expensive way to add a lot of ballast to a tractor. keep an eye out for flats and fix em right away. i've never had problems. here is a link to a tire ballast chart
poke here

As said below just let all the air out and hook up to start pumping. If you are going to fill to just below the valve stem when it is at the top of the tire then you might need to unhook and let the air bleed out to finish filling. You run the same amount of air pressure with fluid as without, just make sure the stem is in the air pocket when you check it. Rinse off any spills. A word of advice it to watch the valve core in the months after you fill it. I have gotten some core housings this year that only lasted a few months before they corroded off. If the cores start to leak then put them at the top of tire and get new core housings and replace them. Takes a minute for both tires. Wouldn't hurt to replace them every couple years anyhow to be safe.

From past experience you have and will get much criticism for deciding to use CACL in your tires. I deal with it on a daily basis and find that it never has corroded metal it didn't touch. Just do the maintenance and take care of any leaks and you will be fine. The just isn't any cheaper way to weight a tire which is why it has been around for seveal decades.

Any time I mixed CaCl I put about 2 bags to the drum of water. Seems to me that those tires will take about 1 drum to fill to the stem... so yeah, 2 bags should do it.

Personally I think I'm at the point where I prefer wheel weights of some sort rather than liquid ballast because I've had a lot of tube problems in loaded radial tires.... but for anything that I still have a bias tire on, it's laoded with CaCl.
As tire_guy noted... CaCl will only rot your wheels if you leave a leaker unattended for a long time. There's wheels around here that have been loaded for close to 40 years and there's more surface rust from the weather than there is rust from the juice.
FIX THE LEAKERS.
I really can't see paying big money for beet juice, antifreeze, wiper fluid or whatever concoctions are out there just to add weight. If you want to spend money, BUY CAST.
At least if you spend your money on cast, then you have a tire that's easier to change in the future, saving you money on tire service calls.... or making your own life a lot easier if you change them yourself.

Rod

one other thing i forgot to mention, when you mix the chloride with water, the solution gets hot!! let it cool down for a few hours before pumping it in. use a 2x4 or something along that line to stir the mixture till it is well dissolved. dont use an electric drill to stir the mix, the salt vapor is really conductive.

I have had trouble with tubes in radial tires that are loaded. But then you really shouldn"t load radial tires, but it happens.

Have you ever sent me an e-mail and got the page I have on filling tires?? If not do so it explains more then I can with out taking up a lot of space here.

I used to load everything. Then I got sick of buying tubes because the stems were torn off... so I started running them tubeless. For most things I find they work fine, and lighter is nicer for those things... bt I got a couple fast rides this summer with the forage harvester and high dump that I didn't need and would not have gotten with full ballast.
Radials are great, and I won't go back to bias... but they will not bite on hard ground.

Rod

Don't have chart handy but for the colder temp the fluid will weigh more and be more total weight on ground for traction, if you want traction go for the heaviest solution and forget about freeze temp.

Billy, another thought I just had is it seems when I get a leak, it is usually from rust on the rim from when last broken down 5-10 years earlier. So I would suggest if you are going to load them first clean and paint.

I agree, one is loaded, about a year ago, the faulty tube the tire guy installed with a new tire, and rim, blew off, and it was leaking for awhile, weakened the valve stem hole, so I welded it up, made another hole, cleaned and sprayed the rim with cold galvanize zinc spray.

The other one a power adjust rim (2 different rims) was sandblasted and painted with a nice coat of same, has been loaded since '04, seeing the kind of rim it was I did want to protect it.

I took this tire off and remounted it, 1st one I ever did, with some advice from you guys here, came out fine, just never loaded it back up and she slips a lot more than the other, this tractor got nice traction, and after doing some plowing, and remembering slipping on the snow ice, just time to load er up again. Now if I have any problems I am equipped to deal with the repair at least, but for the most part I've had no trouble with loaded tires, 'cept that the valve was defective from way back and the tire guy had me believe it would be ok.

Gotcha, I think 100 lbs ought to do it.

Rich, you did send that to me and I've saved it for reference, almsot forgot I had it until I started poking around my files on tractors, equipment etc. some good information in there. Another good tutorial is on Gemplers site, they use a 2 cyl JD too !

Rod, I agree, and I'm equipped to take care of any tire repairs, have a tire place where I get the farmers/contractors discount on supplies, and after doing one last year, of this size, no problem breaking the bead, getting it off the rim just have to be careful with the bead tip.

I also agree, with the exception of a leaky valve from a new tire, tube and rim installed by a tire guy, I've had no trouble, + my rims are painted with good material, like you said, just take care of any leaks asap, heck the CACL is $14/50lb. I used what came out of this tire last year for weed killer, a tube was $40, so not that bad to do it yourself.

I agree, like was said, and I had a valve problem, that is what caused the repair I did, darned tire guy stuck it to me in '03 and failed about 5 years later, valve just blew out ! I replaced the core, must have been a bad tube. The other tire I've had no trouble with, and at least I have a good supplier, will have to get some spare cores for the shelf

Keep an eye that the galvanizing doesn't poke holes in the tubes on you...
I can understand the desire to galvanize... but I'd worry about it.
I've done a few up with epoxy paint after sandblasting. That seems to work quite well.

Rod

You posted that for me last year and I saved it, probably stay with 100lbs of CACL, handy chart and even states the 25% reduction for 94% CACL. That ought to protect from freezing well beyond what we get here. I also use a heavy cast weight on my 4 pt backhoe mount, she gets good traction without chains, plan to finally get a pair of those this year too.

This one has a tube, and though slow, I'll use the napa drill pump from a barrel, they actually can fill a tire with CACL and no tube ?

On a nicer tractor, I would prefer the heavy pie weights like Ford's had, might save you a headache or 2, but I'm comfortable with using it, this one is my workhorse, so included with it is the usual repairs. It does well with the heavy cast weight on the 4 pt backhoe mount + loaded tires, but I will agree, you have to take care of any leaks asap.

It's probably not the best choice but it works, and yep those snowbanks cause drifts, my driveway and end of the town road is all I do, so it's not that bad, I've got a decent size walk behind blower, once there is a frozen base above the driveway gravel it works pretty good.

One thing loaded tires does, is gives you ballast where you need it. I know a long time vegetable farmer with some really nice late model/new tractors, one an 80HP challenger (500 series) with true all wheel drive, several others, really like his set up. He went with loaded tires because he did not want the wheel weight stress on the axles. Kind of intellectual and technically savvy guy too, he helped wring out and provided some very good feedback about this challenger tractor that they incorporated into the design or design completion/finalization of that model, which the regional sales rep was very receptive to making sure it got to engineering, the local dealer was ticked at him and that relationship is no more. Feature for feature, he says he likes it better than deere which he has 2 of as well, we had an interesting conversation one afternoon, and although the CACL is old school, in his rationale about ballasting this tractor, he ended up going that route, for a couple of good reasons. Hard to say whether he'd use them to the point where he would be testing the stress on the axles from wheel weight, whichj you would think a manufacture would certainly allow for in the design or material selection, but if they are not manufactured like ones in the past, or it is a valid concern, it may have been a good move or one that makes you feel better, like I said, his stuff is so well kept and has specific purpose, without a bunch of different people running them, probably overkill, but I thought he had a good point at least, whether it actually makes a difference or not.

I'll say one thing, I certainly like that series tractor, and the relationship he fostered with the mfr, for now, I'll be running this classic and keeping same going for as long as is feasible.

Spray, cold galv. was pretty smooth and I like how it performs on steel I use it over all weld repairs and anything I need to prevent from rusting, I just degreased my oil bath bowl, all the pain came off, nice clean steel, no time to top coat it, used the rustoleum version, dries quick and really does the job, Arcair makes a good one too, meets federal specs, either or seems to create a decent barrier for steel, to prevent rust.

Reg, hot dipped, galv, yeah, that can be a total different story, used to buy a lot of that for exposed structural connections from a steel fabricator, can have points on it from the process, which is an excellent point when thinking about this and tire rims ! LOL!

Dry weight bolted to a tire/rim causes less stress than fluid sloshing inside. Then again it is a mute point. If the tractor was designed so feeble with no extra capacity in the bearings to carry weight other than the driver, why have it.
Drive train stress anyways completely overshadows any bearing stress on the rear drive axles.
Otherwise identical, a tire with 500lbs of liquid ballast inside has less traction. Compared to having 500lbs of cast iron weight bolted onto the rim.
If going for liquid ballast anyways, why use salt? There is antifreeze or rim guard.

I always thought it seeks its own level, not much room in there to slosh, but like you say, kind of a mute point anyway.

One thing is for sure, I'd go the RV antifreeze or similar non corrosive route as well, especially with a new tractor like this one he has. Only reason I can think of why CACL is still popular is the cost.

Why not just hang more iron to gain weight then you can take it off when not needed