Frozen Tire ???

Try not to laugh to hard !!! I have a frozen tire, due to someone improperly adding balast.
I have only owned the tractor (Massey Ferguson 20-C) for 2 years, decided to plow snow with it this year and found out that one tire has something in it that froze. Will I have to wait till spring to deal with this ???
Thanks,
JWA
Central NY

Unless you can heat it to above freezing, you will just have to wait!

If an option, you've already thought of I'm sure, pull it into a warm shop and let it thaw, then work on it.

Wish I had a heated shop, got more I could do this time of year...

When it thaws will I have to dismount the tire from the rim in order to fix this issue.
Thanks for the quick responses,
JWA
Central NY

Wait till spring? No, just get the tire inside a warm space like a heated garage- preferably still mounted on tractor- and drain ballast, replace with glycol ballast or wheel weights. sort of depends on what is in tires- Calcium cloride, beet pulp, glycol at thin mix, or plain water and how much is in. Used anti freeze that has been filtered clean and neutral acid is a common good ballast. The old cloride mix doesn"t hurt rubber but any leaks will corrode metal wheel rims. Beet pulp used some places because it is cheap and non reactive to rubber also, minimal metal problems but it is not freeze proof. Plain water is cheap at the well and works in southern areas but will be ice cube in northern states- some people will use a water and 20% antifreeze mix that is fairly good for mild chills and is cheaper than 50/50 mix- if this is the case may just need straight anti freeze added. Sometimes this mix is because the filler is following old instructions to add 1 gallon of antifreeze and 1.5 gallon of water but neglects to note the cheap antifreeze is already "convenient premixed" at store, meaning it is already half strength so the 40% mixing instructions end up with 20% solution. If no heated garage or shop? Couple large tarps and propane heater, warmer day and have schrader valve at close to bottom of tire and let whatever drain. Or wait for robins to return. RN

It will take several days in a heated shop to melt.

If you have moved this tractor or used it for any work and you bring it into a warm area be ready for a big mess since there is a good chance that you have cuts in the tube now and those cuts mean a leak and a leak means a mess

WOW! So many experts here know how to thaw ice!!!LOL!!

Might try a torpedo Heater to heat it up with. Keep the heater far enough away so as not to catch the tire on fire ,although thats another way to thaw it out.lol.
LOU

If the tube isn't damaged from the ice, you wuill not have to dismount it. Just take the tractor to a tire shop and they can remove the water and add the correct non-freezng liquid ballast.
AaronSEIA

I don't know what size tire you have that froze but if it's solid it will take a long time to thaw.

(quoted from post at 11:30:16 01/24/11) WOW! So many experts here know how to thaw ice!!!LOL!!

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Apparently, not everyone knows how to melt ice... Otherwise the question never would've been asked...

Even better, "Take the tractor to a tire shop..."

If you live close enough to drive the tractor to the tire shop, its a big city tire shop that won't work on tractor tires. If you live in the country, you don't live close enough to a tire shop to drive the tractor to it.

Tire shops that work on tractor tires have a service truck that will come to you and fix the tire in your driveway.

For $50, they come to you. It'll cost a lot more than that to load the tractor up and truck it to the shop, and it's a lot less dangerous than trying to remove a loaded tire from a tractor and truck it to a tire shop.

I have a neighbor"s IH 1066 with 20.8 x 38 tires in the shop right now with both rear tires frozen. He just got it from Mississippi this last summer. It has been in my heated shop now for three days and the ice is only about half gone. We did find that if you drain the water off as it melts they seem to thaw faster. So we have it parked over a floor drain with the valve steems down.

Ditto the mess comment. Don't move the tractor (roll the wheels)if the tires contain tubes. The ice will cut the tube inside. Even if it is partially thawed, large chunks of ice sloshing around will ruin your tire. $$$

I say get it on a skid or dolly or wrecker and get it in a warm shop to thaw, then borrow the neighbor's tractor.

And be careful with draining the tire - several types of ballast are toxic and/or corrosive.

(quoted from post at 01:06:48 01/25/11) I have a neighbor"s IH 1066 with 20.8 x 38 tires in the shop right now with both rear tires frozen. He just got it from Mississippi this last summer. It has been in my heated shop now for three days and the ice is only about half gone. We did find that if you drain the water off as it melts they seem to thaw faster. So we have it parked over a floor drain with the valve steems down.

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If you have it somewhat drained I would be filling it back to capacity with a high mix of CaCl or other salt water mixture. It should work inside the tire to melt the rest just like it does to the ice in your driveway.