Anyone here ever load their own tractor tire with a liquid(washer fluid, rv antifreeze etc...)? I am in the process of adding 50gals to each tire on my tractor but seem to be doing it the slow way 2to2.5+hrs each tire. I am using a drill pump attached to a garden hose that goes into a bleeder valve(TSC store). Pump about 3 gals at a time then bleed the air and start over again.
let the jack down and gradually pump it up with the hose clamped over the valve at 12 o clock. Whip it off after 15 mins, let the air out and repeat the above
Thanks for the idea, I figured a rather easy way of doing it. I had an old plastic 55gal barrel laying around. The bung hole caps have a pretapped area in them were an outside faucet can screw in, all that needed to be done was drill a hole in the center of that. I then hooked my garden hose from the barrel to the tire bleeder valve. The barrel was laid on its side in the back of my truck. The faucet side was down leaving another bung cap at the top. I rigged the top cap up so that I could use my air compressor to fill the barrel. Once the barrel was full(took the most time, filling with 1gal jugs) of fluid I simply pumped air, every so often shuting the faucet of and bleeding the air out of the tire. I did set the compressor to 20psi and payed close attention to all fittings. This worked fairly quick and without much mess.
We ballasted the tyres on two of our tractors last year. Is there anything you can add to the water to stop the rims from rusting? We asked the the tyre dealers but they didn't know.
You can use RV anti freeze beet juice or rim guard, I used windshield washer fluid the low temp stuff. I was told many folks are doing this without issue. I would never load tires in the past because the calcium would eat rims like crazy.
I have welded on a large pipe nipple to the rim you can then pour what ever you choose in the tire for ballast,I have used rv antifreeze its better for the environment if you have a leak.Then just cap off the nipple with a pipe cap. It also makes it eazy to pump or siphon the fluid out.
Thanks maddog, I should try that
That wouldnt work with a tube.
I just had a ford 5000 row crop done with the beet juice, cost 250 for both. Also you can buy the fill attatchment and pump from Gemplers.
What's beet juice?
Here is a copy and paste from another website. Beet juice, a liquid byproduct made from de-sugared sugar beets. This food grade product is available in the US under the trade and brand name, RimGuard. This liquid weighs about 30% more than straight water and resists freezing to about -35F. Best of all, it will not solidify until the temp drops to -50F. Natural, non-corrosive, safe to the environment and humans. If beet juice is available in your location, we believe this your best bet – safe to use and provides extra ballast weight. * Advantages high weight/volume ratio (about 30% more than water alone) * very high freeze resistance * anti-rust properties * a natural product – environmentally friendly and safe * Disadvantages may not be available in all locations This a link to the website. http://www.orangetractortalks.com/2009/01/comparing-types-of-liquid-tire-ballast/
Thanks tinkerer, when I first read beet juice I thought it was beetroot juice - at least being red you could spot a leak easily! We grow sugar cane over here, not sugar beet. Ross
This is what we use as an anti-corrosive in large tyres. Good stuff. http://www.fullerbros.com/tire-life/
The rims rusted because there was not enough ballast in the tire.Properly filled,a rim will not rust when calcium filled.Proper filling is when the tire is full of fluid above the level of the rim.In other words,with the tire/wheel assy. standing up,the liquid level is above the rim,leaving only a small pocket of air.This prevents the rim from being exposed to air.As long as the rim is constantly submerged in the fluid,it cannot rust(rust requires oxygen). If it's not filled properly,it's like never washing your vehicle after driving on salted roads.Get the picture?You have to have the correct type of pump to properly fill a tire with a calcium chloride solution.Otherwise you are just taking a leak into a gusting wind.
Ive never seen a tire filled without a tube.
We don't have a sinlge piece of equipment that has tubed tyres, yet all of our wheel dozers/loaders are capable of being filled or ballasted.
Not a good idea at all.
ANY tire with either an air/water valve(standard bore with removable core housing-i.e. rear farm tractor) or large bore valve can be filled.Tube type or tubeless is irrelevant.
I buy farm tractors and fix them up as a hobby, also have a lot of farmer friends. Ive never once seen a tubless tire. Even if they are just running air they all had tubes. For some reason it must have just became common practice around here. Sure would make life easier if they were tubless.
Agreed. Not a good idea at all to weld on a wheel rim, unless your intention is suicide of course. But then again it might not be you but someone else that gets killed in the ensuing explosion. Don't weld on wheel rims guys, EVER ............... :nono :nono
Ive done a ton of rim repair
Well,all I can say to that is it's your luck, keep pushing it if you choose to.:badidea Doing something more than once without suffering consequences does not by any means make it safe or acceptable.Just because there's only gonna be 15-18psi in the tire DOES NOT make it less dangerous.There is still a sufficient volume 0f air to do the job.I speak from experience.When I was 22,with 4 years experience but just starting to do OTR work,I was putting a new tire on a log skidder (23.1-26). This was before I figured out how to use the boom to peel the tire off the wheel while still on the machine.Anyways,the tire was lying on the ground as I inflated it.After installing the core housing and checking the pressure (14psi at that point),I clipped my chuck onto the valve.At that instant,as I was leaned over the tire the bead broke causing an explosion that sent me higher than the ROPS of the skidder.(the loggers there say I was a good 15-20 feet off the ground) At that time I weighed about 195 lbs.Ended up with a skull fractured in 4 places,because I came down head first on the corner of the blade on the front of the skidder.No,it wasn't from the wheel being welded,but don't think that low pressures won't do the deed.They will.Godspeed,buddy.
This is all news to me about welding on rims, if you read farmshow magazine cutting rims and welding in a ring to widen the rim is common practice. I couldn't tell you how many times Ive stopped in to a welding shop with rims that were widened. On my water wagon I built those rims were probably from the 1940s and I replaced a lot of steel on those rims. They have the split rim deal where you pop the outer piece of the rim off I know those are dangerous so I get way back when putting air in but I've been bouncing around the field for a few years now with 10,000+ pound on them. In Welding school we build race car wheels and all kinds of crazy things. Aluminum rims were always a NO NO on welding.
Honestly I do not see why welding a steal rim is bad. Now welding a rim while it has air bad idea BOOOOOOOOOOOM. The guy up the road just broke a valve stem off his tractor. I told him next time don't fix it, 1st let me weld a small sleave around were the stem goes to protect it, he thought that was a great idea. I can't take credit for the idea folks have been doing the protector for years, and you can bet IF(or should I say when) my stems break I'll be welding valve stem protectors on them.
Skid steers seem to be reall common with a stem sheild on it. Welding a rim with air in it seems like a good way to blow molten steel in your face.
With all due respect, welding something such as a valve protector tube ON TO a rim as opposed to WELDING A RIM itself is a totally different thing. Done correctly and with some thought about where the high-stress areas of the rim are, I don't see a problem in doing what you are talking about. I guess we all need to get into perspective than when tireman & myself talk about "rims" we're talking about something like 45, 51, & 57 inch diameter rims maybe up to 44" wide that could easily weigh up to 3000 pounds each. With a tyre installed you're looking at an assembly that could weigh up to 12,000 pounds. That size of rim you do not want to be welding on, believe me. And by the way they usually already have protectors for the valve stems welded on them by the manufacturer, and a 1/2 or 3/4" pipe thread screwed plug 180 degrees opposite to the valve location for ballast filling, at least on the loader/dozer wheel rims anyway. From past experience having grown up in a farming community IMO when it comes to modifications (usually done in the name of trying to save a buck or two, they historically have short arms & deep pockets) farmers seem to think they are immune from all the normal laws of physics, cause & effect, etc, that apply to the rest of us mortals. Most of them I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them .......
Here's a video about welding pressurized tires: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiLeji8bLOk
And a link to a thread in the safety forum posted a while back about the dangers of welding wheels.
You had me laughing there, I couldnt agree more. You really hit the nail on the head. But what I really find mind boggling about it is that the craziest cheapest farmers out there will hillbilly rig something and never have a issue where a normal person would have been found mutilated in a massive heap of wreckage or roasted in a raging inferno.
When I was talking about welding a rim I always had the tire off. Stripped the paint off down to bare metal cut and welded in whenever I needed to then primed and painted it.
Tubeless tyres are not water proof, moisture can enter the tyre casing causing delamination and premature failure, always use a tube when adding liquid ballast.