Determining Liquid Ballast

Ford 2000; 3 cyl. Diesel; 8/2 Trans.....In checking the rear ag tires on my new-to-me tractor, I got a squirt of liquid out of the valve stem that looked a bit green and had no obvious odor. I suspect radiator coolant and water but was wondering what the smell/feel of calcium cloride is like? There is some slight rust around the valve stem and in spots on the rims but not deep corrosion so I'm hoping the ballast is coolant. I have no idea what the characteristics of CC is like and am hoping someone can enlighten me. By the way, all the tires have tubes.

Thanks.

When I drained my tires to replace with used anti freeze, it was a dirty milky white, and it obviously is salty. It feels a little
slippery.

CC looks like what it is a powder mixed with water to make the water heavier and resist freezing. What you saw was automotive antifreeze. I had AF in
the 4010 I just mentioned about the worn out tires. The local sell anykind of tire, road service guy pumped 50 gallons of CC out of each tire into 2
drums. Needed something to do with it so he put each in 13.6x28s (on 12" rim tire) I had on my '65 3000. Filled them up about ? full....just right.

When he came back with liquid it was 6 gallons of auto AF and 50 gallons of water each....used the same 55 gallon drums he emptied into my Ford to
mix the AF and H2O; tires were 16.9x38 as I recall.

Ca Chl usually is a whitish looking liquid. Green sounds like anti-freeze BUT I'd be cautious. If it was used stuff, chances are it diluted with water. Water + iron = oxidation (rust). Some fellas use windshield wiper fluid as well but that stuff too contains water nowadays. The valve stem area usually the first place to exhibit oxidation (rust). The liquid ballast is contained inside the tube. When the tube leaks, it gets onto the steel and will begin to oxidize. When you press the valve stem, any liquid will escape and get on the area around it. If you want to check air pressure or inflate tire, rotate the wheel around so the valve stem is at the 12 O'Clock position. I use Beet Juice, trade name Rim Guard ? ?. It is guaranteed non-corrosive. I've been using it since the mid 90's. Also advisable to invest in new tubes when switching ballast compounds. I.E. if you have Ca Chl and want to dispose of it and replace with Rim Guard, get new tubes so no contamination is presented. Wash out inside of rims with a good cleaning. If you are really concerned, the use of wheel weights is an option and no liquid at all. Take a sample of the liquid to a trusty AG Tire dealer and they can tell you exactly what it is. The 2000 is a great tractor so might be well worth getting the rims inspected now before they get rotted out from whatever is in there.

Tim Daley(MI)

I have never noticed a powdery look to calcium chloride, but it does feel slippery. I would call antifreeze sticky.

Ca Chl usually is a whitish looking liquid. Green sounds like anti-freeze BUT I'd be cautious. If it was used stuff, chances are it diluted with water. Water + iron = oxidation (rust). Some fellas use windshield wiper fluid as well but that stuff too contains water nowadays. The valve stem area usually the first place to exhibit oxidation (rust).

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Maybe it's just how you worded it but it sounds like you're warning about anti-freeze mixed with water causing more rust than CaCl, which is also mixed with water and is a salt, so CaCl is actually much more corrosive. Green antifreeze is made to be mixed with water in a 50-/50 mix and also has rust inhibitors designed for that mixture ratio, and since you get the best freeze protection from that same 50/50 ratio, odds are that any used antifreeze that came out of an old tire was mixed that way as well.

I use Beet Juice, trade name Rim Guard ? ?. It is guaranteed non-corrosive. I've been using it since the mid 90's.

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Rim Guard is not beet juice. It is a byproduct of extracting sugar from beets. It is beet juice minus the sugar, plus some chemical that they use in the sugar extraction process. It still has water in it, as all fruit and vegetable juices have water in them, and it can cause rust, but it is nowhere near as corrosive as CaCl. If Rim Guard is installed correctly and the air space is filled with nitrogen instead of regular air then there is no oxygen available to cause rust, but if it leaks the wheels can rust, but only about the same amount as from rainwater on your rims, not as drastically as with CaCl.

CC tastes very salty. I usually just taste it - wet your figure - then wet your tongue - then rinse your mouth with plain water.

If you are pregnant or planning to get pregnant and don't want to risk tasting it, you can test the specific gravity. CC mixed at the typical 5 lb per gallon of water will have a SG of approximately 1.28. That is similar to a fully charged lead acid battery so just use your battery tester. An AF mix should be around 1.0 or maybe less.

I don't want to de-rail the thread but how are you guys transferring liquid ballast to the tie back and forth?

Would a 55 gallon drum, rotary barrel pump and garden hose adapter like you get at TSC work? Mix it all in the drum and pump it into the tire, etc.

antifreeze or slime mixed in... we run a couple gallons of slime mixed in all rears on the ranch.. Farm, not so much..

limbhangers....I got a liquid transfer pump at Harbor Freight, one of those tire stem bleeder valves and pumped WW fluid from the 55 gallon drum I bought into 5 gallon buckets and then pumped each bucket into the tires. The buckets allowed me to gauge how many gallons going into each tire instead of pumping directly from the drum. I put 1 bucket in each of the front tires and split the balance between the two rear tires. I think I filled the rear tires about half full or about 22.5 gallons each tire. There's room for more but my budget didn't allow for a second drum. Then aired up the rears to about 18psi. Note: you have to remove the valve from the stem for adequate liquid flow.

By the way, the liquid transfer pump really has a lot of pressure so be sure you anchor the business end of the pump hose so it doesn't fly around. I say this from first hand experience.

I've used a garden hose adapter and air pressure on the barrel just weld a tap in the bottom of the barrel air pressure tap in the top use a air pressure regulator set about 5 psi

(quoted from post at 11:05:01 07/12/18) limbhangers....I got a liquid transfer pump at Harbor Freight, one of those tire stem bleeder valves and pumped WW fluid from the 55 gallon drum I bought into 5 gallon buckets and then pumped each bucket into the tires. The buckets allowed me to gauge how many gallons going into each tire instead of pumping directly from the drum. I put 1 bucket in each of the front tires and split the balance between the two rear tires. I think I filled the rear tires about half full or about 22.5 gallons each tire. There's room for more but my budget didn't allow for a second drum. Then aired up the rears to about 18psi. Note: you have to remove the valve from the stem for adequate liquid flow.

By the way, the liquid transfer pump really has a lot of pressure so be sure you anchor the business end of the pump hose so it doesn't fly around. I say this from first hand experience.

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Did basicly the same thing. But watered down the WW fluid to not freeze at -6 f (tested in my freezer) and put about 45 gals in the 14.9 / 28 rears of my 4000 SU. I had to stop the pump a couple times to let the air pressure bleed out then start filling again.