Liquid in a front tubless tire?

The 202 I just bought has a bad front tire that I'm surprised lasted on the drive to my place. It's a 7.50 X 16" tire.

I just removed it from the tractor and was surprised at how much it weighed. As I suspected right then and there, it was full of liquid. I don't know if there is a tube in it or not. The valve stem looks like it could be a tubeless one that's pulled through from the back.

So, my question is...is it possible to liquid fill a tubeless front tire? or is there most likely a tube in it?

Yes it is possible to fill a tubeless tire.
Based on the tractors I've had around here though,
I would expect it to have a tube in it.
If it is tubeless, hopefully they didn't use CaCl.

In recent years it has become fairly common to load tubeless tires with CaCl. The rim will corrode for a little while, but it takes oxygen for the steel to oxidize. Once the oxygen is used up the corrosion comes to a stop, until you add some more air.

(quoted from post at 17:17:22 09/06/16) Yes it is possible to fill a tubeless tire.
Based on the tractors I've had around here though,
I would expect it to have a tube in it.
If it is tubeless, hopefully they didn't use CaCl.

Click to expand...

It was clear water that came out. This is a Massey Ferguson 202 Workbull Industrial model tractor. In fact it has a fork lift front end on the FEL right now. I also got the FEL bucket with it.

The guy said he thought some school had it before his father got it.

True story Showcrop - I bought a set of rear tires off an 8N.
The seller told me he had them loaded and the rims rotted.
So he bought new rims, had the tires put on the new rims.
and loaded, then those new rims rotted out too.
He always had to air them up, so it must be the tires.
They didn't have tubes in them.
Neither the rims or the tires were designed to be tubeless.
The tires were old bias ply "gum dipped" Firestones.
They had good tread and weren't weather checked so I paid
the man, loaded the tires and left. They're still working fine.

(quoted from post at 20:44:20 09/06/16)

(quoted from post at 17:17:22 09/06/16) Yes it is possible to fill a tubeless tire.
Based on the tractors I've had around here though,
I would expect it to have a tube in it.
If it is tubeless, hopefully they didn't use CaCl.

Click to expand...

It was clear water that came out. This is a Massey Ferguson 202 Workbull Industrial model tractor. In fact it has a fork lift front end on the FEL right now. I also got the FEL bucket with it.

The guy said he thought some school had it before his father got it.

Click to expand...

I haven't had the pleasure of owning that model tractor.
In SoCal I can see using straight water.
It won't freeze like it would here in Michigan.

(quoted from post at 17:49:12 09/06/16) True story Showcrop - I bought a set of rear tires off an 8N.
The seller told me he had them loaded and the rims rotted.
So he bought new rims, had the tires put on the new rims.
and loaded, then those new rims rotted out too.
He always had to air them up, so it must be the tires.
They didn't have tubes in them.
Neither the rims or the tires were designed to be tubeless.
The tires were old bias ply "gum dipped" Firestones.
They had good tread and weren't weather checked so I paid
the man, loaded the tires and left. They're still working fine.

Click to expand...

That's funny. It just points up what I always say about loaded tires. CaCl doesn't ruin the rims, procrastination does.

I bought this 3400 about 10 years ago. It
had a broken crankshaft. I didn't buy the
loader, just the tractor.
It had pretty fair R4s in the back - big
wide things.
When I parted the tractor out I traded the
rims, tires and centers to my tractor pal
Kenny. Don't remember what for now.
Anyway, the rims had a bit of surface rust
on them but looked decent otherwise.
Ken decieded he would pull the tires off and
have them sandblasted.
Boy was he in for a surprise.
Tires were loaded. We knew that. But neither
of us noticed it had No tubes.
After he drained them he went to break the
beads and the rims just fell apart -
literally came apart in pieces. We wondered
how they had held the tires on to winch it
on the trailer.
CarryC, tell us about this Workbull you got.
Tractordata shows it to be a pretty
substantial machine - industrial sister to a
MF 35? which is a great tractor.
I've always liked the hard nose on those
industrials. The Ford 3500/4500s have that
hard nose. Makes them look real stout.

202 Workbull

yes, you CAN load tubeless fronts. I wouldn't.. but you CAN.

(quoted from post at 02:18:25 09/07/16) I bought this 3400 about 10 years ago. It
had a broken crankshaft. I didn't buy the
loader, just the tractor.
It had pretty fair R4s in the back - big
wide things.
When I parted the tractor out I traded the
rims, tires and centers to my tractor pal
Kenny. Don't remember what for now.
Anyway, the rims had a bit of surface rust
on them but looked decent otherwise.
Ken decieded he would pull the tires off and
have them sandblasted.
Boy was he in for a surprise.
Tires were loaded. We knew that. But neither
of us noticed it had No tubes.
After he drained them he went to break the
beads and the rims just fell apart -
literally came apart in pieces. We wondered
how they had held the tires on to winch it
on the trailer.
CarryC, tell us about this Workbull you got.
Tractordata shows it to be a pretty
substantial machine - industrial sister to a
MF 35? which is a great tractor.
I've always liked the hard nose on those
industrials. The Ford 3500/4500s have that
hard nose. Makes them look real stout.

202 Workbull

Click to expand...

I got a new tire put on that rim today. Turned out, it did have a tube in it but the tube ripped apart when they were removing it. So they just put it on without a tube. They didn't have a tube there at the time. I'll see how that works out. The other tire is still loaded so I have one loaded and one not. I wonder if there's any problem with that?

I don't know why the fronts were loaded in the first place. The thing has an FEL on it so I don't see any reason for the liquid in the fronts.

Ultradog, I'll post more on the Workbull when I get some good pictures of it. The engine was missing pretty bad when I drove it up some small hills while getting it to my place but I've since changed the spark plugs which looked like they hadn't been changed in 10 or 15 years. That took care of the miss. Now I have the three point lift to figure out. I just received new gaskets for the round inspection plates on it so I'll have a look in there and see if I can see anything wrong.

This 202 is the industrial version of the MF35 and is built like a tank. I like that the front end is a solid axle so it is built to handle the FEL on it. It's been around 100 to 105 degrees here most days so I haven't really been outside to do to much to it. Hoping to get back to it soon.

"I don't know why the fronts were loaded in the first place."

Up here, it helps when plowing snow with an angled front blade.
The blade tends to push the front end side ways without it.
Maybe they had a blade on your loader frame at one time.
Or possibly a backhoe on the rear and they got tired of scooping
dirt with the bucket for ballast. Just some ideas for why.

(quoted from post at 16:47:13 09/07/16) "I don't know why the fronts were loaded in the first place."

Up here, it helps when plowing snow with an angled front blade.
The blade tends to push the front end side ways without it.
Maybe they had a blade on your loader frame at one time.
Or possibly a backhoe on the rear and they got tired of scooping
dirt with the bucket for ballast. Just some ideas for why.

Click to expand...

Yep, both good points.