1949 8N water in Tires

Higgybear

New User
Hello, Had such an amazing response to my first post, Just blown away with the great advise. Have another question. When I got my 1949 8N, The rear tires had been
filled with water. My son by mistake thought this was a mistake so drained them. Now I purchased an adapter to add water back to the tires however I read someplace
about adding anti-freeze to the water? first is this true? I understand why even in NC here we get below freezing. Now my main question is how to add the antifreeze to
the water? I only have an attachment to a garden hose? I was thinking maybe have the valve on the tires at the top, then take a short piece of hose and slowly pour it
in? Again Thanks to everyone that look at these...
 
originally, tubes were filled with a Calcium Cloride solution. It doesnt freeze, but it will eventually leak out and rot out your rims.
Today folks use beet juice, or RV antifreeze. (you pour it into the empty tube via gravity, with the fitting at its top-most position, allowing the air to escape as it fills. You wont fill it completely, just as best you can, then add air to the recommended pressure.) Neither causes corrosion issues, and in the case of the beet juice, its environmentally friendly when it inevitably leaks out! If you use straight water and it actually freezes solid, you'll have one heck of a hard, wobbly ride until you pulverize the ice by driving it!

Each gallon of liquid adds roughly 8 lbs. of weight to the tractor- 50 gallons= 400lbs.
 
Another option is to add windshield washer fluid. Undiluted straight into your tubes. I just missed a sale at Home Depot where they had it on sale for .99 a gallon. There?s a chart on line somewhere but I think you?ll need 27 gallons per side.
 
(quoted from post at 09:34:05 02/03/19) Hello, Had such an amazing response to my first post, Just blown away with the great advise. Have another question. When I got my 1949 8N, The rear tires had been
filled with water. My son by mistake thought this was a mistake so drained them. Now I purchased an adapter to add water back to the tires however I read someplace
about adding anti-freeze to the water? first is this true? I understand why even in NC here we get below freezing. Now my main question is how to add the antifreeze to
the water? I only have an attachment to a garden hose? I was thinking maybe have the valve on the tires at the top, then take a short piece of hose and slowly pour it
in? Again Thanks to everyone that look at these...

A lot of people really do not need the weight in the tires. I got two 8ns and one has weighted tires and the other does not. the one with weighted tires has a front end loader on it and the weight really helps. The one I use for mowing and back blading does just fine with no weight. If you were pulling a plow the weight would help with traction and it might make it safer on side hills but I stay off of hills unless I am going straight up or down. No side hills for this old boy.
Your tractor your call. Keep it safe and have fun!
 
(quoted from post at 09:19:20 02/03/19)
A lot of people really do not need the weight in the tires. I got two 8ns and one has weighted tires and the other does not. the one with weighted tires has a front end loader on it and the weight really helps. The one I use for mowing and back blading does just fine with no weight. If you were pulling a plow the weight would help with traction and it might make it safer on side hills but I stay off of hills unless I am going straight up or down. No side hills for this old boy.
Your tractor your call. Keep it safe and have fun!

I've seen some tractors with a concrete weight on the 3-point. Does this work just as well, or is it a mistake?
 
(quoted from post at 11:58:23 02/03/19)
(quoted from post at 09:19:20 02/03/19)
A lot of people really do not need the weight in the tires. I got two 8ns and one has weighted tires and the other does not. the one with weighted tires has a front end loader on it and the weight really helps. The one I use for mowing and back blading does just fine with no weight. If you were pulling a plow the weight would help with traction and it might make it safer on side hills but I stay off of hills unless I am going straight up or down. No side hills for this old boy.
Your tractor your call. Keep it safe and have fun!

I've seen some tractors with a concrete weight on the 3-point. Does this work just as well, or is it a mistake?
that is a good counterbalance when using a front end loader.
 
A concrete weight on the back, if kept raised, will increase traction and will counterbalance the forward weight of a loader. Rear wheel weights are also commonly used and some folks have come up with weights that mount over the axles.

The disadvantage to using a weight mounted to the 3pt is that you clearly no longer have access to the 3pt. This is OK if your implement is pulled from a standard drawbar or if you are using a loader.

Rear weight increases traction (important for tillage, snow removal, or operation on slick surfaces) and adds counterbalance to improves steering and stability when using a loader.

Colin, MN
 
Unless you are working in situations where traction needs to be maximized, don't worry about it. Just use air filled tubes. However, if you plan on doing a lot of tillage or will be working in muddy or snowy conditions, then go for it. I have calcium chloride in both my tractors, but will replace it with Rim Guard when the time comes. Rim guard is non-corrosive, compared to CaCl, which will eventually eat away at a rim.

Colin, MN
 
You can purchase a pump run buy an electric drill that hooks to a garden hose. Bee advised it will take time. Might be easier to call the tire pros and have them do it. Do not remove the tires and rims from the unit and take them to a tire dealer to fill. If you choose this way take them the whole thing. If it freezes in your area and stays below freezing, do not fill them with water. If they freeze solid it takes a minimum of 3 days sitting in a room heated to 75+ degrees to thaw them out. Beet juice does not pump below freezing.
 
There are lots and lots of posts, discussions, even arguments about liquid ballast in tires.
Both here and especially on Tractor Talk board.
I personally wouldn't be without some kind of ballast - either liquid, cast iron wheel weights or depending on what you do with your tractor, both.
A tractor can Not put full horsepower to the ground without it. It will just spin the tires.
For some folks who use their tractor primarily for mowing that isn't a problem.
For others who do a lot of draft work - plowing and discing, skidding logs, back or box blading, etc rear ballast is much more important.
Also, a ballasted tractor is a more stable tractor on side hills and the like.
I have a couple of tractors.
The one I use the most, for mowing and for draft work, I put wheel weights on the rear.
I also do a lot of lifting stuff with a boom pole and use a heavy brush mower so I have added about 180 lbs of front ballast too.
That keeps my front end planted firmly and I can mow my mogully, rolling side hills with very little "pucker factor".
As to the debate about CaCl and how it eats your rims up I see both sides but
I personally think CaCl gets a worse rap than it deserves. It is cheap, very heavy and with minimal maintenance of your tubes will not eat up your rims. My favorite saying is, "Some guys complain they only got 70 years out of a set of rims because of the stuff".
So in my other tractor I run calcium - in new tubes - and don't give a thought about rust.
There are other liquids you can put in too.
Windshield washer fluid, used automotive antifreeze, beet juice or RV antifreeze.
All are suitable alternatives to CaCl.
Ultimately what is important, at least for me, is having a well ballasted tractor. It will do more work, more safely.
 
I put used antifreeze in my tires its free :) I keep a 55 gal drum with good clean used coolant just for tractor tars stop by you can have all you want... On my new tractor one tire froze solid last year the first week of January they must have miscalculated ... What came out was green tells you color don't mean chit

On my first N I put 2 gal of new 100% coolant in each tire since last years deal I would bump it up to at least 4 per tire...
 
According to RimGuard's tire fill chart the 11.2x28 tires hold 27 gallons each at 75% full.

https://www.rimguardsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/RimGuardBeetJuiceTireFillChart.pdf

That is consistent with my experience emptying my old tires, which were filled to the valve stems. I pumped it out with an electric pump and a valve stem adapter. I plan to use the same setup to fill them.
 

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