Thoughts on tires

Time has come for me to replace all four tires on my Ford 4000 SOS with front end loader. Currently it has ribbed tires on the front. I am thinking of putting non ribbed tires on so it sinks in less where I drive on soft ground. Is that a sensible option and what tires should I consider?

On the rear I'm planning on putting regular agricultural tires back on. Currently the tires are full of calcium. I may end up having to replace one rim that is corroded around the stem if I can't repair it.

I have a set of pie wheel weights that are not on the tractor. I am thinking of putting them on instead of putting calcium back in. Any thoughts on wheel weights? Someone told me to fill the tires with windshield washer fluid. Is that a sensible option? Thanks Doug

Windshield washer fluid will freeze if it gets cold enough. It's so poisonous it's deadly. The Skull & Cross Bones are displayed on the label. Calcium is deadly to animals. Not sure if any of this makes a difference but just a couple of things I've thought of.

CaCl, according to many on this website , is something to avoid due to corrosion problems. Makes me laugh because we had two tractors with CaCl 75% full. One from 1946 to 1995 and the other from 1949 until 2009 and had no corrosion whatsoever. There is a product called "Rim Guard". Non-Corrosive, freeze resistant and heavier (also more expensive) than water. If I were you, I'd use the pie weights and leave the tires with just air. Unless you plan to do heavy duty pulling or heavy loader work. Ag tires are OK. R4 Industrial tires are better for loader work as they have greater sidewall rigidity. Also better for mowing as they don't bite into the ground as much as Ag but have better traction than Turf tires. They'd be about equal in traction to a half worn out Ag, I would think.

Windshield washer fluid won't freeze and will add weight, but only about 2/3 as much as CaCl. And CaCl only rusts rims if there's a leak. I'd go with the CaCl (since you already have it) AND pie weights.
Going with non-ribbed only makes it harder to steer (tires slide). To keep it from sinking, you need wider tires, and you're limited by spindle clearance, unless you get wider rims with the proper offset. And with a loader, the front will still sink in soft ground. A common choice if you have 16" rims is to use used pickup tires. I don't use them because of the sliding issue, and they'd be a minimal gain in width over the 7.50x16's my tractor wears.

I blew out a front tire the night before we got 2 feet of snow. I ended up sticking on an old truck tire to get by. I had to turn the rim around to gain clearance. Is that bad to do?

I use Rim Guard on my loader tractor.

The summer bug wash will freeze but the other blue stuff is -20F or -30F. I go with the -30F in my windshield tank. Learned the hard way about that summer bug wash. If I do use that (I think Prestone is the best) I add alcohol in Oct. Unless it can be bought in 55 gal containers though, it would be too expensive for tire ballast, don't you think? And then there is the "poisonous" aspect of it. I remember a young fellow drinking some of it when he ran out of booze one very late Sunday night. He's a vegetable.

Lots of people do that to gain clearance. It does put some added stress on the hub/bearings. With a loader on it, it's not something I'd recommend, but if that's what you have to do....

My only thought on that is if the loader is used a lot with really heavy loads it could put a lot of stress on the wheel and cause it to break. I've seen wheels break when over stressed. Happened at least once a year on our old John Deere side kicker baler and those wheels were the same as front tractor wheels.

If you do much loader work you may need both fluid and the weights. Our 4020 has wider rims on the front with a multi rib tire that is heavy duty and works very well.
I had windshield washer type fluid put in my other loader tractor. That's about all any of the tire shops around here use. I checked into rim guard and it was very expensive and only one place did it. May also be why so much money too ?
The other places tried it and quit using it because in cold weather they had a hard time doing repairs because it is so thick to try and pump out.
I also think you will find that R4 industrial type tread won't hold as well from sliding on side hills as a regular ag bar tread will. Something to consider if you mow much on sidehills.

A guy I know put used airplane tires on the front of his tractor(Ford 4600?)a few years ago and never had a flat as they are like 16ply. He still has them but they wore all the way down and he took them off. At the time they were reasonable.

I can relate to the tractor, we had a '64 4000 s-o-s, I spent my youth on it, now have an earlier 850.

With the loader, you must have ballast. I am not sure how the CACL loaded tires compare with pie weights, and or the heavy or light set of same, there are 2 kinds if I am correct.

What I do know is that traction will suffer greatly without the additional weight. 850 has a loader, CACL loaded tires, and in the winter a very heavy cast iron counterweight from an old aircraft tug I believe, + the weight of all my logging chains, none of which are light, one is 1/2", + the old backhoe mount, and new double ring chains. Set up like this it performs well, I have been pulling some heavier logs up hill with it, amazing what weight and chains will do for traction.

The rim could be repaired if its just the hole, cut out the bad area, patch, weld what have you, I plug welded the hole on one of mine that was the result of a sloppy tire guy, it was a new rim, new tube and tire, he said its fine, it leaked here and there and eventually failed. I dismounted the tire, the valve hole was rusted, so I cleaned the area welded it up, ground until it was smooth on the inside, I welded both sides, once during the grinding process, I cut through, metal was too thin, so I closed it up again and made the necessary passes, built up from the exposed side of the rim, got enough thickness, then ground the inside smooth, new tube and put the tire back on and loaded it myself with CACL.

Whatever you do, DO NOT WELD that rim with a tire on it, YOU MUST take it completely off the rim, if you do not, you could create a situation called pyrolisis, see attached link.

On the fronts, I think its a matter of flotation, I do know that the narrow ribbed tires like to cut in on soft ground like a pizza cutter, and makes a nice opening for rears to sink into, and getting stuck, wider, I assume it has power steering, more surface contact, harder to steer, not sure what is best on these, quite often you do see wider automotive or truck tires used, but something tells me they may not be as durable as ag/ribbed front tires.
Pyrolisis

I had non ribbed on the front on my 2600 LCG and it would push hard on wet or smooth grass. I did not have a loader on it. Mainly used it for pulling a batwing and other things.

You may do better with the loader out front to hold it down.

Rick

I watched the video on pyrolisis thanks. My 4000 must be a lot heavier than my father's old 8N. Twice I've gotten my tractor stuck where I used to go with my father's. While I was pulling the 4000 out with a high lift jack I was thinking wider tires might help.

Doug put the calcium back in the tires, use Firestone 6 plys on the rear and 8 ply 4 ribs on the front. I've taken a lot of the smooth tires off the front of loader tractors and put on 4 ribs. The smooth tires wont turn in the wet without using the brakes

It isn't cheap, but the non toxic rimguard is a good idea. Gives you the weight, it's noncorrosive, and it won't kill your dog or cat if it leaks. And being somewhat thicker, I think it is less likely to leak. As far as the rim, I repaired one that was rotted out, I had to replace it a year later. Once that corrosion starts in a piece of metal, it is hard to get out. The difference $$ between calcium and rimguard can't be a whole lot.

May want to look into new rims, tires and tubes as a package deal.... sell your old tires mounted on the old rims... fronts-- smoothe tires will be sliders..stay with ribs

Just a good thing to be aware of, pyrolysis, anytime I see something about rim repair I post it, hopefully not too repetitive, redundant, but a good reminder. I did not know about this myself, when I did that rim, but I did know I had to take that tire off, heat and rubber don't mix, pressurized vessel, just made sense, but I can imagine how easy it is to make that one bad decision and the results which will follow.

That 4000 is heavier, but can't be all that much more. I find that in moderately deep mud, but with some hard ground underfoot, this tractor does ok, might have to use the loader to get out, but surprisingly most times I did get stuck I could get out, with chains on you can dig pits real easy, always best to stop and get a tow, and not churn in until its bottomed out. The 2 times in 12 years I've had this tractor and really got stuck, is because I was too close to the swamp/pond, you can never tell how soft it will be, sometimes its dry enough, no problem, same spot you will sink, and every time it happened the narrow ag tires sliced it open, not using an overun clutch, it lurches forward just enough to get those rear tires into where the fronts sliced it open, and you are done, most times if you can stop quick enough, the loader will push me out, those two times, I used the D7 Cat and the last time a few years back the 4440, somehow you always know, its time to stop and get help.

You get double benefit from hanging weight on the 3pt hitch versus weight in the tires because it transfers an equal amount from the front to the rear wheels. Easier to steer and less stress on the front end.