Tire Ballast

Mike cardin · Dec 20, 2013

I am a relatively new owner of a 1941 Farmall H tractor with a narrow front end. I have been doing a lot of repairs and I have had to remove and break down one of the rear tires because it was leaking. It was full of water and calcium and rusting the rim. The other tire on the tractor doesn"t have any ballast in it My question is should I put ballast back in or not? If so what are some less expensive choices? I only brush hog with it and pull logs once in a while.

Joe Scribner · Dec 20, 2013

I just did the rear tires on my Ferguson TEA20. I looked for a sale and loaded them with windshield washer fluid. Washer fluid weighs 8.2lbs per US gallon. I got some on sale at $1.99/gal , so I bought 60 gallons. That's enough to put about 240lbs in each wheel. It's also not corrosive like calcium so if it leaks it won't eat your wheels. I know lots of other folks who use washer fluid and it works. Hope that helps. Joe.

souNdguy · Dec 20, 2013

if you need the weight past the cast iron wheel weights.. you can use water and a lil eco safe anti freeze after you fix and paint the rims..e tc.

Wheat Farmer · Dec 20, 2013

Maybe the H was used for plowing and only CC in the right tire. (furrow side) Do you think you need the weight for pulling logs? Leave it dry.

Royse · Dec 20, 2013

What you put in, if you decide to, depends on where you live.
Warmer climates can use just water, some use windshield washer
solvent, others use RimGuard (sometimes called beet juice)

Iron wheel weights are a great option too.

You can always try it without anything and see how it works first.

If you ballast one, do them both. Safer that way.

Zachary Hoyt · Dec 20, 2013

I like ballast for what I do, just need to keep an eye on it to see if it leaks. I skid logs and plow snow with a 300 and had an H with the same loaded tires on it before. They do seem to help with traction.
Zach

andy r · Dec 20, 2013

CaCl like you mentioned can destroy the rims. Was the CaCl in the left wheel??? Was possibly put in the "landside" wheel for additional weight when plowing. The furrow wheel (right) tended to get better traction and didn't need as much weight. For light work like runnng a rotary mower most on this site would say NO to CaCl. Might be a different story if you had a loader. The old H / M style wheel weights are not all that much if and when you might need more weight. So, between the rusting, extra time and energy during tire repairs I would say no. I have 25 tractors or so and none of my old time tractors have any fluid. A couple of my newer work horse tractors do. I have seen the damage it can do and sometimes you don't even know it is leaking.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 20, 2013

Having repaired a lot of rims, I strongly suggest buying wheel weights. They can be bought for what the solutions that are offered cost. Also the liquid may well be lost if a tire is puntured. It is a lot harder to repair a tire with fluid in it. Can easily repair a tube without fluid but gets more complicated with fluid.

rustred · Dec 20, 2013

brush hog- no ballast
logs- depends on the size , you will find out in a hurry.

Jason1Pa · Dec 20, 2013

It depends on what your doing and where your doing it at. For example most will say you don't need it to mow. Thats true HOWEVER I mow on some hill sides and I'll pick one of my tractors with weight in the tires because the tractor without it will slide around.. For the most part I would say if you are using the tractor put weight (liquid or iron)on them wheels. Wheel weights I like better,but they can cost a good bit,but they will never go bad or get lost

old · Dec 20, 2013

Either both tires full of fluid or not fluid. Recipe for disaster with one full an the other not and can cause a tractor to flip over. For most stuff fluid is not needed

howdy1960 · Dec 20, 2013

Have, I believe, about 13 gals beet juice in Sadie plus about 200#s wheel weights each side with a FEL. In winter also put 300 - 350#s hanging off 3 pt.

jeffcat · Dec 20, 2013

Didn't I read on here that they use Peanut oil now in tires? No freeze, no metal rot if it leaks, and just a tiny bit lighter than water. It is not supposed to cost that much. I am not sure of the price but it sound interesting/ Jeffcat

Leroy · Dec 21, 2013

Fluid first and then for aditional cast weight. And as fluid in right furrow tire for extra traction unless you have a rare left hand only plow that is not so. The furrow wheel always has the most traction as the bare ground the tire will grip better on than the landside wheel with some trash on top, some would hand an extra weight on the landside wheel to equalize the traction. And the fluid in the tires will help control sliding on wet grass better than no weight with cast in between and cast can help make the trator more top heavy, raises the center of gravity, for a side roll. The weight should be the lowes possible place and that is in the tire.

NoNewParts · Dec 21, 2013

filled tires, I use windshield washer fluid.
cheap and easy to work with.
doesn't weigh as much as calcium, but does ok.
My too light Fords all get filled tires eventually.(and outer rims are cheap)
On Farmalls, I use wheel weights instead, as in my area they are plentiful and still relatively cheap. While rims are not.

filled or weights, when I need more traction, the chains go on.

Aaron Ford · Dec 21, 2013

I like used antifreeze. I get it free and have to decant the antifreeze out from underneath the oil. I also leave the stuff on the bottom on the bottom and draw about 6 inches up from the bottom of the barrel. Two 5 gallon buckets and a clean destination drum make up my filtering rig. The destination barrel is a plastic drum and is set up with an air regulator in one bung and a shutoff valve on the other. A short hose and an adapter from Gemplers injects the stuff in the tire. I find that I can inflate the plastic drum to about 5 psi when laid down, the drum empties in about an hour.

Pretty cheap effective setup.

Aaron

buickanddeere · Dec 21, 2013

In an ideal world tire ballast would be cast iron external weights and no fluid in the tires.

Lazy WP · Dec 22, 2013

I just don't get you guys that don't like calcium in tires. Maintain your valve stems, and you will never have a bit of trouble with the rims.
As for only having fluid in one side, just guessing that the previous owner had a tire go flat, and dumped the fluid out. For most places out here, a H is at best a hay tractor, and you don't need the weight to hay with.
Think about how old these tractors are. 40 to 70 years old, and a good majority still have the original rims.

buickanddeere · Dec 22, 2013

CaCl can seep from valve stems without being visible. No sign of damage until the rim rusts through from the inside out.
Why are so many people willing to welcome the enemy into their camp? CaCl is waiting 24/7, year after year. To seep one of the most corrosive salt compounds known to man into your valuable machine.
Sooner or later most tires including CaCl tires suffer damage, a puncture or valve stem problem. A dry tire is much simpler, cheaper and easier to repair.
Common sense would have a person choose a less hazardous compounds over the three choices.

Lazy WP · Dec 22, 2013

You figure pounds per cost. CaCl is by far the best bang for your buck. I think you can get nearly 12.5 pounds per gallon out of CaCl. I want to see you do that with any of the other options.Like I said before. Most of these rims are well over 40 years old, and still going.
If its a using tractor, I would highly recommend CaCl. If its a toy/ parade, don't run any weights.

T in NE · Dec 22, 2013

I would suggest the -20 winter washer fluid.

An H will need ballast to pull much of a log. I know with a 300 and quick hitch and ballasted tires you can pull a lot more than you should be pulling with a 30 HP 2-wheel-drive tractor.

buickanddeere · Dec 22, 2013

I'm not that broke or cheap that I have to cut costs up front. To turn around and pay extra later.

Rich_WI · Dec 22, 2013

(quoted from post at 19:56:21 12/22/13) I'm not that broke or cheap that I have to cut costs up front. To turn around and pay extra later.

Im sure in your mind you are convinced that if you load a tire today, you are saving yourself money down the road by not having to "pay extra later". Well let me be the voice of reason for you... not going to happen. If you read the simple math laid out for you, rims lasting 40 years and more, there is no way in gods green earth that you will ever have to worry about it because you will be pushing up daisies long, long before that. Simple fact, you are way too old for it to be a concern, he11, load them with battery acid and you still wont see the day of fixing a rotted out rim (provided you maintain the valve cores).

We know you know everything and have more money than god (Oh how we know, you tell us all the time) but the simple fact is, salt water filled tires are not the devil you so love to proclaim they are....

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