tractor tire ballast

Looking to put fluid in my tires. Dont want calcium. Priced beet juice. Just wondering how the window washer stuff that you mix with water works? Or using used anti freeze. I can get all the used anti freeze I need for free.

Used antifreeze will work.

Just the toxicity is a problem. It will kill animals and plants.

Beet juice juice will kill plants too, and just about sterilize the soil for a year or two. Its worse than calcium in that regard. Id use the antifreeze if its free, it works fine.

I have had used antifreeze for years in my tractor tires

I just have plain water BUTTTT my tractors are inside heated garage in winter you could just put a couple gals anti freeze the rest water

My rear tires are filled with washer fluid. It is less dense that a solution of calcium chloride or even straight water. But it's cheaper than Rimguard (beet juice). The folks who sold me my tires said they do not use Rimguard because it can damage their equipment. On the other hand, a different dealer filled one of my front tires with Rimguard and apparently has no problems with it.

I would never use ethylene glycol antifreeze due to its toxicity. Washer fluid is toxic as well, but it quickly evaporates if you have a leak.

I dont use it ,but the RV anti freeze

Any one ever used old engine oil?

Same here.

It would work but eventually it would ruin the rubber

You have ??

In an ideal world ,
It would be possible to keep the tires dry and ballast with only cast weights mounted on the wheels .
A liquid ballast that is non corrosive and non poisonous is recommended .

Well here is my take on this , I use cal., and have for over fifty years . My current 806 had cal. in it LONG before i bought it . when we broke down and put a new set of Firestone radials on yep i had to FIX the valve stem hole as i have repaired many . We also sand blasted the inside of the rims and primered and painted the inside . As they had some rust damage . Now keep in mind here we are talking about a tractor that was built in 63 and we put a set of tires on it like six or seven years ago that were NOT the ORG tires and only god knows just how many sets have been on it since new. And i had to fix the valve stem hole whoppy big deal . The Ca at the mix we use adds around 12-1300 or so Lbs to each rear tire , if i add DO Nuts to equal the weight we are talking around eight or nine weights per tire and if added to just the out side they will stick out a foot past the tire putting stress on the inner axle clamp bolts and trust me they break fast enough and at over 90 bucks a bolt / Stud each time 4 i prefer to keep the weight centered Already broke two when i for got to check air pressure on the set of duals and popped two outside ones . If you run cal. and you get a leaker you FIX it NOW not later and wash the rim down . If your doing heavy tillage , loader work then ya need all the weight you can get If your pulling heavy silage wagons You can NOT get enough weight . In my part of this land we have HILLS and a tractor that weighs in just under 14000Lbs TRYEN to handle a 35000 or more loaded silage wagon is a clear cut case of the tail wagging the dog . Yep Cal will kill the grass BUT animals will not drink it , Yep given enough time it will eat the rim out if neglected , yep it is a pain handling a loaded tire when ya have to do repair work on the rear end or fix a flat , BUTit is a safety factor in the hills . And a must for tillage .

I'm with TV on this one. The chloride is the most practical for weight and use. The anitfreezes are all going to be lighter than water and if in northern climates will freeze in the tire. We've had chloride in our H tires since it was new in 1953 and in all the rest of our tractors except the Stiegers and my brothers 7140. The only other exception might be his 2940 Deer with loader. Though I have not had the tires apart on it.

I work at a place that recycles antifreeze, we sell a bit of it to one of the local tire shops for tire ballast.

I have washer fluid in this tractor and I'm very happy with it. If I could have gotten used
antifreeze (60 gallons in this) for less I would have used it.

You need to decide how much total weight you need to add and if you can't get there with an alternative to CaCL, are you are willing to pay the premium for cast iron.

It takes forty years or more for calcium chloride to make a set of rims unuseable, longer than the expected working life of most tractors. If you compare prices, calcium chloride and a new set of rims will cost less than the same weight of cast iron.

Figure out how much weight you need and price your alternatives.

The tire store I go to puts washer fluid in
tractor tires.
I'm not a fan of tire ballast.
Wheel weights are about $1/#.
Calcium is liquid rust.
Not sure if beat juice isn't a salt too.
If I needed tire ballast I would use washer
fluid.
I use rear ballast when I use front loader
because it transfers weight off front tire.
Tire ballast can't transfer weight.

There is an auto parts store here in Northern Ky. that sells windshield washer fluid for 99 cents per gallon in 50 gallon drums. That is what I use. Ellis

Where did you hear that it took 40 years to rust out a rim? Seen it happen in less than 5 years several times.