Question about liquid filled tires
 

Question for anyone with knowledge about liquid filled tires. (well a couple of questions really). A while back I acquired a 149 from a deceased farmers estate. No, he didn't farm with it, just wife's garden and yard work. Anyway the rear tires are ag's and are filled with liquid. I assume the liquid is anti-freeze since it doesn't harden in the winter. Am I correct on that assumption? Next question is what do you use to get it in the tires. Another question would be, are liquid filled a better idea than wheel weights?? Reason I ask is these current ag's are on their last lugs and when I get new ones, is filling them with liquid something I want to consider. For my use I don't really need the weight that much but I'm more curious about it than anything else. Thanks in advance to anyone who can enlighten me.

tires are usually filled with calcium or basically salt water. they fill the tires with a pump and are usually filled 3/4. loaded tires as i call em have both pros and cons. i personally have 3 machines with loaded tires. (1 cub, a ford 800 and a case 580 backhoe. it gives the tractors some nice weight. but you have to watch out for the valve stem holes rotting. i prefer loaded tires over wheel weights. wheel weights can stick out from the sides, requires removing the weights if you have to pull a wheel and wheel weight look ugly to me.

There are several ways you can liquid fill a tire, through the stem I guess is how I did a set one time. It was slowwwww.

I've heard of folks laying the tire sideways on the ground and cracking the tire/rim bead a bit and pouring liquid in them.

My problem with liquid was several fold:

1. I tried to use it with tubes to keep the liquid off the rims and rust to a minimum. Eventually I got a thorn that gave me a flat tire and fluid in the rims anyway.

2. If you use a tube and they have liquid in them, it is a pain to drain the fluid for a patch.

3. I never liked fluid in the rims without a tube from a rust point of view.

4. When I did try fluid with no tube, it seemed like the rubber of my tires got softer and less able to hold their shape. I've got a set of Firestone 23 deg ag tires this happened to and they are pretty much trash.

What I do now is use ag tires with wheel weights. I've had tremendous success with that and my tractor goes like a Jeep.

Also, recently with my 109, I've just been running chains and that's been great too.

Nice tractor you have with the 149

Yes, the rust and possible leak problems had crossed my mind. I guess I'm having problems grasping how to get multiple gallons of liquid through that itty bitty valve stem hole before going nuts. Sound like if I don't need it, its not worth the effort.

Get Rimguard its non rusting and heavier then calcium.

To Tell what you have in the tires now, loosen the valve cap and get 1 drop on your finger, taste it, if it is salty it's cloride.
If it tastes like windshield washer fluid, that is what it is.
If it smells like shit, don't taste it, it is beet juice.yuck!
Most of the guys here like to use W.washer fluid as it is easily gotten, inexpensive and does not rot the rims.
you can also use RV antifreez, or regular antifreeze.
Just search this forum, there must be 100 posts about what to use and ways to put it in.
Any kind of pump works well and does not take that much time.
I perfer that way, as I have a set up for putting cloride on my farm tires.
You would be surprised how quickly I can pump in 50-75 Gallons of fluid in a farm tire, or out for that matter.

I use windshield wiper fluid in my tires and I never load a tire that doesn't have a tube, yeah I know a puncture would be a real PITA but everything has an upside and a downside I guess.

To get the fluid in the tires, I fill an old air tank with wiper fluid, then pressurize the tank and push the liquid into the tire.

For the most part I only use loaded tires for moving snow or other blade work, I have yet to plow but I can see a real advantage to having the extra weight there.

Weights vs Loaded tires... Loading tires can be much cheaper than wheel weights. Loaded tires are much heavier than one pair of weights. Wheel weights can be removed easier than "unloading" tires (but it's not really something that you want to do every day).

Having the extra weight really depends on what is right for your situation.

I am curious to find out what the rest of the guys here use the extra weight for.

Well ol George, to tell ya the truth I never had the urge to taste windshield washer fluid in the past, so that will be a new one to me. Did some looking at forums on Rim Guard (aka beet juice). Opinions are very varied, good to bad, but to me not worth the expense of around $3.00/gallon plus insertion fee. A chart I found says 23 x 10.50-12 tire would take 6.8 gallons. If I went with RV anti-freeze that should give me about 50 lbs per side. Now I gotta find those posts about how to pump it in.

I break the bead on the valve stem side and pour RV antifreeze in. I would never use Calcium Chloride it eats the rims. You can get about 8 gals in a 10.5X12X23 and over 9 in a 12X12X26

I bought the valve stem to garden hose adapter, and use a small submersible centrifugal pump in a bucket of windshield washer fluid to pump fluid into the tires. Stop every couple gallons to relieve the pressure (I just shut down the pump and the air that is getting compressed inside the tire comes back through the pump. Then pump some more. As the tire fills, you need to vent more often, but it only takes maybe three or four ventings to complete the process. I like the idea of breaking a bead and pouring it in. Might try that.

I filled both of these 26X12X12's in about 5 miutes

With the 850s I filled with washer.fluid and had tubes I took.the valve core out screwed on a old piece.of fuel line and used.a old.fuel.tank.I.had would pressurized the.tank.with my air compressor through a small hole I.drilled in.the.cap. took me maybe 20 minutes for both tires. My tubeless 10.50 s I just broke the valve.stem side of the bead and filled it.with 7 gallons then aired.it back up. Works good.and easy

Down her in Georgia I use H2O only in tubes. Some guys add dish soap to increase the freeze point. I don't think that will work up in good ole PA.

i have one tractor that came with green antifreeze in the tires, and i put in purple washer fluid. i ALWAYS tube my tires when i have them apart and have never had a flat since. i pump the washer fluid in with the cheapest electric fuel pump i could find. i think its a used one off a chevy diesel. its a little slow but works good and isnt messy to do. i got 7 gallons in per side.

on my snow blade rig i have fluid plus 5o lb wheel weights on each side and its barely enough when the snow is wet.

to each their own i guess.

I put innertubes in a set of 10.5x23s got whole shopping cart full of washer fluid at wal mart when it was on sale for 99 cents a gallon.

I took a pump weed sprayer and removed the wand and clamped the hose from it to the valve stem after removeing the shrader valve from the innertube. I simply filled the sprayer and pumped the fluid in with the tire and wheel laying on it's side. 14 GALLONS DID BOTH TIRES,on a bathroom scale they weighed near 50 lbs I threw a wheel weight on the scale and that brought one set to 80 lbs with chains on tire. Did that 4 yrs ago and never any leaks or froze fluid.

I just bought a set of new Deestone 23 x 10.50/12's on eBay from Greater Cleaveland Tire (gregthree) for $121 plus 20 bucks for shipping. He claims they are 6 ply. Is that an ok price or could I have done better. Now gotta sandblast & paint rims, then go fluid shopping. The fun never ends.

E-Z way to fill tires
 

I removed the hose and wand from my 2 gallon garden sprayer, put a 2' long piece of 5/16 rubber fuel hose over the nipple on the sprayer and slid the other end of the hose over the valve stem after removing the schrader valve. Turn the wheel so the valve stem is positioned at the top. Fill the sprayer with WWF, install the hand pump in the sprayer and give it about 20 pumps. The pressure in the sprayer will force the fluid into the tire. You will have to pump some more to keep the pressure up in the sprayer. When you remove the pump from the sprayer the excess air will bleed out of the tire while you refill the sprayer. I filled 2 23-10.50-12 tires with 12 gallons of WWF in about 30 minutes.

I just filled a set of 26 X 12 x12's with a little pump I had laying around. It's a Flo Jet pump that I used to have on my race car to pump tranny fluid to a cooler. It's 12 volt but I also have a 12 volt power supply. Normally I take the tires to the local tire shop and have them break the bead on the valve stem side as I've mentioned before but I will need to fill a set of tires on my 121 that have tubes so I figured I'd try this pump and see how it did on the big rubber. Had the hoses kind of jury rigged but it went well. Just pulled the valve cores out and slid the 3/8" hose ove the stem and let it rip. I let the air out of the tire after every gal. I may get one of those tire fillers that TSC sells and make up something a little more permanent for the future. Anyway I put 8 gals in each tire probably took 20 mins. :beerchug: