Best fill for tires?

[Sam427]

Well, it was another carnage filled weekend, lost more clips and pins dragging and pushing limbs and brush. Worst part was when I got a limb hung in the rear wheel and sheared the valve stem off. Scared the crap out of me, at first when the fluid went flying I thought I busted a hose or something, did an emergency shutdown. Once I got off the tractor I realized it was water shooting out of the stem.

These were filled with something, probably all water or mostly water, since they did freeze a little this past winter. Question is, what would be the cheapest and best thing to put back in the tire, down to maybe 10 degrees at the worst here? It's a Firestone R4 tubeless rear tire.

I already broke the bead down getting it back on the trailer, so the hard part is done.

 

[avi8tor]

The best tire fill is probably antifreeze/water mixture 50/50. The mixture is not flammable and fairly safe. My dealer filled my tires with methanol - said it was cheaper that antifreeze. Methanol is very flammable. Some use beet juice which is fairly safe. Probably will be what is easiest to obtain.

 

[Mingy]

Calcium Choride/Water is common around here, because a saturated mixture is quite dense and the freezing point is very low.

Refilling is easy. After you replace the valve, jack the back of the tractor up and rotate the wheel so the stem is at the top.

VERY IMPORTANT: lower the tractor so the tire is on the ground, even if the jack still holds the weight. Otherwise, as you fill the tire, you risk pulling it off the rim which will cause a loss of all the fluid and having a tire guy come and reinstall the tire.

TSC sells an adaptor for filling, so you pump solution in until you are done, stopping every once in a while to let the air out.

 

[bruceatlam]

Cheapest/Easiest will be water --- probably works for you at 10 deg.

 

[ETRon]

My experience follows avi8tars. The antifreeze is gonna cost ya a bit though. The Co-Op here uses methanol and as well that's what Kubota put in my at the dealership. The Calcuim salt is pretty corrosive, that's why they don't use it down here much, if at all. If ya still have the tractor on the trailer why not just take it to the farmers Co-Op or what have you and let them fill it for ya.

 

[Sam427]

Calcium Choride/Water is common around here, because a saturated mixture is quite dense and the freezing point is very low.

Refilling is easy. After you replace the valve, jack the back of the tractor up and rotate the wheel so the stem is at the top.

VERY IMPORTANT: lower the tractor so the tire is on the ground, even if the jack still holds the weight. Otherwise, as you fill the tire, you risk pulling it off the rim which will cause a loss of all the fluid and having a tire guy come and reinstall the tire.

TSC sells an adaptor for filling, so you pump solution in until you are done, stopping every once in a while to let the air out.

I already broke the bead, so it has to go to the shop I guess.

 

[Sam427]

My experience follows avi8tars. The antifreeze is gonna cost ya a bit though. The Co-Op here uses methanol and as well that's what Kubota put in my at the dealership. The Calcuim salt is pretty corrosive, that's why they don't use it down here much, if at all. If ya still have the tractor on the trailer why not just take it to the farmers Co-Op or what have you and let them fill it for ya.

I thought about taking the wheel off and taking it down and let them pop it back on the rim and fill it. The tire bead is away from the rim, do they a strap around the tire to squish it back over and seal?

 

[Bulldog]

Sam, since you're not planning on keeping the tractor I would say the calcium cloride would be the cheapest way to go but it will eat your wheels up over time and ruin them. Been there and done that.

As far as getting the tire back on the bead it should go back on if you blow it up with your air hose. Take the valve core out so the air can go in faster and after it seats just let the air back out to add the fluid back in it.

 

[Sam427]

Sam, since you're not planning on keeping the tractor I would say the calcium cloride would be the cheapest way to go but it will eat your wheels up over time and ruin them. Been there and done that.

As far as getting the tire back on the bead it should go back on if you blow it up with your air hose. Take the valve core out so the air can go in faster and after it seats just let the air back out to add the fluid back in it.

The tire is away from the bead lock on the rim, air will just rush out, the tire will need to be compressed to squish it out or something. I talked to the Kubota dealer and they can do it, they use methanol for fill, so I will go that route. $4.35 per gallon, hope it doesn't require too many gallons of that!

 

[Bulldog]

On some of the more stubborn ones I have worked with I have used a ratchet strap to squeeze the tire back out before. This works pretty good. Most dealers don't do tire repair themselves. They will get a tire service to fix it and then charge for the repair and a handling charge as well. Have you checked with any tire stores yet?

 

[Sam427]

On some of the more stubborn ones I have worked with I have used a ratchet strap to squeeze the tire back out before. This works pretty good. Most dealers don't do tire repair themselves. They will get a tire service to fix it and then charge for the repair and a handling charge as well. Have you checked with any tire stores yet?

I haven't checked with any tire places yet. They did have the methanol at the Kubota dealer, they sell it to people that want to fill their own tires. At some point I am going to have to buy the stuff to do my own tires, the supplies at the tractor places are just outrageous. I use to buy high grade methanol in 55 gallon drums for $1.60 a gallon when I use to race.

 

[Dennis]

I fill mine right up with water ( sub tropical here) with valve at top then let the water draain out to level of valve. I think that's about 90% full.

 

[ipz2222]

dennis, better have some antifreeze in there. Water will rust the wheel out. antifreeze prevents rust.

 

[skeets]

In MHO the anti freeze is the way to go it's cheap and easy to put in the tires I mixed mine 50/50. The cheapest off brand you can find works just like the name brands,, I hear beet juice is the katazz but a lot more than I can afford

 

[Sam427]

In MHO the anti freeze is the way to go it's cheap and easy to put in the tires I mixed mine 50/50. The cheapest off brand you can find works just like the name brands,, I hear beet juice is the katazz but a lot more than I can afford

I don't see how you can afford 50/50 mix, that's at least $150 worth of antifreeze.

 

[Bulldog]

You would probably be safe with about 5 gallons in and the rest water. I filled my front tires on my B model with straight water and never had any trouble out of them.

 

[ipz2222]

Look on the antifreeze jug for the dilution ratio. You may not need but 1 gal af to 5 gal water for your area.

 

[ipz2222]

Look on the antifreeze jug for the dilution ratio. You may not need but 1 gal af to 5 gal water for your area.
I think rv pink antifreeze is cheaper per gal also.