Fill tires for winter empty for spring?

[keithcoady]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has filled their rear tires for the winter and then emptied them in the spring.

I use a mid mower in the summer and was thinking I would leave ruts or grooves in my lawn with filled tires but would love to have the extra weight for the winter.

Tractor is a B7800 with a 5 foot 3 point snowblower and a loader on front.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Keith

 

[85Hokie]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has filled their rear tires for the winter and then emptied them in the spring.

I use a mid mower in the summer and was thinking I would leave ruts or grooves in my lawn with filled tires but would love to have the extra weight for the winter.

Tractor is a B7800 with a 5 foot 3 point snowblower and a loader on front.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Keith

Keith - depending on what tires you have - I would leave the fluid in all year.Huge advantage of traction and weight distribution.

 

[keithcoady]

Hokie, the tires are Titan 13.6-16

Would love to leave it in all year but just worried about making grooves in my lawn.

Lawn is actually a pretty good grade so the extra traction certainly wouldn't hurt.

One other thing I was wondering is with the added weight on the rear in the tires would that make it lighter in the front end when climbing the hill?

Thanks for the reply much appreciated.

 

[85Hokie]

Hokie, the tires are Titan 13.6-16

Would love to leave it in all year but just worried about making grooves in my lawn.

Lawn is actually a pretty good grade so the extra traction certainly wouldn't hurt.

One other thing I was wondering is with the added weight on the rear in the tires would that make it lighter in the front end when climbing the hill?

Thanks for the reply much appreciated.

Those are turfs? Google search showed turf tires.....if so - leave it IN - unless your grass is wet or soggy - you should have no ill effects!

Since a tire is really only 75% full or so - 50% of THAT is below the axle centerline, thus the center of gravity is lower than WITHOUT the liquid in!

You are going to need beet-juice or something else that can take the severe cold up there - but I would leave it in all year long.

That will add a lot of weight too - 100 kilos per tire.

The only disadvantage would be the lawn, and I think you will be fine unless your yard is poorly drained or stays moist all the time.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Ballast in tires is dead weight. So no part of chassis is affected by the weight. Unlike a ballast box on the 3 point,even if its very low it will take weight off front end.

 

[keithcoady]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. Yes the tires are turfs, sorry for not mentioning that.

Great advice there. I live in eastern Nova Scotia Canada and was going to try plumbers anitfreeze as it's non toxic and can be purchased at the local Walmart for about $4 a gallon.

Lawn is quite dry as it's a steep grade and great drainage.

From the info I've looked at so far it looks like 31 gallons per tire so time to start purchasing some plumbers antifreeze.

I'm going to do this myself so I'm assuming one can purchase a fitting that will allow you to fill the tires with fluid and allow air to escape while doing so.

I have a small water pump would that work to fill the tires. It's a Rigid (brand name) pump so it will pump all day, quite powerful.

Any suggestions on filling these or a link to how it's done.

Many thanks,

Keith

 

[85Hokie]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. Yes the tires are turfs, sorry for not mentioning that.

Great advice there. I live in eastern Nova Scotia Canada and was going to try plummers anitfreeze as it's non toxic and can be purchased at the local Walmart for about $4 a gallon.

Lawn is quite dry as it's a steep grade and great drainage.

From the info I've looked at so far it looks like 31 gallons per tire so time to start purchasing some plummers antifreeze.

I'm going to do this myself so I'm assuming one can purchase a fitting that will allow you to fill the tires with fluid and allow air to escape while doing so.

I have a small water pump would that work to fill the tires. It's a Rigid (brand name) pump so it will pump all day, quite powerful.

Any suggestions on filling these or a link to how it's done.

Many thanks,

Keith

Keith,

there are kits that you can buy locally - that will help you.

I did mine last year - and I found a way to do it that cuts the time down a good bit.

Get the valve stem out, place stem at 12 o'clock, let air out, get your buckets full and all that good stuff ready, jack up your tire on that side, PUSH down hard on the top of the tire and push as much air out as you can, the tire will stay "flat" for a minute or two, as the fluid pushes in - the air will force itself back to build the tire back out - once the tire gets back to shape, cut pump off - flatten tire again - this will push the air back into the bucket, and start again.

By pushing the air out multi times, the pump can push the liquid in much faster!

If you are not sure how much you have in it, pull the hose OFF the stem, if you push and liquid comes out, you are a little high, if NO liquid comes out, pump more in. - make sure you are at 12 o'clock the entire time.

 

[keithcoady]

Thanks Hokie, hoping to try this in a week or two, hopefully sooner. Not sure how much I'll be able to push down on the tire these things are around 3 feet high and a foot wide but I guess with no or little air in them they will.

This is all new to me, just bought the tractor a year ago.

One more question, is plumbers antifreeze corrosive to wheels and tires?

I know car antifreeze is non corrosive but it's also toxic whereas plumbers antifreeze is not. Not sure if plumbers antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors in it.

 

[skeets]

If your talking about RV anti freeze thats not a problem,, as far as filling and draining every year,, dude live them filled, I run mine all year long and no problems, unless you have a putting green in the front yard

 

[85Hokie]

Thanks Hokie, hoping to try this in a week or two, hopefully sooner. Not sure how much I'll be able to push down on the tire these things are around 3 feet high and a foot wide but I guess with no or little air in them they will.

This is all new to me, just bought the tractor a year ago.

One more question, is plumbers antifreeze corrosive to wheels and tires?

I know car antifreeze is non corrosive but it's also toxic whereas plumbers antifreeze is not. Not sure if plumbers antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors in it.

With it jacked up off the ground, and empty of air - You'll be able to push down on the top of that tire quite a bit! IF they were AGs.....that might not be true!

 

[keithcoady]

skeets, hardly a putting green lol, not even close but it's green

 

[keithcoady]

Ok, jury is probably still out on this one but i've read in a few posts on the net that filling up with pure antifreeze, even in nova scotia is not necessary and that half antifreeze and half water will still not freeze.

Any opinions on this? Some stated that at most it may become slush like with only 2 or 3 gallons of antifreeze and the rest water so I'm thinking if I went half and half so appox 15 gallons of each.

It can get down to at least -30 C/ -22 F

 

[Ramos]

The antifreeze is heavier than water and won't contribute to corrosion. You are doing this to add weight and it is a one-time investment unless you have a major tire failure.

 

[imnukensc]

Anything my dealer sells that has a FEL on it has the rear tires filled with antifreeze and I'm in SC.

 

[keithcoady]

Speaking of tire failure, just checked my tire pressure and left rear tire was low.

Split in the sidewall about 2 1/2" long. Sprayed with soapy water and definitely leaking there, not fast but leaking.

This just plain sucks!!! Anyone think Slime or Tire Ject would help? Pretty sure I won't be able to fill the tires as the antifreeze would probably reduce the effectiveness of the Slime.

Had a great day until I saw this

 

[skeets]

Most likely not, sounds like time for a new tire my friend,, just MHO you understand

 

[keithcoady]

Don't even want to think about the price of that! Yikes!

 

[keithcoady]

Any chance I could fill it with slime or even foam?

 

[D2Cat]

Why not tube it?

 

[torch]

I'm going to do this myself so I'm assuming one can purchase a fitting that will allow you to fill the tires with fluid and allow air to escape while doing so.

I bought this one from Amazon.ca:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000J1SQXI

I filled mine with -45° windshield washer antifreeze last fall. Cheaper than plumbing A/F (although you do get a funny look when you walk up to the parts counter and ask for 10 cases of WW fluid)

I did a 50% fill on my turf tires and left it in all summer with no deleterious effects. In fact, it helps when using the loader on dirt, too.