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How To Repair Leak Valve Stem Big Tractor Tire

I finally got around to putting anchor fluid in my rear tractor tires. This project was long over due. In this postal service, I cover the basics of tractor ballast, the different ballast fluids bachelor, some different methods for fill up your tractor tires and how I filled mine.

Outset, let's talk about the basics of ballast. At a basic level, tractor tire anchor, whether in the course of fluid in the tires, or steel cycle weights, gives your tractor better rear wheel traction and both lowers the middle of gravity as well as shifts it dorsum toward the rear. A lower center of gravity makes your tractor less prone to tipping over on uneven terrain.

Having good rear anchor is especially important when you have a front end end loader similar I do. Front end loaders are very heavy. My Kubota LA525 loader weighs 805 lbs, and much of that weight hangs off the front of the tractor, making the front beam act equally a fulcrum. The weight of the loader on the forepart subtracts from the effective weight on the dorsum tires, and moves the eye of gravity a lot farther forward.


A heavy load in the loader bucket magnifies this upshot and in certain situations can crusade the tractor to tip forwards and possibly gyre over leading to chaos, death and devastation.

Anchor in the rear tires helps to offset the weight of the loader and a load and moves the center of gravity dorsum to a safer point. However, liquid ballast lonely is not enough for safely conveying heavy loads in your loader. Adding a heavy implement on the iii point like a anchor box or castor hog is the all-time mode to ensure your tractor is as stable every bit possible.

At present, which liquid ballast you lot choose depends on how cold information technology gets where you alive, how much your willing to spend, and what is available where y'all live. There are several good resources online comparison the dissimilar liquid ballasts but ane of the all-time that I accept found is on the Orange Tractor Talks website. This chart summarizes the characteristics of the nearly common types liquid tire ballast. Below the chart, the article covers pros and cons of each blazon. I'll just hit the highlights of each.

Water: Of course, water is the cheapest anchor since information technology is free, but offers no freeze protection and provides viii.3 lbs of counterbalance per gallon. So, you have to live in a warm climate to employ water.

Calcium chloride: Calcium chloride is widely available can be cheap or expensive, depending on if your tires already take tubes installed or not. Mixed with water, it provides corking freeze protection downward to -50F and weighs a hefty 11.5 lbs per gallon, but it is highly corrosive and needs to be used in tires with tubes to protect your rims from rusting.

Ethylene Glycol: Ethylene Glycol antifreeze is the aforementioned kind that goes in your car'south radiator. It is a widely available, medium-priced solution that when mixed 50/50 with water, offers freeze projection down to -40F. And it weighs nigh the same per gallon equally obviously water. The main drawback is that it is very toxic to animals and really attracts animals because it tastes sweet. And so, if you lot become a leak in a tire, it's non good news for critters.

Propylene Glycol: Propylene Glycol antifreeze has the same properties equally ethylene glycol except that it is not-toxic. It is piece of cake to get but expensive per gallon.

Windshield Washer Fluid: Windshield washer fluid is another popular ballast considering of its broad availability and low price per gallon. Used full strength in tires, information technology provides freeze protection downwardly to -20F and weighs about the same per gallon equally water. Still, it is toxic to the environs, but at least it doesn't attract animals.

Methanol: Methanol is medium-priced, only highly flammable and must be mixed with water to minimize risk of explosion or burn. It is also toxic, simply it can provide freeze protection down to -15F.

Beet Juice: Beet Juice is very expensive, simply very constructive, with freeze protection downward to -35F and weighs almost xi lbs per gallon. As a plus, it is completely safe and biodegradable. RimGuard is the most well-known brand however, it's merely bachelor through dealer networks and predominately in the northern parts of the United states of america. I can't get it in Georgia.

Polyurethane cream: Finally, in that location is Polyurethane cream, which is very expensive, but is freeze-proof and tin can provide upwardly to 12 lbs of weight per gallon. As a bonus, it makes your tires flat-proof. It is available through dealer networks. One downside worth mentioning is that it too makes for a rough ride on the tractor since in that location is no cushion in the tire.

I chose windshield washer fluid because of it lower toll and availability.
In particular, I bought Super Tech Windshield washer and de-icer, available at WalMart. Well, sometimes. It seems to exist seasonably available. I paid $2.17 per gallon for 60 gallons, which was the best toll I could observe at the time.

Super Tech Windshield Washer and De-icer

So how did I know how much fluid I needed? That's where tire ballast fill charts come in. Yous can find many of them on line. I similar the RimGuard tire fill chart.

The chart shows the well-nigh mutual sizes of tractor tires, the number of gallons they hold at a 75% fill level, and the number or pounds added when using RimGuard. My rear tires are 15-19.5 R4s, which hold 29 gallons each at a 75% fill level. Then, I demand 58 gallons total but I bought 60 gallon in case of an oopsy or ii. To get the weight per tire for the ballast fluid of your selection, simply multiply the gallons per tire of your size tire by the pounds per gallon of your ballast fluid. So, in my instance it is 29 x 8.three which is virtually 240 pounds per tire, or a total ballast weight of 481 lbs.

Now let's get on with filling the tires. Your tractor should be parked on a flat and level surface. The first step is to safely take the weight of the rear tires. At present you tin can exercise this one at a fourth dimension, just I chose to jack both up at the same time and you lot'll learn why later on in this article. You just need to enhance the tires barely off the floor or ground. My jack stands are rated for 6 ton each so no worries about them not holding the weight.

The tire valve stem needs to be at the 12 o'clock position to fill the tire with fluid. You'll need a tire valve stalk tool to remove the valve core – slowly.
To fill the tires, yous volition need an air/water adapter kit. You can discover them on Amazon or stores like Tractor Supply, which is where I got mine. They cost around $ten.

There are several methods for loading liquid ballast into tires. I comprehend the full details in the video, but here are the nuts.

Gravity Fill: The simplest is using a short slice of hose and a 5 gallon bucket that you can put in the seat of your tractor. The hose is connected to the air/water adapter which is screwed tightly onto the valve stem. The other end of the hose sits at the bottom of the five gallon bucket and y'all start filling the bucket with the anchor fluid of your choice. Gravity does the work from hither, simply it tin be tiresome going. Occasionally, push the air release button on the the air/water adapter to let the air escape and make more room for liquid.

Gravity Fill up

Transfer Pump: Another pop method is using a transfer pump to load the liquid ballast in the tires as shown in the pictures below. Transfer pumps with garden hose connections are available from many retailers such every bit Amazon, Harbor Freight and Northern Tool. I got mine from Amazon.

The pump speeds the process up and you just take to continue pouring liquid in the saucepan and occasionally stopping the pump and releasing excess air from the tire. Note that transfer pumps are non supposed to be operated dry so priming information technology past filling the hose with liquid before turning it on is important!

Transfer Pump with Manifold: This method involves building a manifold that attaches to the air/h2o adapter and allows you to monitor the force per unit area and release air without wasting whatever fluid. It is made of 3/4″ PVC pipe and common fittings bachelor at hardware shop. This thought came from David Dobb on his DaveKnowsHow YouTube aqueduct and I thought it was brilliant, as so many of his contraptions are. I built my version of the manifold so that the hoses hang directly down to minimize stress on the valve stem.

Angled to Minimize Stress on the Valve Stem

Hither's a closer look at the parts of the manifold. I use iii, ¾" threaded PVC to garden hose adapters. Ii garden hose valves. And a typical pressure estimate on the inlet side. Since this manifold is hopefully a one-time apply device, I chose parts I could reuse elsewhere. In fact, the pressure approximate ended upward replacing the i on our pool pump. I'll keep the manifold trunk in case I ever have to fill tires again.


The hose connecting the manifold to the pump output side is a washing machine connector hose with female person connections on both ends. The other ii hoses can be whatever equally long as they have a female person connection on 1 end.

Earlier starting the pump, I fill up the 5-gallon bucket with fluid and the prime the inlet hose.

The tire force per unit area rapidly settled out at xx PSI, which is perfect!

With the pump running, it was but a matter of keeping the v gallon bucket filled with fluid.

Note that the tires fill faster if you occasionally cease the pump, close the manifold inlet valve, then fully open the outlet valve to let backlog air pressure out. You might desire to pull the return hose out from the liquid every bit you do this so as to avert blasting ballast fluid everywhere. Become ahead, enquire me how I know this. One time the pressure is relieved, open the inlet valve, turn on the pump, and mostly close the outlet valve.

One time all the fluid is in, I tin can put the valve core back in the stem and pressurize the tire to about twenty psi, which is all that is needed for liquid filled tires.

Then now the process needs to be repeated for the other tire. Over again, the valve stem needs to be in the 12 o'clock position, but considering I jacked upwards both rear tires, I tin easily do this without moving the tractor. With the clutch locked in the pressed position and the range selector in neutral, I manually rotate the tire so that the valve stem is at 12 o'clock.

After filling the tire, I once again reinstall the valve cadre and pressurize the tire. Now I can safely take the tractor off the jack stands.

I must acknowledge I put off this project because I was intimidated by information technology, just information technology turns out to be pretty easy to practise if you lot are careful and have the right tools on hand. Then if I tin do it, y'all can do it!

Note: Links to Amazon products are Amazon Acquaintance links that won't cost you any extra, just will help back up my efforts with a small commission on qualified products. Thanks for your support!

Source: https://diymyway.net/2020/06/25/adding-liquid-ballast-to-tractor-tires/

Posted by: graneywillond.blogspot.com

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