Alternative to sodium chloride

[Why Worry]

Hello,

Our old tractor's rear tires are currently filled with sodium chloride. We'd like to remove this and replace it with a non-corrosive mixture that won't freeze. Can anyone direct me to an alternative?

 

[michaelr]

They sell Beet juice to put in them now. Non corrosive and a natural anti-freeze.

 

[old]

First off not likely to be sodium chloride but instead it is calcium chloride. Yes both are a type of salt but not the same in many ways.
That said I use winter grade wiper fluid in my tires but there are also things like beet juice but that stuff and many others get costly fast. I can find winter grade wiper fluid for just a tad over a buck a gal.

 

[buickanddeere]

(quoted from post at 10:49:34 10/01/15) Hello,

Our old tractor's rear tires are currently filled with sodium chloride. We'd like to remove this and replace it with a non-corrosive mixture that won't freeze. Can anyone direct me to an alternative?

Glad that windshield washer fluid is in my loader tractor's tires. A few weeks ago one of the boys wrapped a tree branch around the valve stem and broke the outer stem off.
Tractor would be corroded mess if sprayed with CaCl.

 

[IAtractorKid]

It's called RimGuard and its very expensive! I actually just got a quote last week to fill the 14.9x28s on my tractor. RimGuard was almost $1900 installed, calcium was almost $400 installed. Bet you can guess which one I'll be using!

 

[Ivan in Mich]

I just got Rim Guard in my new trac tires ad it was not much. I have heard of prices for it from 400 to 8.00 a gallon

 

[Mike M]

That is usually trade named rim guard. It is expensive and around here in Ohio hard to find as most all of the tire shops tried it and went back to washer fluid or calcium chloride.
They went away from it because they have too much trouble in colder weather changing tires as it is too thick to pump in and out.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Before I paid $400 to fill the tires I'd of been looking for wheel weights that are a whole lot easier to deal with than fluid and they can be used over and over and not lost if you have a flat.

 

[Ivan in Mich]

Should be 4.00 a gallon not 400

 

[old]

I fill my own tires and the last one I did cost around $36 for the wiper fluid I used. It is easy to do and I can even send you a page from an old tractor owners manual that shows a few ways of doing it. Me I use a simple drill pump and have been doing it that way for years

 

[dpendzic]

I have used antifreeze in my tires--got it for free from my gas station guy---he has to pay to get rid of it

 

[jeffcat]

Next door neighbor works part time in his uncle's junk yard to keep himself busy. I get used anti freeze for free. Works wonderfully and it is FREE. Like it doesn't cost anything Free. Get the drift? Give him used fryer grease pails from work and he fills them up for me.

 

[RodinNS]

I will never understand why people want to spend big money on various elixers to avoid using calcium chloride. CaCl is and has long been used because it's cheap. If you don't want to use it, go with CAST IRON WEIGHT and run the tires dry (and tubeless). Amazing how many problems go away. I just don't understand paying a lot of money for beet juice, washer fluid, antifreeze, etc when the same problems still exist and you get less weight from the deal anyway.
CaCl is only a problem if you don't fix the leaks right away and wash the wheel off thoroughly...

Rod

 

[S2710]

A guy I know had old anti freeze in his tractor tire and had a small leak but no problem wasn't going to rust the rim. Well his 2 year old's puppy was licking the anti freeze off the rim and so was the two year old. Free was not so free when he had to take the dog to the vet and the kid to the doctor.
My thoughts YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!!!!!

Bob

 

[Tech 7]

Have you ever looked at the Material Safety Data Sheet for Windshield washer Fluid? I'll deal with Calcium Chloride any day thanks.

 

[showcrop]

Calcium Chloride is not capable of damaging tires when contained in an innertube. A tractor with a leaking innertube is not capable of working or getting anything done for the owner, unless the owner repeatedly replenishes the lost air. The damage is not done by the calcium chloride, it is done by owner/operator procrastination.

 

[K Effective]

February of 2015 I had 140 gallons of Rim Guard, Michigan made beet juice, added to the rear tires of my JD 5400 loader tractor. Rim Guard weighs eleven (11) pounds per gallon, so the added ballast weighs approximately 1500 pounds. I paid $280.00 dollars total for this product, installed.

Tire ballast does not reduce the loading of the front axle of a loader tractor due to the physics of the weight placement, but then neither do iron wheel weights. I have a drum of concrete that can be attached to the three point- that will offset a front axle load.

I was unable to find any used cast iron wheel weights designed for my tractor, and the weights I did find were about $1.00 per pound. Deere will sell the new weight kit (T19293) at $171.60 each for 110 pound weights. I would need fourteen of those to equal the liquid ballast mass, which would cost in excess of $2400. Even the "normal" set of eight weights would be $1376 plus hardware. I am confident in the common sense of my purchase of Rim Guard for my application.

 

[buickanddeere]

A tiny seapage of a pint or two of CaCl does not cause a noticeable drop in tire pressure .
I have no idea why some people brag of being a hero since they have concurred CaCl .

 

[David G]

I would shop somewhere else, that is very high.

 

[RodinNS]

I guess you must never get flat tires? Supposing you get a service truck for every flat... you'd eat up that 2500 pretty quickly whereas a tubeless tire can be changed/repaired in a fraction of the time, generally without any specialized equipment...
I hate having to pump liquid of any type from a tire.
Real world costs here were in the range of 3-400 per tire, per repair, done at the tire shop. They don't even want to quote you a service truck call...

Rod

 

[K Effective]

(quoted from post at 19:38:36 10/01/15) I would shop somewhere else, that is very high.

To which post are you referring?

 

[K Effective]

I see this is your position, Rod. And it is an opinion probably well earned.

[b:8c8f6cda65]I hate having to pump liquid of any type from a tire.[/b:8c8f6cda65]

To answer your question, NO, I have not ever had a rear tractor tire go flat during use or between uses. (One of the old two cylinders has a slow leak in a rear that we inflate once or twice a year, so I don't really count that.)

Admittedly, I am just a part-time farmer, running five tractors less than a total of 1000 hours per year. If that makes my world less real than yours, so be it.

I know that I would not attempt to repair my own tractor rear tire if I did flatten it- it would go to the repair shop whether it was loaded or not. I did not ask about the added cost to repair a loaded tire- mostly because of my previous experience, as stated above. I assume that if they added the ballast, they have the equipment to repair a tire with the ballast, as well. I will call next week and ask. I do not see where tire ballast would require a service truck call to repair a tire any more than iron weights would. I am pretty sure the local shop changes most of the rear tires with the rim remaining on the tractor (of that size, at least), so weight removal [u:8c8f6cda65]would[/u:8c8f6cda65] [u:8c8f6cda65]not[/u:8c8f6cda65] have to be performed before tire repair.

Of course, I fully expect at least three flattened rears to occur before the end of the year, now that I have said it out loud (or typed it, anyway).