Liquid in Tractor Tires

[Dave Fritz]

I have a Kubota BX-2380 and it has liquid in the rear tires. I've had a flat and now have to take it off and darn it's heavy. I had to get help putting it in the back of my pickup to take it to the tire shop. I don't know what's in the tire but will find out. Hopefully they can fix the tire, it looks to be ok but we'll just wait. I'm wondering your thoughts on liquid in tractor tires vs tire wts. The back end of this tractor is pretty light.

[Tom M King]

I have both fluid and weights on my tractor back tires and wheels. Tire stores that sell such tires have the equipment to handle them, and can even come to you if you can't get it to them. They can pump the fluid in and out pretty quickly. My utility tractor has 55 gallons in each rear tire. When I had new tires put on they reused the fluid that was in them. Especially if you have a loader, you want as much weight as you can get on the back end.

[Jim Becker]

Don't have my rear tires filled on my BX22, but I have 600+ lbs of weight on the back because the backhoe never comes off. If I didn't have the BH, I would have considered the choices between filling the tires, using wheel weights or using a 3-pt mounted weight box. Back before I traded a BX2200 (2000 equivalent of your BX2380) for the BX22, I used a homemade weight on the 3PT. But there were less choices for getting weight back there at that point. Filling tires is likely least cost and today there are fluids that are "less corrosive" available for the task. The advantage is that it's out of sight and other than holing the tire as you are unfortunately experiencing, there's little outside influence on them. Wheel weights take up space and there's also a limited amount of weight you can put in the available space. As to weight on the rear, there are some good solutions these days to put easily removable weight on the back...weight packs that hang on and lock to an "appliance". You can get quite a bit of weight back there and because it's behind the axle, it also has a little leverage that adds to the benefit. That's a bigger cost option, however.

[Jack Frederick]

I didn’t weight the tires in my BX23 or my BX2660. I mowed with the 2660 and heavier wheels would tear up the yard more. In the non-mowing season the FEL and BoxBlade would go back on for general use. The back-hoe worked fine without as well. The FEL on them is so small I never had a problem with anything I was trying to lift.

[Jim Becker]

I will say unequivocally, that having the weight in the back does enhance FEL performance as well as for things like moving snow as I suspect that the OP may be faced with in the current season up in WI. For the FEL, I moved about 30 ton of soil and then about 60 ton of modified stone with my little BX22 in the summer of 2022 while prepping for my shop build. No way I could have done that without the weight of the BH on the back. I also modified the hydraulic pressure relief to get back some capacity for that task. (Let's not talk about how I really need to rebuild or replace the tilt cylinder on the FEL now. It's shot! LOL)

[Dan Barber]

Loaded tires are a must for any FEL work in my opinion. Also helps to have ballast, box blade, etc. on the back. Unfortunately in the case of subcompact tractors like the BX the tires are small and the amount of liquid is not great. I would want another source of ballast on the back or wheel weights in addition to the fluid.

[Jim Becker]

Loaded tires are a must for any FEL work in my opinion. Also helps to have ballast, box blade, etc. on the back. Unfortunately in the case of subcompact tractors like the BX the tires are small and the amount of liquid is not great. I would want another source of ballast on the back or wheel weights in addition to the fluid.
I agree that for serious FEL work, any subcompact needs additional weight hanging on the back, both for safe lifting to capacity but also to provide more traction when pushing.

[Adam Herman]

i have my tires filled with bio ballast on my 50 hp utility Branson. the FEL still out powers the tractor weight by a large margin. makes a huge difference.

We have a small lambing operation, participate in making hay, run hand lay irrigation, plow snow, etc.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Fluid filled tractor wheels have lead to a big supply of free material for many a fine BBQ and / or fire ring (made from rusted out rims). When scrap iron prices go up to $200 a ton be sure to lock up your tractor rim BBQ.

[Adam Herman]

Fluid filled tractor wheels have lead to a big supply of free material for many a fine BBQ and / or fire ring (made from rusted out rims). When scrap iron prices go up to $200 a ton be sure to lock up your tractor rim BBQ.

only if you use calcium chloride or some home brew mix. The modern fluids probably make the rims last longer.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Rim Guard looks good. It is sort of expensive. Rim Guard $400
Calcium $140 . It seems like small potatoes. The farmers around here are a paradox. They roll the dice on getting their crops in which takes an investment of several million dollars while living in a mobile home and driving an old truck with half a million miles the odometer.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I had loaded rear tires on the MF35 that belonged to the farm and it needed them when I added the loader, especially in the winter or going up hills. I had a set of calcium loaded 14.9/38 tires on a parts Farmall H I bought, and put them on my personal H that I used and then on the Farmall 300 when I bought that. I had the fluid out of one of them a couple of times. Once I took the tire to the shop to be repaired, but they charged $200 for labor to put in a new tube and refill the CaCl, so I did it myself after that by hand, which was not fun but cheaper. On the other hand it also was not fun rolling a loaded tire that big around and getting it back on the tractor, so in the end I thought it better to be unhappy at a lower price. Then I finally bought new tires for the 300 and left them dry, and it was still fine for the log arch, wagons, and cutting and baling hay, and with chains it did fine in the winter with the snow blower.

I think that wheel weights are better than fluid, but more expensive that calcium. They may not be more expensive than RimGard, but I don't know for modern tractors. The ones I owned ranged from 1941 to 1955, and the farm's tractor was a 1963, so there were old wheel weights that fitted them floating around to be bought relatively easily.

[John Ziebron]

When I bought my current tractor 22 years ago the dealer automatically loaded the rear tires if you got a FEL. And they used Rim Guard, otherwise known as beet juice, which is environmentally safe and won't kill anything on the ground if you get a leak. There are times when working in close quarters that you don't want something hanging off your 3 point, especially a backhoe. Years ago I replaced my lift and curl cylinders with larger ones to increase lift capacity and I can still have a bucket full of dirt or rocks without additional rear weight. Of course, this works well with larger tires having more capacity. This doesn't work well with the subcompacts like the BX or other brands. Another option for them is to make a concrete block to attach to your 3 point. That gives you a lot of weight in a compact size and is faster than using a bunch of expensive suitcase weights. I made one for when I use my forks on heavy lifts.

[George Yetka]

What is the fluid? Glycol?

[Dave Fritz]

I also have a carrier on the back which we use to bring in firewood. The lift capacity of the BX is limited. At first I thought I'd get a bigger tractor but after getting the left rear tire off the ground I decided it would be best to have my neighbor do the heavy lifting with him Bobcat. It does all I need done safely.

[Thomas L Carpenter]

What is the fluid? Glycol?

Can't be sure today but about 30 years ago it was brine water so it wouldn't freeze in the winter.

[Dan Barber]

Only crazy people today use calcium chloride or a brine of any type. Rim Guard (beet juice), windshield washer fluid, or a glycol of some type is typically what is used today. The CC causes rims to rust, so almost no one uses it anymore.

[Jim Becker]

I also have a carrier on the back which we use to bring in firewood. The lift capacity of the BX is limited. At first I thought I'd get a bigger tractor but after getting the left rear tire off the ground I decided it would be best to have my neighbor do the heavy lifting with him Bobcat. It does all I need done safely.
The small mod I did to increase the FEL lift capacity just a little was worth the time and easy. Look up "Biff's Equipment" on the 'Tube and find the video on how to do it. One should obviously not greatly exceed the capacities on any machine, but this little mod lets you get the most out of the FEL while still not destroying your machine. :)

[Ken Combs]

Often overlooked in this discussion is the effect of weights on the center of gravity. Loaded tires lowers it, how much depends on how much fluid is in there, that is how high up in the tire is the fluid.

I've always used smaller tractors, large garden or small utility and used all the weight available. Loaded tires, wheel weights and 3pt implement or weight.

With a loader, even a small one, lowering the CG is important to rollover protection. Keeping the bucket low is best, but sometimes one gets careless and needs all the help available.

[Jim Becker]

Very true, Ken...the more weight in the FEL, the lower one should keep it when moving the load around.

[Tom M King]

When I put new tires on the back of the John Deere, they hooked some kind of air powered thing to the stem and pumped the fluid out pretty quickly. Each tire had 55 gallons in it (28" wheel). I had carried the tractor there on a trailer. They took the tires off without taking the wheel weights or even wheels off, put the new ones on, and pumped the fluid back in them. 1979 tractor and I'm sure that wasn't the first new set of tires on it maybe 20 years ago. The wheels looked just like new inside.

I do need to put some air in them every several years. You have to stop the valve stem at the top so it's not inside the fluid. This bare tractor weighs a few pounds less than 6,000. 200 pounds of weights on each rear wheel and between 4 and 500 pounds in each rear tire according to the tire guy. Not sure what the loader weighs. Loader capacity is listed as 2500, but not much more than a ton is what it will pick up-like a cube of bricks. The rear tires have never lifted off the ground when using the loader but if I'm moving wet dirt I have something hanging on the back of it.

[Edward Weber]

A few things to consider that I didn't see mentioned, if they were I apologize.

You need to know the axle specs on you're machine. I have seen many of the sub-compact (BX sized) tractors have FEL weight ratings that are considerable higher than the front axle specs. This should also be looked at for the rear. Adding heavy equipment as well as weighted tires or rims might not be good for the machine life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsZx3bVQgZ0

[John Ziebron]

Often overlooked in this discussion is the effect of weights on the center of gravity. Loaded tires lowers it, how much depends on how much fluid is in there, that is how high up in the tire is the fluid.

There are standard charts, that can be found online, that dealers use to determine how much fluid to put into a given size tire. There has to be enough air left so when driving over a rock or other obstacle that would depress the tire the uncompressable fluid will not cause a blowout.

Most compact/subcompact tractors front axles are not designed to be loaded much more than factory loader lift specs. And although many people, myself included, make modifications to increase the amount of weight that can be lifted I can tell you from personal experience and reading threads on tractor forums that you will sooner or later be replacing front axle seals.

[Jim Becker]

Most compact/subcompact tractors front axles are not designed to be loaded much more than factory loader lift specs. And although many people, myself included, make modifications to increase the amount of weight that can be lifted I can tell you from personal experience and reading threads on tractor forums that you will sooner or later be replacing front axle seals.
I will add that even when staying at or below the front axle loading specs, the ball joints do take a beating over time if you do a lot of hard work. Mine were a little loose prior to moving here from our old property, and are really shot after moving the many tons of soil and stone I mentioned earlier in the thread to prep the base for my shop building. I plan on rebuilding them this year...it's not a hard job, but at this point, it's necessary as the front end is pretty sloppy from the wear.

[Tom M King]

Even full sized tractors that do a lot of loader work are hard on front end moving parts. I had to replace every wear part in the front end of my utility tractor a couple of years ago. This axle yoke (or whatever it's called) weighs several hundred pounds. I had to slide it, lever it, and get help to just move it to cobble up this conglomeration of holding and pushing things in the press. This to replace the pivot bushing. This is my loader tractor-a Category 2 70hp. To replace all the other moving and mating parts, once that was back up under the front end and sitting on cribbing, the other pieces are added one at a time.