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QUESTION:i bought a old ('73?) MF tractor with backhoe. Recently, I got a flat tire
and had it replace. When I was getting it replaced the man told me that I
had the wrong size tire, I had a 4 ply and was told I needed a 6 ply. While
I had the tire off I figured I would fix the breaks (they where not
working). So, I took the other tire off. Too my surprise, this tire weighed
like 1,000 lbs. - much different from the other one.
Why does this tire weigh so much.. Can I change this to match the
tire I just replaced. And, does this cause any other problems with my
tractor, one tire weighing much more then the other...
ANSWER: Filling Tractor tires with liquid for added traction is common; helpful when
heavy draft work is involved. Depending on your planned use, this may not
be a requirement, since your backhoe probably adds a good deal of rear-end
weight. (Check the front tires too - they may have liquid fill to balance
the backhoe.) However, if you do any kind of front-end loader work,
rear-end ballast weight is very helpful on a smaller rear-wheel drive
tractor. This could take the form of liquid in the tires, bolt-on wheel
weights, or a ballast box. The latter is what I made for my tractors: it's
just a steel box that attaches to the three-point hitch. I fill it with
gravel to the point where the hitch hydraulics can still lift it
comfortably, and it gives a major difference in traction when pushing or
digging with the loader. The advantage of this method is it's attached only
when needed, and the overall tractor weight is less for other work like
mowing, where I want to minimize tracks on the lawn, etc.
One other note: The liquid in tires is often a mixture of water and calcium
chloride. This is done for protection from freezing and to give higher
specific gravity than with water alone. This (salt) is nasty stuff, and
inevitable seepage will eventually cause the wheel rims to rust through,
just like cars! And as you've noticed, the filled wheels are very heavy to
handle.
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