johnjk
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
B3200 w/loader, Woods RC5 brush hog, 4' box blade, tooth bar, B1700 MMM,
Finally got around to loading my rear tires on my B3200 this past weekend. I ended up going with washer fluid rated to -20 for my location. The logistics of having them filled with beet juice just didn't work out. After watching quite a few videos online, I bought a small pump and 42 gallons of fluid at Rural King (1.50/gal). Also needed is 10' of vinyl hose with a .25" ID and a small submersible pump. A few pointers or lessons learned if you are going to try this yourself.
- My tires took 21 gal each. Allocate at least 5-6 hrs depending on the type of pump you buy to do this. A more expensive higher pressure pump may decrease your overall time to fill.
- stop the pump when you do not see the fluid going down in the bucket (5-10min), release the air and start again.
- Ag tires do not flex as much as turf. The colder it is, the more times you will need to stop, remove the hose, let the pressure out and restart the process. Not much sidewall flex at 37 degrees
- slightly lift the front of the tractor off the ground with the bucket. This will put more pressure on your rear wheels and force more air out when you let the jack down. Having the bucket down on the ground will help stabilize tractor.
- run pump to get fluid up to end of hose before attaching to valve with tractor on ground. Once started, jack up to point where tire is off floor.
- wear disposable gloves. This stuff dries your hands out.
- put a small ball valve up by the valve stem on the hose. This will keep the fluid from siphoning back down to the bucket and pump less air back in to the tire. If you can rig a 3 way, where it shuts off the fluid and lets air out, even better.
- heat the ends of the hose in a cup of hot water to make them flexible to fit over the pump nipple and the valve stem. I only had to do this once. It held its shape with minimal leakage for the entire job.
I purchased a new 5gal bucket to use for this job since mine vanished when I moved. Keep it pretty full. The submersible pump is cooled by the fluid and you don't want to melt it. Once full, I put the valve stems back in before letting the tractor back down off the jack. I then added air to bring it up to 15 PSI per side.
Parts and costs:
42 Gal -20 rated washer fluid - 67.00
EcoPlus 132Gph pump from Amazon - 11.99
10' clear vinyl tubing - 5.45
Home Depot Bucket - 3.25
Total: 87.69
Hope this helps someone out.
- My tires took 21 gal each. Allocate at least 5-6 hrs depending on the type of pump you buy to do this. A more expensive higher pressure pump may decrease your overall time to fill.
- stop the pump when you do not see the fluid going down in the bucket (5-10min), release the air and start again.
- Ag tires do not flex as much as turf. The colder it is, the more times you will need to stop, remove the hose, let the pressure out and restart the process. Not much sidewall flex at 37 degrees
- slightly lift the front of the tractor off the ground with the bucket. This will put more pressure on your rear wheels and force more air out when you let the jack down. Having the bucket down on the ground will help stabilize tractor.
- run pump to get fluid up to end of hose before attaching to valve with tractor on ground. Once started, jack up to point where tire is off floor.
- wear disposable gloves. This stuff dries your hands out.
- put a small ball valve up by the valve stem on the hose. This will keep the fluid from siphoning back down to the bucket and pump less air back in to the tire. If you can rig a 3 way, where it shuts off the fluid and lets air out, even better.
- heat the ends of the hose in a cup of hot water to make them flexible to fit over the pump nipple and the valve stem. I only had to do this once. It held its shape with minimal leakage for the entire job.
I purchased a new 5gal bucket to use for this job since mine vanished when I moved. Keep it pretty full. The submersible pump is cooled by the fluid and you don't want to melt it. Once full, I put the valve stems back in before letting the tractor back down off the jack. I then added air to bring it up to 15 PSI per side.
Parts and costs:
42 Gal -20 rated washer fluid - 67.00
EcoPlus 132Gph pump from Amazon - 11.99
10' clear vinyl tubing - 5.45
Home Depot Bucket - 3.25
Total: 87.69
Hope this helps someone out.
