Apparently, the rear tires on my tractor were completely filled with ballast when I bought it. This is how I found out.
I am new to liquid filled tractor tires. I recently bought a 2023 L2501 HST and loader with only 200 hours on it. I was using it for the first time this past weekend to plow food plots when the left rear tire slid back off the rim enough to lose all the liquid ballast. I was driving the tractor in medium gear to the next plot when this happened.
Apparently the pressure in the tire was not adequate to hold the tire to the rim. Getting it back on the rim is a long story but I did manage to air fill it and get the tractor back home. The liquid that came out appeared to be water. It was clear and not salty. I confirmed the tire had only water in it by calling the dealer in South Georgia who sold it new 3 years ago. They never have a hard freeze, So, I decided to refill the tire with water and address any freezing concern later if the weather here in Middle Georgia requires it.
To get started, I jacked up both tires on level concrete. Then I checked the air pressure in the right side rear tire to see if it was also about to spring a leak. With the valve at 12 o'clock, it barely registered any pressure and kept squirting water out when the valve was opened. (I used a good dial type pressure gauge.) Since I have recently learned to only fill them to 75% full, I decided that it must have been slightly over-filled. I started draining what I assumed would be a little extra water by pushing the valve center. All I got was more water.
30 minutes later, I just removed the valve center and let water squirt out for 15 more minutes and then drip out for another 15 minutes.
I did not measure the water removed but it was enough in my opinion to have completely filled the tire. I turned the tire a little to verify it was now only 75% filled and aired it up to 20 psi. per the operator's manual.
Then I filled the left tire to 75% level and 20 psi. using the adapter fitted to my water hose.
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My research on this forum and other AI data indicated that completely filling tires is not a good idea due to no room for compression. The previous owner said the tires came with water in them when he bought the tractor new. I have to assume the dealer added all the water in them.
Is this common? Should I stay at 75% filled? I have never had ballast filled tires. I feel lucky it was only water which was easy to replace.
I am new to liquid filled tractor tires. I recently bought a 2023 L2501 HST and loader with only 200 hours on it. I was using it for the first time this past weekend to plow food plots when the left rear tire slid back off the rim enough to lose all the liquid ballast. I was driving the tractor in medium gear to the next plot when this happened.
Apparently the pressure in the tire was not adequate to hold the tire to the rim. Getting it back on the rim is a long story but I did manage to air fill it and get the tractor back home. The liquid that came out appeared to be water. It was clear and not salty. I confirmed the tire had only water in it by calling the dealer in South Georgia who sold it new 3 years ago. They never have a hard freeze, So, I decided to refill the tire with water and address any freezing concern later if the weather here in Middle Georgia requires it.
To get started, I jacked up both tires on level concrete. Then I checked the air pressure in the right side rear tire to see if it was also about to spring a leak. With the valve at 12 o'clock, it barely registered any pressure and kept squirting water out when the valve was opened. (I used a good dial type pressure gauge.) Since I have recently learned to only fill them to 75% full, I decided that it must have been slightly over-filled. I started draining what I assumed would be a little extra water by pushing the valve center. All I got was more water.
30 minutes later, I just removed the valve center and let water squirt out for 15 more minutes and then drip out for another 15 minutes.
I did not measure the water removed but it was enough in my opinion to have completely filled the tire. I turned the tire a little to verify it was now only 75% filled and aired it up to 20 psi. per the operator's manual.
Then I filled the left tire to 75% level and 20 psi. using the adapter fitted to my water hose.
IMy research on this forum and other AI data indicated that completely filling tires is not a good idea due to no room for compression. The previous owner said the tires came with water in them when he bought the tractor new. I have to assume the dealer added all the water in them.
Is this common? Should I stay at 75% filled? I have never had ballast filled tires. I feel lucky it was only water which was easy to replace.
