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I have a question...

What is this "cold temperatures" you speak of?

The old stuff ( mag chloride) is fairly caustic on rims. Supposedly the new Rimguard, made out of beet pulp is not,but it is a sticky messy thing. I don't know the temp rating on it. The good thing is that weighs about 11# per gallon instead of 8 or so.I had mine filled with Windshield Wiper fluid.Not as caustic,easier to do and it's good to probably 10 below. Around here, Rimguard is about $350 to fill two rear tires of the small tractor. Windshield Wiper fluid ran me about $225. Nobody close is doing then mag. chloride

Extra rear weight sure helps when lifting heavier loads with a bucket,but real heavy loads ,you still need some kind of implement on the back to act as a counterbalance. I put my balde on and add 100 pounds of lead bricks.

I'm not sure how much extra traction it gives. It doesn't seem like much, I rely on chains in the winter. I suspect heavy bolt on wheel weights would add more.

A lot of hobby farmers around here have the industrial tires on their smaller tractor. I opted for ag tires with more aggressive tread

Fluid in rear tires helps a lot with traction, and balance if using a loader. In a tube type , with tube, most rust will occur at the stem area if you get a leak. Like many things it is a trade off.

fwiw...the tire dealer in town filled a garden tractor for me with something he claimed was like Rimguard, but didn't make a mess. He showed me a beet juice mess and was quite animated about it.

No cold weather issues and no rust, ironbender.

Driveway here, has quite a hill and once iced over my unfilled Massey will not climb it. Neighbors MM has both rears filled and he went right up it--same day. Sliding sideways is a good way to die, filled with chains would be wise...

Dealer I'm looking at buying a tractor from already as the tires filled. Don't know what they used.

Wondering if I should get them unfilled and get a sand bucket instead.

If it has fluid, I'd use it that way. Fixing flats is harder with fluid.

Find out what kind of fluid they use, especially if the dealer is in the lower 48. I had calcium chloride in my JD 3020 tires. After 15 years, the rims were starting to show signs of corrosion around the valve stems. I went with wheel weights on the new Kubota. No one around here services tires with anything other than calcium chloride. How about where your are? That might be the deciding factor. Here, it is $45 bucks more to fix a flat if the tire has CC in it.

You can just let the fluid out of the tire. It is a mess, but the calcium is harmless, you can feed it to cattle, don't do it unless you know what you are doing however.

True, but it will kill vegetation and the rim is still wet with it unless you break the tire down and replace the tube.

I'll find out Monday what is in the tires. I'm sure they can put reglar ones on too.

If it's Rimguard (best juice) I'll leave it I think. It's freeze point is -35*F.

Have to check with local tire shop see if they can handle that.

Fluid in a tire makes a world of difference. I live a half mile off the highway, and have a gravel road for my driveway. I keep it graded with a 7 foot box blade about every 6 weeks. For a short time, I had a Kubota 4210 4-WD, no fluid in the tires. My drive has a couple of inclines, and the tractor would spin out if there was too much gravel in the box, even in 4-WD, and full throttle. I traded for it a 45 HP New Holland, 4-WD, with fluid in the rears. I can grade the road, half throttle, as much gravel in the box as it can hold, and never spin. I've ran farm equipment for over 50 years, and those rear tires on a tractor of any size, must have some added weight if you want any traction at all. Mine has calcium chloride in them, but a local store is selling Rim Guard, and I'll take a look at it if I ever have to replace the fluid in one.

I'd love to be able to ballast my tires for more traction...

I just can't do so in my area. The sandy soil here is truly quicksand when it gets saturated by rain. That ballast or liquid in the tires sinks tractors to the frame here. Same goes for foam filled tractor tires. Just too heavy.

Around here, if you're going to pull any kind of a load with a tractor, or use a loader, you just about have to have fluid in the rears. I've seen rear wheel weights work pretty good, but putting fluid in is so much easier. Years ago, I bought a 686 IH that had one tire with fluid, and the other rear without. It was okay at light work, but if you put any kind of a load behind it, the tire with no fluid would just spin out. As far as the foam filed tires, I've never had any experience with them, although I knew a man here who got tired of flats on his riding mower, and had the tires foam filled. He got rid of it not long afterwards because of how rough it rode. He said an hour of mowing the yard was like riding a bulldozer all day.

It'd be a good idea here.

My concern is a shop that can handle a flat on a filled tire. Dealer told me their fill gets slushy at -30. That's good to go.

They are darn heavy that is for sure. I don't think most tire shops can refill them if a flat occurs. Around here there a couple of shops that come out to fill tires, either at your place or a tractor shop.

Although my Kubota has filled tires, on ice, it doesn't help. I still have to chain up. I have ag tires with the standards tractor cleats. Maybe industrial tires are different.
If you are looking at snow removal, buy a set of tractor chains when you buy the tractor, even if it has 4wd

If I go to load the bucket , and on soft dirt, the rears will spin if I try to push too far after the bucket is loaded.

Tires are filled with beet juice. Freeze pt= -35. No tubes.

Local tire shop can handle/uses CaCl2 in tubes.

The beet juice is the heaviest fluid you can put in. I think about 11pounds per gallon. Since it is in there,I would not replace with CACl2. since the Rimguard is not caustic

My thought too Vince.

Also, local tire shop is set to handle either fluid.

I think I'm GTG.

Mike, When do you pick up your new toy? Pictures are mandatory, you know!

Ed

We decided to pull the trigger on a Kubota B2650 package plus some additional implements.
Really appreciate all the input, advice, and helpful posts, guys!

I'll have pics after I have it later this month.

Gotta find a PB replacement.