What is the salty mixture that is in my rear tires?
 

Hi,

What is the liquid that is in at least the one rear tire on my 129? Over the years I've corroded more than one air jack trying to add air in the rear tires. Today, though, I tried to add air and noticed that the stem was completely corroded. I managed to drill out most of what was in there, and then drained out most of the liquid. It is HIGHLY salty. Is it at all something to be concerned about as to where it drains? I'm pretty sure my garage has a french drain and hoping that this stuff didn't go into the septic tank. Another question - even though the tire says tubeless I'm pretty sure there is a tube in the one that has the liquid, being that while working on trying to drill out the stem the entire thing moved inwards, behaving much like a stem on a tube. Were tubes used in those instances where people wanted to add this salt mixture? What is the purpose anyway - for additional weight? I'm taking the tire to the garage for repair but probably better warm them about the stuff that is in there. The other rear tire (I think anyway) does not seem to have liquid in it. At least I didn't notice any when replacing the valve stem and adding air.

Thanks for any thoughts or advice.

Keith

Calcium chloride mixed with water is what your talking about.

Were you drinking it?

How do you know it's "salty"?

Had the tube removed at the garage - put in new stem and pumped up to 20 lbs. I see that the owner's manual calls for only 8 lbs in the rear? Should I lower it back down to that? It's possible that there might be leaks, so we'll see now that there is no tube in. I'm pretty sure the other tire has the liquid in also - is there a problem with one tire without and one with? And..yeah..I tasted a very small quantity of it from a cup just to find out. It was pretty nasty..spit it out rather quickly. Not my beverage of choice. Next step is to buy 2 new tires if this one is not holding air. I assume the other side also has a tube in it. I wouldn't think the sodium chloride solution would work well without a tube (?)

Oh my God.....

Is that for him tasting it or not knowing what calcium is?

Tasting it......:bash2:

And some of the questions.... Not knowing what the liquid was is understandable.

Wait- it's not a good idea to just drink a glass of any fluid I come across? Why on earth not?

Lot of questions for sure. Water added for weight to gain traction. It SHOULD have been put in a tube. Some lawn mower guys don't because they think it doesn't matter. I've never heard of a farmer that didn't use a tube when adding liquid ballast. Most farmers use anti-freeze now, it doesn't take a whole lot. The old calcium chloride crap was good for rusting rims. Even if you had a tube and punctured it, the moisture could cause a lot of rust. Not uncommon to see old farm tractors with rusted out rims. I just had a big one repaired because of rust. Lawn mower guys often use windshield washer fluid instead of anti-freeze. It may be because its cheap, maybe its safer in case the tire gets punctured and it leaks out in their yard/driveway/garage---I have no idea. If you aren't putting heavy strain on the tires (plowing, grading etc) then you can always just put in tubes and keep running the tires if they have a slow leak. Most of the mowers here have old and weathered tires--and they get tubes if they go flat providing they aren't coming apart. We run about 12lbs in the rears.

Dude, for heavens sake don't go around tasting unknown chemicals--that's all I am going to say about that.

Sorry but I feel a bit insulted. I thought this was the place to freely ask questions rather than be hesitant to ask them for fear of appearing ignorant and then being called out for it. I am not a cub cadet aficionado let alone well versed in all things mechanical - as is readily apparent from the history of my posts and some of my (apparently) "oh my god" questions. Did you ever hear the old adage...'the only stupid question is the one not asked'? I do not mean to offend but my training in preparation to be a public school educator taught me that you never try to put down or make anyone feel stupid for asking any question. I should have never mentioned anything about tasting..THAT was stupid....both to do and report. It's not like I drank or swallowed any of it though.