Farmall Cub

The previous owner put calcium chloride in the rear tires of my 1957 Cub Lo-boy for snow plowing purposes. I want to drain it and restore the rims. Where is the best place to dispose of this? Can I just drain it in the garage floor drain? Is it harmful to the grass? Maybe I should take it to a tire dealer and let them take care of the fluid. Not sure which way to jump.

Calcium chloride in granular form is the chemical that is typically used on gravel and dirt roads to keep the dust down, as ice melter and in some food preparation processes. It replaced used oil on roads, so it must be more environmentally friendly than that. It is a salt and would most likely kill your grass if you poured it there in high concentations. If you are connected to a municipal sewer system, you could probably dispose of it into there. By the time it got to the treatment plant, it would be highly diluted.

Here's a link with a little info on CaCl.

http://www.peterschemical.com/Calcium%20Chloride.htm

We wanted to use calcium cloride for dust control at the Farm Museum, a check with Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection indicated no environmental issues.

I am going to drain the calcium in my 8.3's that were on Granny into a 5 gallon pail. Then I am going to use if on my bush road to control the dust in hot weather. The only fear I have is the calcium getting into my pond and brook. But if I use it more than 100 meters (103 yards approx) from either then whatever does leach will cause no problems to my fish....

I just would not dump it out anywhere near a pond, brook or stream. Aside from that, I have been assured that it is relatively benign.

You're going to be making a lot of trips with that pail. If I remeber correctly each tire will hold 15 to 20 gallons.

That's okay, and not a problem. I gots me lots of those there pails. Kinda helps when you have a loader and a dozer that goes through 10w30 in the hydraulics A LOT! Good thing I don't have to pay for the oil