J B Weld wheel repair

[Kent B]

Here is my situation and what I decided to do to fix it.

I recently purchased a 1984 Ford 1710 2wd tractor. It was is good running order relatively speaking.
The wheels were rusted as you will be able to see from the pictures. Even though the tires were holding air they were (looked to be) the originals. Dry rotted and cracking badly.

I had the tires dismounted and noticed that the front rims had rusted out around the valve holes. I hunted far and wide for new replacements but it seemed that the closest match was not exactly perfect. The center hole in my rims are only 3 inches. Most of the ones I saw for sale were 6 inch center hole.

After reading a thread on TBN I discovered an excellent idea. Just drill a new hole on the other side of the rim where it was not rusted and patch the old hole.

That is what I decided to do. I was going to weld the mending plates on with my cheap'o' mig welder but with my poor welding skill I would end up with splatter and slag that would require grinding and sanding afterward.

I decided to use J B Weld instead. I have used it before on lots of small jobs and it worked very well.

I picked up a small section of steel flat bar from ACE hardware and cut off some mending plates. I cut two pieces for each rim. I hammered and bent them to match the contour of the rims.
I mixed the JB weld and coated the area on the rims and the entire surface of the mending plates.
Since I planned to put tubes back in the tires I wanted to make sure that there were no sharp corners exposed. The corners of the plates got smoothed out with the grinder before mounting.
Once the J B Weld started to harden up slightly I pushed the excess back up around the edges of the mending plates to help keep a smooth edge.

I don't know if anybody else had tried this so I thought I would share my experience. The test will come after I get the new tires and tubes mounted. That will be later on.
So right now I will show you what it looks like before during and after. More pictures for after will come later.

 

[stuckmotor]

Best of luck with it. In my book, good enough, is good enough.

 

[Soundguy]

i think i'd have cut the centers out and welde dthem into some new rims before i jb welded patches in.

 

[Blaneypark]

If it works and no leaks that's great. Last week I JB Welded a part of a head on a 23 hp Kaw engine. It has made it for 10 hours of mowing. Ordered a new head but if this works the new head may sit on the shelf till winter when I have time to change it.

 

[Clint S]

I ran over a screwdriver that damage an Aluminum rim by dimpling it, creating a small hole (almost went through the rim) . New rim was $500 from the dealer and could not find a used one. Took a hammer and pounded down the dimple a bit, JB weld on inside and out. Rim still holds air 3 years later and checked it out at the last tire change on the inside and it still looks good. Worse case you are are out like $15 for the JB and the stock. Best case it holds

 

[Soundguy]

got any zinc alloy solder? could make it a permanent repair..

 

[BobRip]

Since the tire pressure will be holding the patch in, the JB will not have to do much. My only concern would be flexing of the rim. Still I think this is more than worth a try. You did a nice job too. Keep us updated with your results.

 

[Clint S]

SG I don't, but if it starts to leak I would look into it.

 

[Soundguy]

i've had good luck repairing thin aluminum with that type of alloy solder. the biggest problem i've found 'gluing' things to aluminum is oxidation lifting. depending on the intended lifespan of that rim / repair, flxing,a nd how good of a seal, and the makeup of the epoxy.. it may or may not be an issue.

 

[Kent B]

i think i'd have cut the centers out and welde dthem into some new rims before i jb welded patches in.

I'm keeping that option open just in case. If the JB doesn't hold then all I've lost is a tube and wasted time. Since my welding skills are not up to the task I would have to pay someone else on top of the price for new wheels. It is still not out of the question.
Thanks for the tip.
Kent

 

[Kent B]

Since the tire pressure will be holding the patch in, the JB will not have to do much. My only concern would be flexing of the rim. Still I think this is more than worth a try. You did a nice job too. Keep us updated with your results.

That is my thinking also. I'll scuff the JB a little before I put two coats (all over) of POR15 on them tomorrow. After that gets tacky they will get Rustoleum paint. They will be shining like a new dime.

 

[Soundguy]

what sige rins does it use. if 12=19 you can likely find a junkyard car rim to cut up..

 

[CliffordK]

Interesting patch job.

I assume you are running tubes in the tires. So, it doesn't really have to be airtight, it just has to hold the tube in place, not fall apart, and not damage the tube. I still might have brazed it all in place, but the JB might hold.

What I've decided to do on my Toro (not completed yet).

One of the rears was rusted out, and the other was in pretty bad shape.
I needed a pair of wide 12" wheels.

I found a set of Yellow 12" rims (I'll have to repaint to a more pleasing color) with a very large bolt circle.



I'll cut an adapter plate out of 1/2" plate steel (which will also give me some wheel weight, as well as improving the offset, I think). Anyway, my plan is to make rim bolt pattern adapters to match what I need. The Toro bolts should fit just inside of hub circle on the yellow rim. I guess many rims are designed to sit on a hub for additional stability, although I suppose I could carefully machine the adapter to fit against the rim for stability, perhaps in conjnction with

As far as relatively narrow 15" wheels.
The VW bug had 15" wheels with a large bolt pattern circle.

 

[Kent B]

what sige rins does it use. if 12=19 you can likely find a junkyard car rim to cut up..

The rim size is 3.00 x 15 That is pretty narrow but that doesn't mean I have to go back with the same size. I guess it would depend on whether or not tractor tires could be mounted on the host rims.
I can imagine that innovative people have found ways to mount ordinary automotive wheels and tires up front.
I will keep all of that in mind in case my patch job doesn't hold.



I even made a template for measuring potential matches.

I also found a cross reference chart that says that some Dodge Dakota rims could be a possible match.

 

[SilverLakeFab]

I suppose if you're running a tube in the tire, it should hold, but it's too bad that you don't have a local fabrication/welding shop that you trust. I hate to say it, but if you were local, that would be a 30-40 minute job and you'd never tell there was a repair. Ship it to me in NH! Yeah, yeah, not cost effective.

 

[CliffordK]

if you were local, that would be a 30-40 minute job and you'd never tell there was a repair. Ship it to me in NH! Yeah, yeah, not cost effective.

What did you have in mind for a half hour? Repairing the old rim, or making a new one? One could probably ship the rims around the country for less than $100 both ways.

But, at this point, I think I'd wait and see how the patch holds. I doubt Kent will be driving his tractor down the freeway at 70 mph. There shouldn't be a lot of stress on the repair, and the metal plates he put in the rims should take most of the pressure from the tube.

 

[JimRB]

By the way a JD 870 2wd uses a 3x15 rim. It seems to be a popular size. Just the center section is the challenge. My brother had some steel wheels made for his car. If you have the good center then welding a good outer should not be a problem for a qualified welder. Or a shop that has a cnc plasma cutter can make a center. But I am sure the repair you did will work for a while. Just keep new used wheels on your shopping list and some will pop up sometime.

 

[Kent B]

Here they are. One shot of the rims with POR15 and then with a coat of Rustoleum.

 

[Lou66]

Instead of tubes,, have then foam filled,, more than likely you can use the old tires,, save you few a bucks on tubes and tires..be worth checking on I think.. Lou

 

[Kent B]

But, at this point, I think I'd wait and see how the patch holds. I doubt Kent will be driving his tractor down the freeway at 70 mph.

Top speed is 12mph. Needless to say I won't be taking it on the Indy circuit any time soon.
Worse case scenario is that I find some new rims and keep these for spares. Or at least keep one for a spare.