Salvaging old wheels

[Sailman 1,134]

All my tractors are workers so I do what is easy and cheap to keep them going. Rescued a 704 and wanting to get it running. Front rims were BAD shape and original replacements seem hard to come by so.....

I do a lot of boat repairs with West System epoxies and fillers. One wheel had a hole a couple inches long where valve stem used to be and multiple pin holes. I had good luck with pin holes and JB Weld on my GT 14 so I used the West epoxy and fiberglass to patch the rim from the inside, then JB Weld to finish on the outside. I always use tubes in this configuration and have good luck with the results. Probably not what the purists would do but hey...sailor's got to do what a sailor's got to do!

BEFORE;

 

AFTER;

 

 

[ri702bill 7,355]

20 minutes ago, Sailman said:

I always use tubes in this configuration and have good luck with the results. Probably not what the purists would do but hey...sailor's got to do what a sailor's got to do!

As long as the finished rim has very good structural integrity, good save. A perfect candidate for a tube. Much better that boosting one from an old wheelbarrow !! 

[kpinnc 10,813]

1 hour ago, Sailman said:

Probably not what the purists would do but hey...sailor's got to do what a sailor's got to do!

 

I think that is a very good repair. My only "+1" addition would be to ask if the epoxy will stick to something that inhibits rust like red oxide primer or some other dry inhibitor? 

 

Either way, that should be a years-long fix!

Edited December 12, 2023 by kpinnc

[8ntruck 6,389]

The following probably falls into the garden tractor trivia catagory.

 

In general terms, the steel wheels we use on our Horses are not a highly loaded item.  The highest stressed area is probably the beadseat area, due to the inflation pressure in the tire.  Operating loads, even on a heavily weighted machine, such as @ebinmaine runs, still are not very high.  The low operating speeds mean that the dynamic loading is almost non-existent.

 

This means that we can get away with using the type of repair @Sailman has described.  Would I do that on a wheel to be used on a front end loader?  NO.  Would I try to repair a wheel with a huge hole in the beadseat this way?  NO.  Should I expect a repair like this to last forever?  NO.  Am I going to operate the repaired wheel on 'nice' terrain? OK.  Will the repaired wheel be used on a machine that will not have many hours put on it? OK.  Will the repaired wheel be used on a machine that will be operated by a youngster? That depends on the youngster.

 

In my 40 year carreer as an engineer in the steel wheel industry, I've seen countless fatigue failures, some failures caused by overload, and a few impact failures.  I've never seen a fatigue failure on a garden tractor wheel.  Rust through and bending seem to be the common failure modes for garden reactor wheels.  

 

I will say that loose lug nuts will cause fatigue crack to originate in the bolt holes on any wheel, so keep an eye on your lug nut torque.

[Sailman 1,134]

7 hours ago, ri702bill said:

As long as the finished rim has very good structural integrity, good save. A perfect candidate for a tube. Much better that boosting one from an old wheelbarrow !! 

 These old wheels are pretty heavy duty steel. Much stronger than any wheelbarrow wheel I have ever seen. Even with the epoxy repair I will lay a $100 bill it will outlive me.

[Sailman 1,134]

6 hours ago, kpinnc said:

 

I think that is a very good repair. My only "+1" addition would be to ask if the epoxy will stick to something that inhibits rust like red oxide primer or some other dry inhibitor? 

 

Either way, that should be a years-long fix!

 

Can't say for sure about sticking to the primer. I took the rims down to metal as much as possible. I will say this....the west system epoxy repairs I have done on wood are so strong if you try to remove it, it will simply break the wood in a new place, not the bond.