Tires Off - Wheel Refurbishing

[billrigsby]

Now that all four tires are off, I have some work ahead of me.
One rear and one front are in bad shape rust wise, but all four need attention.

Used the Hunter TCX 640 at work to remove the rears
and a standard tire machine for the fronts.....
http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showpost.php?p=277211&postcount=16

Fronts

Rears

One of the front valve stem holes!

They had a large grommet over the front and a washer on the inside of the tube.

 

[D2Cat]

Bill, an easy fix for the valve stem holes is to find a flat washer with the same dia. hole as on a good wheel. Then using a vice, pliers and hammer, bend the washer to fit over the top curve and then the bottom curve. Kind of ends up as a letter "S". Weld one spot and peen to fit and keep welding. Dress your weld when finished with a grinder.

You can fix all rusted areas with the same procedure. If the rusted area is not too big you can grind/wire brush to area to get to good metal. Then use the wire welder to fill in the complete hole. When you first start welding, if you burn more metal out, just reduce the amperage a notch and try again. Takes some time, but when you're done grind it smooth.

This is what I use to cover rusted areas after clearing with wire brush. https://www.amazon.com/OSPHOG-OSPHO...rd_wg=i95sM&psc=1&refRID=96XH3A7SW2B4GGMAJPP5

 

[billrigsby]

Yep, the washer trick is what I was planning, as far as the rust, first a wire wheel,
then maybe a rust converter or Rust-Reformer and Gloss Black.

I should have taken pics of the tires, lots of "day light" holes on the rears,
but today was tire pickup day at work so we were rushed, will be nice not
to have what I think was 40 year old rubber on the back.

 

[D2Cat]

If I'm working in brush, thicket, or thorns I prefer old tires. The rubber is much harder then new rubber. New rubber in thorns acts like bubble gum, it reaches out and grabs them and invites truoble!

 

[Kingcreek]

I went throught the same with a 1964 JD, probably even worse.
We used a grinder until we had clean metal thick enough to weld patches on the inside, weld fill on the outside and more surface grinding, a lot more.
When we had enough metal where we needed it we did use some JB Weld like body filler to smooth over some low spots on the outside just so it didn't look al patched in. Took a lot of time but worked good and looked pretty good.

 

[billrigsby]

Thanks for the ideas, will get started this weekend.

 

[billrigsby]

This weekend was all about wheel repair, it did seem odd that
one of each the front and rear were terribly rusty on the inside
and the other two were not too bad. Also the not too bad front
had a gaping hole where the valve stem exited the wheel.
The other front had a similar repair as I had to do, so this must
be a common problem with this era wheel?

For the repair I fabricated a washer to fit the contour of the inner
wheel side, welded it into place and ground it down to be smooth.

Finally all four wheels got a serious work out with the body grinder /
wire wheel combo, a cleaning, a coat of Rust-Reformer, Primer and Gloss Black

Next week at work I will install the new tires!

 

[D2Cat]

Bill, will the coating of gloss black give you a few more points at the tractor show?

Nice work. You saved some money with the repairs.

 

[billrigsby]

Bill, will the coating of gloss black give you a few more points at the tractor show?

Only if they have X-Ray vision!

You saved some money with the repairs.

Probably a good bit, it is my understanding the Greys have a different
lug bolt pattern, and need special wheels (salvage yard = $$$).