Valve stem rust on Rims

I bought a 504 farmall with fluid in the tires!
The rims are rusting around the valve stem. If they rust through can they be repaired without future damage to the tube? Would removing fluid be a good idea as I don't need the weight.

I have repaired rims by grinding out with a grinder enough material so that I had a thick enough area to weld a piece in, the same size as the hole. I then ground down the weld, and you couldn't tell it was welded. As long as you have leaky tubes, the rims will continue to get worse. So, get rid of the fluid.

I have successfully repaired enlarged stem holes with fiberglass. It is quick and easy and hardly noticeable. Biggest hole might have 1.5" diameter.

Remove the fluid then sandblast the rims to prime and paint and like Wardner said repair with fiberflass and you will be good to go.

Definitely drain out calcium fluid. Remove tire/tube, bring it to the right place unless you have a lot of experience with this. For me it was $20 well spent vs hours of battling with it.

Anyhow, what you may find is the inside of the rim is rusted real bad, I mean real bad. Not just rusty, but chunky, flaky rusty. That will need to be ground / wire wheeled so it"s reasonably smooth, doesn"t have to be perfect like new, but you don"t want any rough edges rubbing against your tube. Depending upon condition of metal around hole it could be real difficult to weld, will have to be ground down to get all the chunky rust out. Then if what"s left is paper thin metal on the rim could end up burning holes through it when trying to weld. A professional welder would probably have better luck, but even could be a challenge for them.

The net of all that, is if it"s in really bad shape inside. Do the wire wheel clean up and fiberglass. I recently did one, had some left over woven fiber glass cloth and 1/2 gal of epoxy. Put one layer down with epoxy, let cure, put another layer at a 45 degree angle. Clean with soap, Windex etc and scuff up inbetween coats and painting. If the hole is 1" diam, do a 4~6" section of overlap. Sand down any rough edges, paint and remount. If it"s leaking you"ll probably need a new tube unless you can definitely patch the leak, otherwise you"ll be doing it all over again.

I did likewise, cut out enough bad section to get to thick metal, then welded in new. Grind off the bead and you can't tell it ever happened.