Rim repair

I put new 7.50-18 front tires on the Ford 5000 I bought. New 16.9-38's for the rear are waiting to go on the rear. The front rims on this tractor were loaded, as it was their cultivating tractor. I didn't think those little 7.50-18 tires would weigh so much loaded, but holy smokes! I have a 300 gallon tote I put my chloride in to reuse it, I figured I'd just toss the tire up on top of the tote and pull the valve core instead of pumping it out of them. The top of the tote is about halfway up my chest, not terribly high. However, I've been trying to limit picking up stupid stuff I shouldn't be, due to having wrecked my knees twice, and a shoulder, and fairly constant lower back pain. Breaking my back and working on heavy equipment never did me any favors, and driving truck now probably isn't a doctor's number one solution. I used to be able to stick an arm down each of 2 opposite cylinders of a GM 454 block and lift it out of the hot tank back when I was younger and worked in an engine machine shop, but I wasn't about to just bend over and use my back to pick up this little loaded tire and rim. I sort of half knelt, then flipped it up on my knees, then leaned it against the side of the tote, and sort of flipped it up and over onto the top of it, and drained it out. I looked up what those tires will hold, and apparently those little 7.50-18 tires will hold about 95 pounds of fluid, and I'm guessing the tire and rim weighed 75 anyway, so it wasn't real heavy, just enough you probably shouldn't lift it. The valve cores had been seeping for a while, since the tractor hadn't been used in 15 years, so I figured rim repair was in order once the tires were off. I was right. I forgot to take a before picture of the first rim I fixed, but at least I took a before pic of the second rim I fixed. I suppose I could have welded them, but I enjoy brazing, I find it to be very relaxing, and satisfying when it's all done, so I brazed up the rust holes, drilled new holes for the valve stem, ground it down and smoothed it all up with a flapper wheel, then needle scaled and wire wheeled each rim down to bare metal. Then I painted them, and put the new tires and tubes on the rims. Got the rears off, just getting started on pumping the fluid out of them.

Ross









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brazing seams like its a lost art , hardly anyone does it anymore. looks good.

great job, you can also put a small backing plate on the back side to give you more to weld to

I have done a bit.

Finished

Very VERY nice brass puddle job. All in very careful control of the heat. My
dad could never get the hang of it. No patients. Have seen where a guy had
another screwed up rim and cut a section out of both and welded them in. I made
repair sections for my 54 inch mower deck and those came out beauty!

I enjoy brazing and silver soldering, and like you, find it relaxing.

sms, how'd the shifter tower get all wadded up? It looks good all done. I haven't brazed anywhere near the amount of cast iron as I have steel and tin. I never really have much for cast iron repair that needs brazing, usually just engine blocks, but those are just so easy to stitch or pin, so I do that instead.

Thanks Jeff! I have seen guys fix rims that way too, but never had the donor rim, it always went to the scrapyard with the thought of "why do I need to save this junk rim?". Hindsight is always 20/20.

Grizz, I tried to cheat and find a carbon rod for the valve stem hole, but all of my carbon rods are all way bigger than that, so no help there. Oh well, not hard to drill it once it's ground down and smoothed out. Then I just ran a round file around the new valve stem hole to make sure it had a little chamfer.

I'm with you on the brazing.
It's a nice way to fix metal.
It can't replace a wire feed welder.
But a wire feed can't replace brazing
either.
PS,
Your rims look great.

Thank you rustred
I have been brazing ever since I was old enough to run a torch, and even though I'm a young guy, there's always someone around here that has something they want me to braze for them. A guy a couple years back brought me the oil cups for the lamps up near the doorposts on his 1914 Model T. The whole bottom of these things were rotted off, but I guess these particular ones were quite rare for some reason, so he wanted them fixed. I think I had 10 hours into fixing the darn things.

Thanks Ultradog! The other thing I always tell people that question me why I braze something, is that it won't rust out in that spot again! It may rust all the way around it, but that brass won't rust lol.

Nice job, Ross!

Nice job. My Dad had a JD 45 combine that was rusted out so bad that it had new holes leaking corn every night. I would braze it every day he used it. I teased him that if he kept it much longer he would have the only solid brass combine in the world.

Don't you just hate that!! I saw something at the flea market a few weeks ago and didn't buy it. My rear end hurts because I am still kicking myself.

What size hole do u drill for the new stem?

It was on a doodlebug I aquired, wondered how water was getting in tranny, they had a piece of angle bolted over the hole. Even mice were getting in.

Great job. Take it easy on your back, it won't tell you it's had enough until you get that pain that'll send you right through the roof.

Just brase the hole shut all-together then drill a hole in a solid part of the rim for the valve stem

I drill the valve stem hole out with an 11/16 bit, not sure if that's right or wrong, but it seems to fit about right

Perfect repair !