Cracks in wheels repairable?

Randy/In

Randy/In

Senior Member
I am cleanning up weels for my 1935 sedan and found cracks in 4 out of 5 wheels, 4 lug holes are cracked on one wheel, 3 holes on one other wheel, and 2 holes on a third wheel. the one with the rim crack has no lug hole cracks. Is the cracks in the first two pictures repairable?, and is the cracks in the third picture normal?. Thanks Randy
 

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the cracks in the first two wheels can be tig or mig welded, just V the cracks so the rod will flow out past the cracks and leave some after the weld is dressed up. weld both sides, the other cracks in the other rim are streck cracks and can be welded also, buts going to be hard to get the hole true after welding, that i would leave to a professional welder, as with any crack you should drill a real small hole at the ends of the crack so it will terminate there, if left alone the crack will probably start again
 
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Wheels are still cheap, I would only fix the second one-maybe... If it was a rare one... To fix the cracks around the lugs, you need to be able to leave an accurately located hole- maybe V the back, so as to leave the nutted surface more or less intact... Run without hub cap for a while... Karl
 
Are these original '35 Ford wire wheels on your '35 sedan? The reason I ask is if they were mounted on '39-'48 Ford hydraulic brake drums without the addition of spacer rings to support the hubs the rims wheel crack at the lug nut holes.
 
Yes these are original wheels on mechanical brake drums, although one rear drum had a couple of damaged inner support pads. Randy/In
 
:) Pic 1 looks like it was overtightened and cracked . Pic 2 looks like it is really rusted :eek: and cracked where it was thin and pic 3 looks like a manufacturing flaw . Pretty common to see the pic 3 type flaws in stampings that use heavier gauge material . I would use the pic 1 wheel as a spare as is and I would use the pic 3 wheel as is on the car . The wheel in pic 2 would be discarded as it has lost much of it's structural integrity :eek: to rust . Like stated in a post above 35 wheels aren't hard to find or expensive . Got 17 " wheel issues myself and Good Luck :D
 
Thanks for the replies, I will be looking for some replacement wheels, and use one of the old ones for the spare tire. Randy/In.
 
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