Wheel Rims

My rims were pretty much rotted out for years of immersion in bovine exhaust. Just for giggles, I called Bobcat: 150 clams.
So, a surfin' I did go. Turns out, quite a few older garden tractors used 23x8.50-12 tires. An add on our local internet classifieds netted 4 perfect condition rims for $40. The offsets were all wrong, but the dishes did have the correct bolt pattern.
I was going to re-use the dishes from the original rims, but the lawn tractor dishes cut out nicely with the plasma cutter. A new set of dish flanges were made, welded to the dishes, and skimmed in the lathe to true them to a slight interference fit. A piece of heavy wall tubing was faced to length to set the offset and the rims welded to the dishes.
A little sand blasting and a coat of orange paint, presto, new rims. Just letting the paint set up for a couple of days before the new tires go on.

Do you happen to have any pictures of this? sounds pretty interesting.

Tazza said:

Do you happen to have any pictures of this? sounds pretty interesting.

Click to expand...

Here are a couple of photos:


As you can see they have holes to fit wheel weights, which may be a bonus at some point in time.
Two of the rim dishes are stamped from 12 gauge, while two are stamped from 11 gauge. The original rims are 11 gauge. I am planning to put the 12 gauge ones on the rear and the 11 gauge ones on the front, as the fronts will likely take more abuse.
The 12 gauge ones came from a Bolens, while the 11 gauge ones came from a Jacobsen.
I likely should have welded on valve stem protectors, but for what I am using these for, I doubt it will be a big problem. I'll just install short valve stems.

SkidRoe said:

Here are a couple of photos:


As you can see they have holes to fit wheel weights, which may be a bonus at some point in time.
Two of the rim dishes are stamped from 12 gauge, while two are stamped from 11 gauge. The original rims are 11 gauge. I am planning to put the 12 gauge ones on the rear and the 11 gauge ones on the front, as the fronts will likely take more abuse.
The 12 gauge ones came from a Bolens, while the 11 gauge ones came from a Jacobsen.
I likely should have welded on valve stem protectors, but for what I am using these for, I doubt it will be a big problem. I'll just install short valve stems.

Click to expand...

Very nice job! Its good to see there is always a way, even if there is a little work required it can still be done.

Tazza said:

Very nice job! Its good to see there is always a way, even if there is a little work required it can still be done.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Tazza.
Actually, Pops deserves most of the credit for the elbow grease. I used to have a life, but my job ate it. So this was my Christmas present.