See attached pics of my tiller. Considering tackling this, concerned about the HUGE gaps where the plastic has separated from the hub. It's separated a solid 1/2" or more from the metal. Were yours this bad when you started? It seems like most of the "before" pics I've seen were not as bad as mine...but maybe I'm wrong and this is no big deal.

I guess I'm wondering if the concept for this one would basically to pack the epoxy deep into this crack, filling it up as much as possible, and then afterwards I'd have to grind basically 100% of the original plastic from the hub clean off of the wheel forever, to get down to the new epoxy, just to get my diameter shrunk back down to where it is supposed to be.

A Grant looks better all the time LOL. But man I REALLY like the look and feel of the original...and I REALLY do not want to fork out $900+ to some resto company to remold this...my time is free.

Any thoughts or tips? Thanks.

POR 15 makes a steering wheel repair kit, and I've heard good things about this type of stuff: http://www.plastexexpress.co.uk/ but have never tried it...

I would imagine you may have to head your wheel around the hub area to try to reshape it. Clamp it some how and let it cool. (perhaps adding some epoxy to "glue" it in place beforehand?)

Then start from there... Keep us posted on how things go!

Brett!

those do look like some pretty big gaps but it is definitely worth a shot repairing it. the stock deluxe wheel IMO looks great compared to the Grant wooden wheels. I had one on the car before I found a decent deluxe wheel. I used the 2 part epoxy on my cracks and opened them up and cross drilled like a video on you tube showed. it's been a couple years now and no cracks have re-appeared.
http://www3.telus.net/68bird/steering_wheel.htm
good luck.

Thanks medhat68...I've seen your site before and it's extremely helpful.

Given that each side of my crack is at a completely different elevation with respect to the other side, do you think my thought of simply injecting the whole hub gap full of epoxy first, and then completely grinding off most of the original hub surface material down to the new epoxy is a good idea? Or do I just leave my plastic hub surface oversized and build up the areas around it, attempting to get it symmetrically oversized?

1stgenbirdman makes an interesting comment about heat. I don't suppose you tried heat...think a heat gun would soften this original plastic enough that I could push it all back down to the diameter of the steel hub? That idea kinda scares me frankly...I fear it might ruin it completely but I don't know.

Not sure if my questions even make sense...hard to describe really...sorry.

I am in the middle of a wheel resto right now. My wheel had pretty large cracks too. Here is what I did for what it is worth. I purchased 2 part epoxy, opened up the gaps enough to allow easy pouring, clean hub and the inside surface of the plastic with brake cleaner. Then I put masking tape over the bottoms of all the big cracks. Next I poured them full of the mixed epoxy and clamped them as close as possible to the original position. They actually closed up a lot. To be sure it would hold I let the wheel sit for almost 3 months (deer season). Then I filled the remaining cracks and gaps with 2 part epoxy putty from POR. After that hardened it was ground as smooth as possible with an angle grinder and 100 grit disks. I shot a nice thick coat of primer filler next. Last night I put the first coat of premium quality filler and will sand tonight and apply a touch up coat to any areas that need it. Pretty tedious work but the reward is worth it. I will post up pictures once its all done.

Thank you! I didn't consider trying to clamp the separated sections smaller after filling with epoxy. I kinda like that idea as long as it holds and doesn't snap back! But if yours hasn't so far, I doubt it will...that approach makes a lot of sense.

I'm looking forward to seeing your finished project when you get 'er done.

If you heat the cracked area with a plumbing torch it will soften the cracked pieces enough to clamp them back in place. You will still have a crack to putty in but not as big. It works very well. Just don't heat it too much and melt things.

I ground open all of my cracks and splits and used kitty hair body filler to fill in the voids. Then used standard body filler then spot putty, high build primer then Krylon gloss black and sastin clear. Took tons of time but worth the effort. Anyone can buy a Grant wheel, but a real 68 Bird has the deluxe wheel restored!

Yea that!