So after deciding this was a good idea to try, man what a mission trying to grind the welds down enough without cutting into the rim outer. Anyone whos done their own got any tips? Ive ground down with a grinding wheel and cut in as far as I dare with a cutting disc still yet to find the join prehaps need to cut in slightly below the weld and just keep at it. Trying not to damage the outer rim as any excess left behind will be much easier to clean up with a flap disc once the center is out of the way. I realize slowly cutting them down on a lathe would be the simplest way..but my shed isnt that well equiped
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Newly brought currently bog standard Discovery V8i with a drinking problem
Figured they'd be a pretty tight fit especially with however many years worth of crud/rust in between them. Thought about trying to see if multi-tool blade would give a better cutting angle but think that would bugger the blade in 5mins haha. Will grind the welds down a bit more then try put some pressure against them..possibly the same hi-lift trick I use to push the tyre beads off might work
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Newly brought currently bog standard Discovery V8i with a drinking problem
cheap 4" grinders and gloves.... The reason I say cheap is they tend to be the small bodied ones and they fit in flat so you are grinding with the edge of the disk instead of the flat of the disk.... the other reason I say cheap is this job will kill grinders if your sitting the rims on the floor or bench (I have a height adjustable table) you trap the air in them, this gets heated up by all the sparks flying round... this is also why you want gloves
I've found cutting with a cutting disk means you cut to deep lol.... but I do use cutting disks to dig, after grinding to dig out the rounded edge at the base of the grind, this gives me an edge to hammer with a cold chisel... use this to break all the welds then a decent block of wood and smack with a sledge to knock the center out
From experience not all welds on these are equal some were very hot and have alot of penetration (you will have alot of grinding to get past this) and others make me wonder how they have lasted lol break all the welds before you start smacking the center or you'll bend it and this makes running them true very hard... oh and ignore how they look as to how the inside edge is level wise when your spot welding them, setup and go off the dti, the pressed centers arn't always true lol
For those that use lathes personally I see this as a bad option.... on average the original welds are 3-4mm penetration (had this up too twice this!) the edge of the center that supports the rim is about 15-20mm in depth for a lathe to take out the weld you are removing 25% (or more) of this at least with a grinder you only take the weld so the rest of the center is still there to support the rim and you replace a good portion of the ground out bit with the new weld I don't know if this is the reason but I know of guys with lathe done rims and they find they don't stay true.... remember you are increasing the leverage on the center by the rim when you move the rim further out, I don't know for certain but based on this if I was charging to do rims I didn't use my lathe
So I'm fairly much on the right track then grind them down with a grinding wheel then use the cutting wheel to get right in to the edge, will keep at it and see how we go haha
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Newly brought currently bog standard Discovery V8i with a drinking problem
Got a 5in electric and 4in air grinder, even the lil air grinder won't quite sit flat in there. I'll have another go at it this afternoon think I just need to grind down into the centre a bit further to find how deep the welds have penetrated, being made in Brazil I thought maybe I'd get away just going down level with the centre edge haha
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Newly brought currently bog standard Discovery V8i with a drinking problem
On looking at it again today after taking a break.. im already down to about the last 5mm of the center rim on the weld ive been working on most, must be welded bloody well (they are Mangels dont know what the quality of those are meant to be like) maybe I should just weld this one back up and leave them the f*** alone and keep a lookout for some cheap spacers haha
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Newly brought currently bog standard Discovery V8i with a drinking problem
Tarmac wrote:I know I'm being picky.... but you don't fkn "lathe" anything - you can however "turn" something in a lathe....
yep just being picky i reckon... i bet one day you want to be a anginaar as well....then you could well be rite
Prob when I grow up around 60...... till then I guess a pretty good imitation will have to do
Can you "oven me up a cake"
On another note your grinder will prob have to be on a little angle to follow the curve of the rim, are you cutting back into the center not just down? A 2mm cutoff may be the go here as not as flexy as the 1.3? or even a new grinding one with a sharp shoulder - also a good nudge with a heavy hammer and a block of wood on the center may get it started.
