Hello fellows!
Does anyone have hints on repairing cracked steering wheels of jeeps?
Of course bakelite made. Help!!!!
All best
Claudio
Bakelite steering wheel repair
Moderators: TomM, Moderator, wesk
They aren't to hard to fix, but reproductions are pretty cheap these days. If you are doing it for originalities sake keep in mind that it will have to painted as the last step, so hardly original then, no?
If you want to do it, here show I do them:
1) cleanliness is key! This applies to the cracks, they have to be cleaned out the very best you can do.
2) fill the cracks with JB weld. don't use bondo or something like that. we need to get some strength back where the cracks are. If not, the first time you pull on the wheel, getting in or out of the jeep, the bondo joints will crack. Fill the crack the best you can.
3) do the initial smoothing of the JB Weld before it sets up.
4) gently sand any high spots off of the filler once its is set.
5) use "Glazing compound" (A body filler) for very small imperfections to fill in any low spots or bubbles in the JB weld.
6) gently sand this with fine paper until everything is nice and smooth.
7) using very fine sand paper (400 grit or so) remove the gloss from the entire steering wheel.
Prime and paint.
Good luck!
If you want to do it, here show I do them:
1) cleanliness is key! This applies to the cracks, they have to be cleaned out the very best you can do.
2) fill the cracks with JB weld. don't use bondo or something like that. we need to get some strength back where the cracks are. If not, the first time you pull on the wheel, getting in or out of the jeep, the bondo joints will crack. Fill the crack the best you can.
3) do the initial smoothing of the JB Weld before it sets up.
4) gently sand any high spots off of the filler once its is set.
5) use "Glazing compound" (A body filler) for very small imperfections to fill in any low spots or bubbles in the JB weld.
6) gently sand this with fine paper until everything is nice and smooth.
7) using very fine sand paper (400 grit or so) remove the gloss from the entire steering wheel.
Prime and paint.Good luck!
'52 Dodge M37, '42 GPW, '48 FrankenJeep CJ2A/M38, '50 CJV-35(U), '51 M38, '42 WC-57 Command Car, '44 WC-51 Weapons , (2) M1941 Sperry 60" Anti-Aircraft Searchlights, John Deere M-gator, '44 White M3A1 Scout Car
The points made above are quite valid. You can just google "restoring plastic steering wheels" and you will get many old car restoration sites with very detailed "How to's".
Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
Mjeeps photo album: http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _album.php
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
Mjeeps photo album: http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _album.php
Steering wheel
Experiment with adding OD paint to your epoxy (I used PC7 epoxy - now 12 years ago). If you match the epoxy color to the wheel you can do a final sanding of the epoxy with fine paper. Then sand the entire wheel with 1500 grit and polish it rather than paint it.
I took time to use masking tape to cover the cracks then used an exacto to cut the masking from the cracks. Keeping the epoxy away from everything but the damaged area will save sanding time. Work the epoxy deep into the damaged areas, avoid simply skim coating them. Pre-cleaning is important as noted before.
I took time to use masking tape to cover the cracks then used an exacto to cut the masking from the cracks. Keeping the epoxy away from everything but the damaged area will save sanding time. Work the epoxy deep into the damaged areas, avoid simply skim coating them. Pre-cleaning is important as noted before.