Ripped idle wheel lug

[mike1268]

Late last year I ripped one of the idle wheel lugs out of the plastic hull. Rather than replacing the hull for metal, thought i would have a go at fixing it first and it seems like a good repair.



I've taken some plate steel, shaped it to the inside of the tank. Drilled the screw hole out to 3mm and drilled through the metal.

I then took the metal to one side, put an m3 bolt through, screwed a m3 threaded tube/threaded rivet to the bolt on the opposite side of the metal. With the mig welder on a low setting, I tack welded the tube/rivet in place and took the bolt out again. This gave the tube near perfect alignment.

I then scored the side of the metal that faced outwards from the tank and epoxy resined the sheet in place. I put a bolt though the new hole to make sure it was aligned for the first 5 min of the glue setting, then took the bolt out. Got a fresh bolt and screwed it back in and out a few times to clear the threaded of any excess epoxy. If you have a tap and die set, you can wait until totally dry to do this.

Once dry, you can reassemble idle adjuster and tracks. Its stronger than the original part and I doubt will ever be an issue again.

[jarndice]

Excellent fix and I hope that other repairs will get mentioned on the Forum by those with the wit and ability to do them.
shaun.