Dash Repair Methods
 

On my 782D and 1572, the dash is starting to wear pretty badly where the grommet from the hood rubs on the dash when closed. In a couple of spots it has worn through. What are some time proven methods for repairing this wear? I was even contempating using J & B Weld along with a bondo spreader to fill in the gap, then paint it black. I figure if the J & B is rugged enough to tap and drill, maybe it will hold up better than the plastic that was there. ideas?

I JB'd my 1872 a year ago. I had "almost" through holes.

Looks good so far.

I did it on a warm day. The JB flowed real nice, giving a great surface finish.

For the vertical sides, I let the JB set for 30 minutes before applying. Again, I got smooth surface flow.

Hope you have access to a heated garage in MA, I spent a couple years in Wilmington.

If I would have had through holes, I would have used Fiberglas cloth.

Most use fiberglas cloth. Never heard of the JB weld trick but if it works that's all that matters.:beer2:

Here's what I did.

My 882 dash was trash, then I saw Matt G's repair method and figured I would give it a try. It's not complete yet and it needs a few more layers of JB applied, sanded and painted black. I don't know if it will hold up to the vibration but I'm going to see if I can support the hood off of something else under there.

Oak, that dash looks like you could park a smoker engine on it, good job.

When I "rehooded" my Cyclops with a metal hood, there was nothing to hold the hood up.

I fabricated the "L" shaped bracket that bolts under the oil filter and goes up over the battery.

Attachment 17716

The black covering is some material I found that was supposed to be used as a shovel handle cover.

The hood is quiet.

Matt G that is a real nice doc you have there on repairing the dash. I think I'm still going to use J & B as it seems to be as strong as steel. I had a tab that brok off of the recoil cover on an old Poulin chainsaw that was given to me. I put J & B in the edge where the tab broke off, then let is set for a couple of days for max strength. After that I put in more J & B behind the crack for more strength. Never had a problem with it again.

CADPlans, are you happy with the way the J & B is wearing? Is it bonding good to the plastic with no delamination? Do you see the silver of the J & B as the paint wears off? Luckily, I have the dash off and will be "refurbing" it in the cellar where I can get it warmer with the wood stove as needed so normal New England cold shouldn't be a problem.

I carefully put the JB only where the hood covered. I did not paint it at all.

The JB is holding and not wearing, I'm happy, I just do not look that way when the hood is up. Why would I? I got a pretty engine to keep my attention!! :biggrin2:

CADplans, I figured that with the JB weld being a harder material, it could hold up better. Not only do I have the "ridge" caused but the hood rubbing, but the actual edge of the dash where where the 90 degree bend is that forms a flange all the way around where the hood hits, is worn down paper thin at the bottom edges. That will be fun to build back up.

Mine was worn all the way around down to the bottom. I put tape next to the "groove" on both sides of the groove. I filled the groove very carefully!!

I figured I would spend the time making the JB look good, rather than sanding after hardening.

The tape was removed about 20-40 minutes after the JB was applied. I did no post hardening sanding/finishing.

So far so good!!

I went to a local outlet store today. They had some of those "As Seen on TV" Caulk PRO kits. These are the ones that have the silicone tools with various radiuses. This could work out pretty good with the JB Weld. I'll try to get to it some nite after work this week or this coming weekend.

JB Weld has a better reputation than it deserves
 

I watched a TV test of JB Weld on a metal table where it was used to construct the table by applying JB to all of the joints and seams. The same table was built using a MIG welder. They were both dropped from a two story window to see what the differences were if any. The JB table exploded into every single piece that was used to construct the table. The MIG table was bent. I have made extensions to plastic parts that have held up under heavy use and I used the dual applicator epoxy product where the two tubes are are connected to one applicator. I used duct tape to create the underside of the area I was adding to and duct tape to create the edges also. Once it hardens I pulled the tape off and sanded it smooth. They are still in use today. It is much stronger than JB and if drilled will hold threads much better. I have found that using JB requires that the patch must be supported on ALL sides to stay intact. This is just my experience and I am sure that JB Weld has many good uses and people have had good experiences with it. I have not.

So are you saying JB would be the wrong stuff to use for this?

Well taking it slow and coming along on the dash repair with the J&B. I used a spreader that comes with the caulk pro kit. I filled the grooves up and had it level with rest of the surface. I let it dry for a few days, then put another skim coat on it. I'll try to post some pictures when I get a chance.

The dash had taken a back burner since I had some car repairs that needed to be done first. I finished filling all the worn grooves on the dash with JB Weld using a Pro-Caulk kit to keep things level. I have it all sanded down really nice and am ready for painting. I need to find out what the best paint to use on the dash is. If the paint is too soft it will wear right through, too hard as in the case of an epoxy type paint, it might chip and flake. What did you guys use?

just a suggestion. but the plastic parts on my Trans Am's I fix , I plastic weld them to fix them .

http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...0W72/006-3.jpg
http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...0W72/007-6.jpg
http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20W72/013.jpg


and for fiberglass

http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/100_5034.jpg
http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/100_5038.jpg

pulled a mold from another shaker
http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/100_5043.jpg
http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/100_5045.jpg
http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/100_5059.jpg

I know it's been a while, but I finally got some time to finish the repair on the 782D dash I have. I ended up using skim coats of JB weld, letting it harden for a good couple of days then hitting it with another coat and repeating the process until the worn spots were filled. I used one of those spreaders you see on TV commercials for silicone seal, and has multiple radius's (radii ?). The various radius's help to blend in at the flange that goes all the way around the dash where it meets the hood. I then used an orbital sander with 220 grit to take down the high spots gradually moving to finer paper. I finished it off with several coats of Dupli-Color semi-gloss black # DA1603 . Where holes were worn through the dash, i simply used scotch tape as a temporary backing to place the JB Weld on until the first coat was dry. I then removed the tape and built it up to match the surrounding area. Let me know what you think and how it looks to you.

Attachment 68114
Attachment 68115
Attachment 68116

That turned out real nice Frank. My 882 dash is still holding up well so I think you'll be good for another 30 years.

I used an epoxy putty like the below links. This way I never had to remove the dash from the tractor. I will get a couple pictures as soon as I can. I never finished sanding the epoxy down or painting because I wasn't sure how it would hold. Over two years have passed and it is still holding.

http://www.jbweld.com/products/steel...xy-putty-stick

Or it might have been
http://www.jbweld.com/collections/ep...ld-epoxy-putty

I just bought a new one. I got it a few month ago, but have yet to get the ambition to pull the wheel to install it. Maybe someday before the snow flies.

thanks, I'm hoping for the same amount of life to it. Now, my 1572 actually has some holes worn through it. I want to get this one done before the snow flies. The dash I had in the pictures is a spare one I have. I don't know if it is easier to patch it in place or swap it out. I'm thinking of all the things that need to be removed to take the dash off. :bigthink:

Here is the repair. In my case the lower end was completely worn through. I was able to work the putty into the crack and flatten it on the back side. While I never completed the repair (final sanding and painting) it has not broken. You can see the slight wear of the putty on the top edge. That is 2+ years of wear. This was a quick repair ( 5 minutes) to keep the dash together. So the putty is definitely an option to do a quick a repair without removing the dash.

Attachment 68144

I now run a piece of Armaflex pipe insulation between the hood and dash when I'm plowing to keep the metal from wearing the plastic.

FrankF3: I know about good intentions and "meaning to get back to that". It appears your repair is excellent. Time will tell, but it should last a good, long time.

Thanks for sharing your pics and technique.

Thank you Stanton. You are right, time will tell. I know that the JB weld is harder than the original plastic, but if I was able to get it to be totally black, then when it starts to wear again, then you wouldn't be faced with the gray underlying material. I wanted to document what I did, so if someone on here wanted to repair one also they would have a means to do do, including the part number of the paint I used.

Not a dash repair but a preventative. Today I took a piece of latex tubing slid it inside the seal at the firewall. I think this will keep most of the weight off of the dash.

So you put the seal inside the seal? do you have a picture so I can see how you did it?

Frank,
I think the tubing was to make the original seal stiffer, so it holds the weight of the hood instead of the dash holding it.

Thanks, I'll have to give this a try.

I use a two part bumper repair epoxy for most of my plastic repairs. It cures to a workable hardness in about 20 minutes and is really durable. I'll try to post some pics later.

PeterJ

http://www.amazon.com/Bondo-806-Fini.../dp/B000CINDQI

I was not able to find the tubes I thought I had. (I think I gave what I had to a friend.)
This link is to what I believe is the same product.

PeterJ