JB Weld...your experiences?

[Bolster]

JB Weld confuses me. Sometimes it works OK, other times fails miserably. Just read a post by another guy here who had JB fail on him. What's the scoop with JB Weld? What's it good at?

Recently I tried to repair the link that's in the latch of the rear windows of a Toyota extended cab pickup. (Those links reliably crack after a couple of years.) Did a careful job. Mixed carefully. Let it dry overnight, clamped. Cracked right along the glue line the next morning like I'd used cheese wiz instead of adhesive.

Maybe it's a good product and I'm just using it wrong?

 

[Toolhorder]

Me too,
I used it on a speed sensor housing and it cracked right away. Used it on a piece of sheet steel to hold something on the side (originally spot welded) and it's still working today. It's kinda hit or miss with the JB

 

[tonydanzah]

I have had great luck with it. I have patched it, and drilled and tapped it. I have even used it to hold a in a rusted out exhaust sensor to get me 2hrs down the road right when it started to fail.

 

[Steve from Socal]

JB Weld is basically Devcon, it works very well on metals. Many plastics have oils that resist bonding. Also you need enough surface area to provide shear strength. I have had great success with it in general, there are always some materials that are not compatible. On the latch you might try some mirror glue, it is a heavier body supper glue. Also this ain't wood, allow a small gap between the parts for the adhesive to fill in.

Steve

 

[Bolster]

I think that explains my problems. The link was some sort of plastic, possibly fiber filled, and it did have that sort of oily look to it that some heavy duty plastics have. So JB weld is particularly good for metals, eh?

 

[spongerich]

I repaired a cracked engine case on my Honda quad with it. The design is such that when the chain comes off it almost always jams between the case and the sprocket, nearly every 250x on the planet has been damaged this way and they're almost all repaired with JB.

 

[nate379]

Timing cover on one of my Cummins trucks is fixed with JB Weld. To replace the cover it's about $300 in parts and the camshaft has to come out.

 

[tressler]

I had great success with it repairing a hole in the water jacket on a Ford 302. The water jacket had rusted from the inside out. I applied 5 thin layers, each one covering a larger area than the previous, allowing each to "cure" under a heat lamp.

Worked perfectly, never leaked a drop of water.

PS, I used the Industro-Weld.

 

[Merkava_4]

I've used it once to seal a radiator; it worked marvelously.

 

[alberto]

I've never been able to get that stuff to work well at all. For me it's a nomn-option because it fails every time i've used it. Maybe it's just me.

 

[Rusty32]

Ive found it dries harder and faster if you use 3/4 steel to 1/4 hardner. Did a whole test on different mixtures in the machine shop one day, I guess i was really bored!

 

[momswgn]

Fixed a crack in the mast of an '82 16ft Hobie Cat, it worked well.

 

[mkdive]

I had a mounting tab on top of one of my bikes radiators (the spot weld failed). I ordered a new radiator but it wouldn't be in for a few days and I had a track day that weekend. So I mixed up some JBweld and put the tab back on. Let it cure overnight with a heat lamp on it to help cure faster?

Bolted the radiator up the next day. And rode both Sat & Sun hard! The JBweld held up just fine with the serious jolting/rattling & heat. When the new rad came in, I changed it out. I was checking out the old radiator and the "patch". Decided to see how strong it was.....thought I would tap it with a hammer until it broke back off. Tapping turned to damn near full out swings. It didn't budge. Damn tab along with the top of the radiator ended up coming off in one piece!

I give it a thumbs up.

 

[Aberdale]

I use JB Weld more as a filler than an adhesive. It seems to work great on cracked housings, radiators, fuel tanks, etc. I restore antique tractors. I prefer to replace or rebuild parts if I can, but often parts for the less common tractors are NLA. I've used it to repair cracked water jackets in blocks (just vee out the crack, fill, and grind flush. After painting, the repair is almost invisible). I've had better success with JB Weld on radiator tank leaks than soldering (just cut a small brass or aluminum patch to match the radiator tank material, clean the surface really well, and bond the patch over the hole). I've used it to fill cracks in steering wheels. I've used it to bond a patch on fuel tanks.

I've also mixed JB Weld with metal shavings to make a thick filler to repair voids in castings. It works pretty well. I had a drill press table on a used drill press that looked like Swiss cheese. I used this filler and then milled the table flat. It's hard to tell the repairs from the base casting.

Where I've found it doesn't work well is any component that sees flex or tensile forces. I wouldn't trust it on moving parts, or parts that are under load. I've also had mixed results on plastic parts. It will work if the repair joint has a lot of overlap so that the bond joint is in shear, rather than tensile or peel loading. Being an epoxy, JB Weld is not very flexible when cured, and will not work well on flexible parts.

Dale

 

[sdowney717]

I use a lot of versa chem plastic welder from Autozone.
works well on everything and can take some heat.
It is specially designed for plastics.
My latest fix - repaired a cracked radiator plastic end near the hose bib.
you can mix it with colorants and make it whatever color you want. For black I use laser toner powder.
JBWeld is not as good as Belzona from what I hear.

http://www.belzona.com/products.aspx

 

[A29]

Broke the intake on the head of my air compressor. Still using it daily after 2 years.

 

[Tom2]

Works great for the right uses.

One thing I will say is that IT DOES NOT HOLD UP TO GAS LONG TERM. While they say it's chemical resistant, bla bla, and a lot of people say they use it for gas tanks and carb parts. I NEVER will again.

Used it on a float for a tractor one time. When I took it apart to rebuild a couple years later, the JB weld had turned soft and fell right off of the float.

 

[crewchief888]

back when i was racing, our sister team's truck lost steering in the middle of a race., when we got it back to the pits, we found the keyon the hyd tseering pump had sheared, and spun the pulley on the shaft.
we were in a small town, no hyd repair shops, but managed to find a TSC outside town. no luck finding a pulley there. so we grabbed some JD weld, and went back to the track.
my self and my driver are both heavy equipment mechanics, our sister teams crewchief was a bodyman/painter, and the driver was a truck driver.
both of them told us "this is not gonna work" we mounted the pump back up, mixed up some JD weld and slipped the wore out pulley back on.
after setting up overnight, be got the belt back on, and sent the truck out for practice and a race that day.
the JB welded pulley was still on the truck 2 seasons later

 

[Teken]

Never had any luck with the stuff . . . Tried it on a Honda radiator which had a 1/4" hair line crack at the top. Sanded the immediate area as per the manual, applied said JB weld, let it cure etc.

Came back 3 days later turned the car over, and pssssssssssssssssssst!

I tried several light layers as some have suggested etc. Still no joy! Tried to use it on a few other random things, again the same results . . .

In my mind this seems to be a hit and miss, and certainly I wouldn't trust it to be a long term fix. Maybe if it was to get you A - to - B in a pinch?

I dunno . . .

 

[ironheadtom]

I have used it with about 80% success. It seems to work a lot better on porous metals (cast aluminum and iron) than it does on other stuff. To me, it's always an option in a pinch.

 

[BanjoSavesTheDay]

I freaking love JB Weld.

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

I"ve used it a few times and it crack everytime. Now i just use the soft epoxy "quiksteel".

 

[Tim Cowan]

I have repaired at least three gas tanks for holes or rust-out. Once repaired leaking differential housing crack on old Army Jeep. Works well with the proper cure time.

 

[d33pt]

JB Weld confuses me. Sometimes it works OK, other times fails miserably. Just read a post by another guy here who had JB fail on him. What's the scoop with JB Weld? What's it good at?

Recently I tried to repair the link that's in the latch of the rear windows of a Toyota extended cab pickup. (Those links reliably crack after a couple of years.) Did a careful job. Mixed carefully. Let it dry overnight, clamped. Cracked right along the glue line the next morning like I'd used cheese wiz instead of adhesive.

Maybe it's a good product and I'm just using it wrong?

you're talking about the dogbone thing right? here you go. replace with this and it'll be the last time.

http://jsimotorsports.com/index.php/products/interior-accessory-s/billet-window-hinges.html

 

[JohnFreeman]

Great stuff! I use it all the time.

 

[Bolster]

you're talking about the dogbone thing right? here you go. replace with this and it'll be the last time.

http://jsimotorsports.com/index.php/products/interior-accessory-s/billet-window-hinges.html

Yes! Exactly!

However, I machined my own on my mill, so the job's done. Mine look just like these aftermarket parts.

Anyway, thanks for the link...I have a friend whose links are cracked also and I don't want to machine any more.

 

[lilredex]

back when i was racing, our sister team's truck lost steering in the middle of a race., when we got it back to the pits, we found the keyon the hyd tseering pump had sheared, and spun the pulley on the shaft.
we were in a small town, no hyd repair shops, but managed to find a TSC outside town. no luck finding a pulley there. so we grabbed some JD weld, and went back to the track.
my self and my driver are both heavy equipment mechanics, our sister teams crewchief was a bodyman/painter, and the driver was a truck driver.
both of them told us "this is not gonna work" we mounted the pump back up, mixed up some JD weld and slipped the wore out pulley back on.
after setting up overnight, be got the belt back on, and sent the truck out for practice and a race that day.
the JB welded pulley was still on the truck 2 seasons later

Did something similar on a Caravan 3.0L harmonic balancer (front pulley) that worked loose and downsized the crankshaft. New (used) pulley was still a bit wobbly, so removed it and filled the space with JB. Lasted for a couple of years........who knows may still be going.

 

[Brad54]

I've used it once to seal a radiator; it worked marvelously.

I had something come through the grille on my '62 Suburban and hit the radiator, cleaning the fins out from between two tubes in the core, and ruptured them both.
I got to the shop I was going to (it was raining fortunately, so the radiator was extra efficient at cooling. But I lost two gallons of coolant in 20 minutes), and spackled the busted tubes with JB weld for a temp fix.

It lasted two weeks without incident before I replaced the radiator.

-Brad

 

[Brandon_K]

I would say I'm probably 80% happy with the uses I've put it through. As one other member posted, it seems to work MUCH better as a filler than an adhesive. It successfully repaired a rather large (nickel sized) hole in the filter canister for my Kubota diesel. The bolt that holds the filter assembly to the block broke and of course it landed on the PTO pulley, promptly rubbing a hole through the canister. It fixed that wonderfully. My glasses are currently being held together with JB. However I wouldn't use it in any applications that push more than a few PSI, it just doesn't seem to hold.

I'll also note that is seems like the larger the batch, the easier it is to get it to "work". I find it to be rather picky on the ratio's. The larger the batch, the more room you have to error in the ratio.

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

I used it recently used it to repair a cracked sidecase on a Honda TRX 200. It had cracked and a small triangular chip had broken off right where the two halves meet. I used JB Weld to fill in the triangular spot and repair the crack. Worked like a charm!

 

[yellowbox]

yeah it works good on some things and not others.
i repaired a gas tank with the stuff , had some small pinholes from rust i layered it on letting it dry between layers , worked good

 

[dellwas]

Got an F-350 7.3L diesel plow truck and the oil pan started leaking. Cost to replace those is around $2000 through a dealer, they have to pull the motor to put on a new pan (there are ways around it). Put JB Weld on it last summer and not a drop so far, and that's with running it hard in the winter...

yeah it works good on some things and not others.
i repaired a gas tank with the stuff , had some small pinholes from rust i layered it on letting it dry between layers , worked good

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

What exactly am i doing wrong then?

 

[metal1313]

i rarely use it, but i have used it recently to repair one of my mom's stupid patio torches when the canister broke away from the base. since its a cup fit, it should hold fine til the things get replaced. other than that i think ive only used it to fill some random small holes in the floor of my truck becuase i was too lazy to weld them.

 

[lawfarm]

We used to have an International 574 loader tractor with an I-4. Developed a crack in the block between cylinders 2-3, not into the water jacket, and about 1/4" deep. Never did figure out how it stopped there. Anyhow, ground out the crack, filled it with JB-Weld, dressed it with a grinder, and then dressed the cylinder walls with a hone in an electric drill. 2 new seals, a new head gasket, and it was done. Worked like a charm for 3 more years, until we sold it (with the issue disclosed).

 

[TireTracks]

I like JB. I used it to fix the radiator on my pickup, It had a small pinhole in the tank, I sodered it and it dident work. so on came the JB Kwik weld. Worked great!

 

[z28snksknr]

I used it to fix an oil pan that was rusted through and oozing oil (a friend's car he got for free). Cleaned and dried the surface, spread it on several layers (larger every time), and it's been working for 4 months so far.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I used JB weld to fix a large crack in my aluminum boat hull.It was below the water line.It held up until i got rid of the boat.

 

[Arne73]

Patched a pinhole on the bottom of my compressor tank about 10 yrs ago, been under pressure ever since.
I drain the tank much more frequently than ever too.

 

[Walterchang]

My old company built telescopic cranes for the motion picture industry. The cranes proably cost in the neighborhood of 500k-1,000,000.00. After several years with issues with flexing, the head enginers decided to use jb weld in the assembly. It worked great.