Side Panel or Headlight Bezel Broken on Your Tractor?
I’ve had a problem with the side panels on my tractor ever since I bought it. And that’s an expensive repair. A viewer of mine had a similar problem with broken parts, and found a great way for us all to save money with certain repairs.
I want to share a technique and a product you can use to fix these damaged spots. It’s a really inexpensive way to fix these breaks before they become unpleasantly expensive. Shout out to my viewer, Craig, for telling me about the product he used: Propoxy 20, a steel reinforced epoxy putty.
In my case, I had a problem with a side panel (the one surrounding the ignition switch). It was flapping because metal inserts on the back that held it on were damaged. All I had to do was place two new inserts where the old ones had been (for one, I fudged and used a bolt with two nuts, since I didn’t have a second insert at hand), and epoxy them in.
Why Not Just Replace the Panels?
That’s simple: the cost.
For one thing, you can only get these side panels at a dealer, and so they can pretty much charge what they want. In this case, a side panel would have run me $365. Turns out I needed two of them, since the other one was also broken. Even if you can find them used at a salvage yard, they’re going to cost at least half of the new price.
So I’d rather take a few minutes and do the repair. Wouldn’t you? Because these panels are important. They protect the ignition and the electric stuff and relays underneath. Things you want to keep dry and clean. Same goes with broken light bezels, and probably other spots on your tractor that you don’t want to pay the big replacement bucks for.
How to Do the Repair
Now, I’ve never used Propoxy 20 before, and I don’t sell it on my site. You can find it on Amazon, though. It comes in a tube, and you cut off little pieces of it. The resin is on the outside, the hardener inside, and you use gloved hands to push it together and rub it around to form the epoxy. Once applied to the break, it takes about 20 minutes to harden. I need to tell you, there’s enough of an odor to it that you probably don’t want to do this inside.
Before you apply the epoxy, make sure you use a strong cleaner/degreaser to clean the parts you’re repairing. That way you’ll have a good strong seal and no unwanted grit.
In the old days it was really tough to get two part epoxies to mix together, but this one is easy. And once this product is all mixed together, it’s good to go. You’ll need to apply it pretty quickly because in 20 minutes it’ll be set.
Once it’s hardened, you can sand it if you want. It’s waterproof (you can even using it for sealing pipes). It’ll end up a battleship gray color. And when I used it, it was set up like concrete after the 20 minute curing time.
So if you’ve got broken part on your tractor that you don’t want to replace because of the cost, I suggest you try this product. I’m going to keep some around for emergencies. Thanks for the tip, Craig!
