advice on old rim

[kwftlaud]

hello
I recently got a 2001 e350 rv that i'm fixing up
it did not come with a spare tire.
I found a rim that fits it.
My concerns:

My rv is a 2001
This rim fits. The tire on it is from 2005
I am getting new tires so I want to use this rim as my spare.
Upon cleaning it up ( covered with dirt and weeds ) the outside of the rim seems pretty rusty. The tire hold air now so the part where it seals to the tire must be ok. The part of the rim I'm concerned about rust is the part where you put weights on it to balance the tire.

I cleaned it up as much as I can but the tire is still installed si I can't wire brush it.

I have a few questions:

Has anyone here know if a dually failed due to age, rust?

Should I leave it alone and have the tire company deal with installing the new tire and getting it to seal?

Should I try to brake the seal on the bead and clean up the tire myself?

These rims are now 25 years old. My rv IS 23 FT LONG AND 13,000 LBS.
Should I be concerned with the age and rust on this rim?

Thanks
Kip

[Jim_HiTek]

I doubt it. The typical large wheel is such thick steel that it would take a lifetime to rust through. HOWEVER...with that applying to the exterior road/inside facing rim portions note that I had a 19.5" wheel that developed pinhole leaks on the inside somehow. Not on the exposed portion but the hidden inner steel rim wall. And it had been painted with white enamel at the factory that still looked good with the tire removed. I'd been experiencing a slow leak from one tire for a year and had it tested at tire shops numerous times until at one park, in the early morning chill I found it low, limped a couple blocks over to a tire shop and they found that I had a pinhole leak in the wheel where it had rusted through. Found several other spots where it was beginning to rust through. This was on the inside area mind you. I patched all with Eternabond tape (they couldn't find a new or junk yard wheel in town in the 19.5" size...inner dual tire) and never had a problem with it in the 8 more years I owned that rig. So...that can happen. But for your situation, it's probably not a problem with the external steel being a bit rusty.

There is something you can do though...go to a hardware store paint section and look for a quart of Jasco Prep & Primer. That has an acid base that turns rust back into metal and reduces further rusting. Paint it on the wheel where you see rust.

The other suggestion is that you just stop at junk yards and buy another wheel in better condition. You just roll it on a flat cement surface and if it doesn't wobble and doesn't have much rust, buy that one. The junk yard might even change your tire onto it for free too.

OR...just drop the idea of having a spare at all. Most RV'ers don't have one. They use roadside service/towing insurance for that. I use the best one, Coachnet. They dispatched a tire truck to my location in the middle of Canada 200 miles from a major town, and 15 miles from a small town. But, I had a spare with me, (I store it in the bedroom). But the tire guy said he could have had one shipped in, $$$. (When I go to Alaska with thousands of miles of remote driving I feel much safer having a spare...in the US, I don't bother. So far, in 21 years of full time RV'ing I've only had one flat on the road, and 2-3 others which were valve leaks I found the day before travel where I could just call a local tire service, using Coachnet to do so (except in Mexico...last valve leak repair cost $25 US I just paid out of pocket).

Sorry for the wall of text...I was bored with nothing else to do.