My first JGs, standard ARs in Houston brown from about 5 years ago. Worn on the regular for dog walking, light trails, yard work. I've had a pair of tire wedge soles from JG for over a year waiting for the right time. Back from a 2 week vacation in near desert mexico and my feet told me that time was now.
Removing the soles: I cut and pulled back the old soles from the front an inch or so and started pulling. I'm not a body builder, but nor am I a couch potato. it took all my hand strength to pull them back a few inches before I turned the bench vice for more holding power. Made perhaps my first mistake. I didn't use acetone to loosen glue. Perhaps because of this, or perhaps the poly midsole was just deteriorating already, it was/started to split at the main flex point. It wasn't as bad on the second sole, which I hadn't pulled back as far. From that point on I sliced the rubber back with a razor as I went and pulled with minimal strength. THis was slow going, but not hard, and left a very uneven surface. I erred on the side of cutting into the outsole instead of the midsole.
The saving grace for this project was my cheap benchtop belt sander. I left the 40 grit belt on it and it chewed through everything easily (perhaps too easy) The sanding was the trickiest part. It also sprayed ground up rubber all over the place (no dust control in my garage).
Due to the significant split on the midsole (less so in the second but still there) I added a 24 oz canvas slipsole? reinforcement. I have piles of this material, and I have used Barge cement (my available adhesive) with it previously very successfully.
poly midsole and canvas were glued first, then the tire wedge outsoles were glued to the canvas layer. The outsoles were sized 10.5-12 I think? They fit my size 12 ARs with less than 1/4 inch to spare at most. Lining up the soles was trickier than I expected, I started at the heel as it is the thickest point but was just a bit less than straight on both. No one will ever know.
Sanding off the edges was also tricky. I started by cutting close to the desired edge with construction razer. This cut about halfway through the sole. I then pulled and cut the margin with a razor ]to remove a strip of the sole. Only about half the boot had enough overhanging sole to need this. After this, while sanding with the belt sander, I managed to catch one heel counter with a good scuff, and just barely touched the side further toward the toe on the same boot as well (visible in the pics).
Edge dressing was courtesy of a black sharpy. Good enough for this round, though it doesn't quite match the black outsole.
I removed the shanks from the boots (they pop right out) as I was curious how they would feel without them. Under foot, the tire wedge soles feel much softer than the original worn down outsoles. I think this is more about their thickness than the compound, but I don't recall the reported hardness for either. I definitely notice the increased flexibility throughout my foot, opposed to the former easy bend at the front of the shank, but stiff rear of the sole.
Total time spent was about 4 hours. Cost was ~ $30 for the new outsoles ($25 + tax and shipping). I had the Barge cement, canvas and various tools already. I'd do it again, though next time I'd use acetone on the glue first.
The order of the pictures is mostly from bottom to top, sorry about that.
second sole, some cracking, but not as bad
new soles in place, overhang yet to be removed.
