Large Dent Removal

Is this size dent possible to remove, without a hole and a puller? I seen a guy on Youtube removing dents by tapping on the hi spots in a curtain pattern. Is this possible for the average Joe?

If it were mine, I'd rinse the tank out, then pressurize it with air and apply heat around the dent where the metal is bent. Thats how I do my 2 stroke pipes.

How much heat are we talking about? A torch or hot air gun?

the biggest problem is that crease on top is a pressure point now ,dont put too much air in there or you could build a bomb when heating it :blink:

After the dry ice method fails [suffer through the intro commercial] :pinch:

www.videojug.com/film/dent-removal-technique

then take the tank to a paintless dent removal professional for an opinion and estimate.

A few more similar videos may be found with a google video search for paintless dent removal.

Good Fortune!

heat up dent with heat gun then apply cold water or maybe weld up a steel ball bearing on the end of correctly bent rod going in thru the gas cap and tapping the dent out,its worth a try.

Kinda hard to tell in the pic but if that is a crease like Wireman says that's the deal breaker. You might lessen the actual dent but where the crease is weird things has happened with the metal. I have one on my tank too. Bikes don't usually get through 30 years without some character blemishes. Unless its on a pristine factory painted tank I wouldn't sweat it. Make up some cool story about the meteor strike, alien abduction or going into the ditch at 90 and that was the only damage for the kids. While knowing you forgot to put the kickstand down or that limb you been meaning to cut down or the crazy girlfriend using a putter story gets lost. On mine it's where a deflected bullet from a hunter hit it while my girlfriend and I shook the bushes during a afternoon delight in a park. yeah, yeah that's it! In a park. With my girlfriend ..... Carrie Underwood .... yeah that's the ticket! :huh:

I wonder that it would look like if you got a tank with a crease and went at it with a ballpeen hammer and just dimpled the hell out of it. Then painted it. I guess it would look like a rock. Hmmmm.

Kidkawie wrote: If it were mine, I'd rinse the tank out, then pressurize it with air and apply heat around the dent where the metal is bent. Thats how I do my 2 stroke pipes.

We just did this Saturday on a buddy's VTX. Tried the heat/inverted can of compressed air, but no go. Used a heat gun (low setting), with compressed air through the petcock, and the dent "popped" out. We did not use the gas cap, just covered the filler hole with a gloved hand to prevent excess pressure build-up. BTW, the dent was about the diameter of a tennis ball, with maybe a 3/8" recess and no creased edges. Hope this helps.

TNBOBBER wrote: How much heat are we talking about? A torch or hot air gun?

First of all, the crease will straighten out if you're patient enough and "Become One" with the air pressure and heat. I've straightened out much worse dents/creases on my pipes. You need about 35-40 psi in the tank, so I would latch the gas cap with a strap around the whole tank, then make up a fitting to the petcock bung, or clamp on hose to the 1/4" fuel outlet. Use a gauge and insert 30psi to start, check for leaks, then bring it up to 40. I need 50-55 on my pipes. It's ALOT easier if you can seal it up air tight so you can really concentrate on using the torch.

You'll need some sort of torch. A heat gun is no where near hot enough to get steel to a maleable state. In my first attempts with pipes I tried a propane torch but that still was not hot enough. I use a small oxy/acet set using a small brazing tip with a fairly low flame.

Work the crease area first by moving the torch around. When the crase starts to straighten out it should pull alot of the dent with it. Then focus on the surrounding area of the dent, NOT the center of it! Other wise you'll wind up with a dent that has a raised area inside of it. Go slow and take your time.

Here's one of the pipes I did and my setup. This was my first attempt and it came out pretty good, but I'm real good at it now. I only use an old film case and some hose clamps to plug up the stinger (small end) of the pipe. 40-50psi really isn't alot of pressure for something like this.







I changed this setup since then. I use a higher pressure gauge on this part. For a different design pipe I had to add a shrader valve to the film canister. So I just cut the valve out of an old tube and inserted it into the end of the film canister using the nuts and some rubber washers.

Pressurizing a unrated container is not kosher no matter how you look at it. Failure is not just a newly leaking tank seam or an still dented tank. Keep a lookout for a nice uncreased tank to come up for sale if it means that much to you because your life or your good looks should mean more. The Darwin Award list awaits! (2 cents paid in full)

I tried the dry ice idea last year on my Nomad tank with no luck (very small dent). I think the metal is just too thick. This dent is on my son's 87 ZL600, the size of a softball. Proxy, you got a point on the unrated container. I know a guy that was killed, pressurizing a rated tank. But kidkawie sure did some nice work on his 2 stroke pipe. My son said he has a body shop that will fix it and paint it back original for $200. I think this is a no brainier, pay a professional, no worries. Thanks all for the suggestions.