Tank dent removal

Any good ideas on taking a dent out of a fuel tank?
My KZ has a dent from the previous owner dropping it offits kickstand while working on it in his garage (duh, use the CENTER stand....)
Anyway, a friend's wife just bought a Honda Rebel, it also has a dent now (she dropped it out on one of these country roads with the gravel debris at the stop sign).
Since I have the dent to take out of mine from a garage shelf impact, they asked me if I knew how to get hers out also... hmmm... not really....


THe two ideas I basically came up with are maybe a Ding King www.dingking.tv/ or
I'm also wondering if it would work to empty the tank, seal the fuel fill and petcock, and try pressurizing the tank? But how much pressure would it tank to pop the dents?!

I tried the pressurizing method when I was a teen. I used a 100# air tank and a tank off a Suzuki TS185. it popped all the dents out, but it caused leaks in the seams of the tank. My dad silver soldered the leaks and they help pretty well. As a bonus I gained some capacity. the tanked bulged a bit. I have head of filling with water and freezing tanks. haven't doen it though.

Depends on the size and location of the dent(s).

Regarding your friend's wife's battered Rebel, it might just be a worthy idea to leave the dent right where it is for the time being - as a visual re-inforcement of the wages of *situational awareness* (or the lack thereof... ).

And that's not to sound pithy.

Got an ex-brother around somewhere that thought it'd be a swell idea to buy his ever-lovin' a Sporty Hugger as a *first* bike.

A gas tank, several sets of controls (hand and foot), a primary cover and who knows what else later, he decided to quit feeding the Millwaukee Monster until she quit dropping it.

Just a suggestion...

Well I have to do this my self..(did it with my knee of all things) heard that you braze a washer in to the dent and use it to pull the dent out. (a poormans stud welder) course if your tank is lined your gona burn the lining off in the area and will have to redo the tank as well as the paint in the area of the washer. I figure to go find a clunker of a tank cheap at the bone yaed and beg it off them and practice this trick first. other wise its drill and pull the dent and fill in the holes.... then redo the paint....:S

stud welder is 89$ at harbor freight

I had a dent without a crease. Just a plain dent. I got a small suction cup in a hardware store. The sort of thing you could use to carry a sheet of glass and just stuck in on the tank and pulled....out she popped.

kf6kmx, thanks for the web site for the ding king. Thats exactly what I was looking for but could'nt remember the name of it.

Check also the archives. I seem to remember a very interesting thread where using dry ice was recommended.

Good luck

I know this guy who has the complete set of paintless tools, he went to the school and all but he is also an alcaholic and has never poped out a dent with his tools, and soon the tools will be mine, just waiting for his DTs to set in( no problem useing them for me I've been in autobody for many many years)

i talked to a diesel mechanic, ok, yeah, diesel mechanic, , but he sweared about dry ice, i think it would be best to heat up the tank alittle,
me, i used bondo, lotsa sanding, i was young, and ignorant, but i got pretty good results

FWIW, I did a little body work on a car, and used one of the paint stripper drill attachments to strip the paint to fill the small dents with bondo, when I stopped the drill....pop....out came the dent...I'm assuming the heat from the friction of the stripper, then the cooling when it stopped, so, yea, if its small enough and not creased I'd try a heat gun, (CAREFULLY it could buble the paint if it gets too hot) then IMMEDIATELY dry ice, or even a sponge thats been soaking in salty ice water...

btchalice wrote:

stud welder is 89$ at harbor freight

Stud welder is best. Be sure you remove all fumes before arcing stud. A safe way after it dries and or rinsed is to fill the tank with carbon monoxide. (auto exhaust) This will remove any left over air/fumes and make it safe to weld. This will however require painting after you are done. Probably some filler work as well. Be careful.

I have never seen a dent removed from a tank and the tank look perfect. The metal on the tank is just too thick. You can pop the dent out some from the inside but it will not be perfect. You will still need to use some bondo or filler of some kind. I have seen the paintless repair guys work on a few cars after big haill storms. Usually looks worse than before repair. Looks very wavy and uneven. At least with the hail damage people know what happened and why it looks like hell.

a length of 5/16th rod (or more)

go to TOOLS dept in a hardware store, get the Chem Dip for tools that makes a rubber coating on wrench handles, dip one end in the stuff, let harden.

figure out a few bends (both ends of each bar can be bent to fit different curves)and push out the dent from inside.

Dont use the rods bare, its worth it to get the dipping stuff. otherwise you pushing the dents out will put outwaard creased dents in the tank.

Make sure you round off each end also.

you are now a backyard paintless dent remover like me.

A hard 6" nylon punch can also be used with a small mallot with one end sharpened like a pencil and the tip rounded off, you can tap any imperfections back in to a degree.

But without repainting it and filling any left over creases, you will have a better looking tank, not a perfect one. you will never get it perfect, Just better.

Post edited by: ran429, at: 2006/11/13 04:13