Getting dent out of fuel tank

[freshmeat]

A couple of weeks ago some a-hole decided to "press to test" on the tuning fork emblem on the left side of my fuel tank - resulting in the following little dent ...

Had the bike in the shop for it's 4000 mi check up and asked them to price taking it out

-- my shop doesn't do the body work themselves, so they'd need to pull the tank and send it to the body shop -

-- total estimate was > $300!

Has anyone else had this happen, and if so, is there a cheaper method of getting the dent out? It seems to me that I should be able to just pop it out, if I remove the emblem first, but I'd appreciate any advice from the forum ...

 

[Toynut]

Just a crazy thought........ Have you thought of perhaps filling the tank with some compressed air(after plugging up the fuel outlets)? Just an idea! The tank metal may have enough "memory" to pop back into shape!

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

There are services that take dents out of vehichles. Dent Pro is one. I know a Fire Dept. that uses them. Much cheaper than a body shop and they can do it with the tank on.

 

[MikeRocchio]

I have these suction cups that grab when you close the handle. I have pulled dents out of car doors with it..... Might be worth a try.

I got the suction cups at Harbor Freight.

https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=92825

Good luck.

 

[Fabone]

You could try the Dent Popper. If that doesn't do it then you need get up inside the tank and work it out.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Just a crazy thought........ Have you thought of perhaps filling the tank with some compressed air(after plugging up the fuel outlets)? Just an idea! The tank metal may have enough "memory" to pop back into shape!

I would NOT recommend filling the tank with any type of compressible gas, be it air, steam, nitrogen, etc.... you get the point.

Compressed gases contain a lot of energy. Should a seam let go, there could be a great risk to anyone standing nearby from the sudden release of the tank. The gas tank is not designed to be a pressure vessel.

If you have any doubts, google boiler explosions or tank explosions and take a look at the power of compressed gas.

Much better choice is letting the dent removal dudes take a look at it.

And yup, I'm an engineer.....

Just my $.02.

YMMV

--G

 

[dobias]

For what it's worth; I remember hearing (in my dim & distant past) about some smartass that filled his tank with water & put it in the freezer to pop out the dents.

dobias <_<

 

[Fred H.]

Go find someone that does paintless dent repair, like hail damage. They have tools (spoons) to reach into tight areas and pop dents from the inside. I had a dent on a Concours tank repaired this way and it worked great, though it was not as big as yours.

 

[Coyote]

Just a crazy thought........  Have you thought of perhaps filling the tank with some compressed air(after plugging up the fuel outlets)?  Just an idea! The tank metal may have enough "memory" to pop back into shape!

Your local firefighters will be entertained if this one goes wrong. Novel screwups are always interesting. If you can get the air / fuel ratio right, a match should work. :bigeyes:

 

[yamahlr]

I would not consider the compressed air remedy. It takes much more knowledge to fill a tank safely to pop out a dent, such as seam strength. max air amount to be used before damage or a tank failure. I might try one of the dent popping devices that are available at an auto parts chaing that hot glues a pad to the metal them using a screw type device to pull the pad back while popping the dent out. If that doesn 't work then I owuld escalate to a paintless dent removal service. I had used them on my Dodge Shelby pickup where a tree branch put a dent in the hood. Didn't want to repaint which could reduce the value of the vehicle. I was totally satisfied by the result.

 

[Toynut]

Excuuuuuse Meeeeee! :bigeyes:

I did say that it was a crazy thought...... I was NOT suggesting +100 PSI filling. More of a good old ORAL huff and puff, or at most a few strokes on an old hand bicycle pump. I would not suggest trying to make a grenade out of your tank with excessive pressure!

It's worked in the past on some old bike tanks, on minor, crease-free dings.

I would hate to have someone try to fix it with a dent puller, though! I don't think the interior of the tank would take to kindly to abuse by metallic tools/holes by the spoons or dent pullers that body shops use, without recoating it internally. :erm:

 

[denny]

Call your favorite car dealer and ask for the used car or reconditioning manager. Explain your problem and they can get you the number of local Paintless Dent Repair person. Will charge you $75, maybe $100 bucks. Stand way back just in case... you do have insurance, don't you?

 

[Tom of VA]

I use a paintless dent repair company all the time for my business. A good one can work wonders. Don't mess with it. I'd let one of those guys check it out first.

 

[GunMD]

Curious...just how much pressure did this individual have to apply in order to dent the tank like that? A little shocked at this. Seems like it would take quite a bit of force to cause this...I guess not though, huh?

Details of the event?????

 

[Bullit]

This sounds to me like some asshole owes you an apology, and definitely a few buck to fix it right. I am a bodyman by trade at a GM dealership, I would NOT reccomend you try to remove it yourself. A paintless dent removal person would be best, just make sure that he uses a rubber cap on the end of his rod (easy on this one gentlemen), the rubber cap will protect from scratching the corrosion resistant coating. You may have to replace the emblem so that he can work the metal properly, the dent will not come out completely with a suction cup, trust me on this one. When seeking a paintless dent removal person, ask people you know who have used him before, they are not all as good as they should be.