Dent Repair for Aluminum Fuel Tanks

Hello All,

Has anyone here ever removed dents from an aluminum tank prior to refinishing? I have 2 1982 fuel tanks with slightly deeper dents than I care to fill. I would like to find some techniques to repair the dents other than slicing tanks apart, wheeling or planishing dents out, then welding tank together and praying for no leaks. I have tried a hot glue dent puller system but does not seem to work over aluminum. What I have that works well for steel tanks is a stud welder puller system that does not work on aluminum to my knowlege.

70 mm ventouse for cars !
or
water in tank + congélator = 2 days !

by tap with levers it's possible !

I have used some creative homemade "dolly's that go inside the tank, RH side only though. I have removed non creased dents with heat from a buffer pad on a pedestal buffer. Keep working across it and it will draw it out. Like I said only non-creased dents.

I had very good luck using an automotive body shop that offered " paintless " dent repair for hail damaged vehicles . Seems they use a contraption with " scissoring fingers " that can massage the dent out . The system was developed by one of the european car manufacturers to get dents out of cars that were damaged on the assembly line .They could be shipped to the dealers for sale with absolutely no sign of the dent . The process will not totally take out a crease but will get out dents that can be reached through the filler hole . There are different shaped attachments to reach different areas and dent shapes . It worked very well on my Mag tank .

my tools for gas tank motorcycle
only ! you have moovie in
dailymotion !

I am going to buy some 5/16 or 3/8 dia rod to make some pulling hooks that can be contoured to fit where I want to push out the dent from the inside

I've never done it, but I always thought the trick was to weld rods on the outside and pull the dents with a slide hammer and then grind off the rods smooth.

jimspac, you might want to try cutting small access holes in the tunnel of the tank, as close to the bottom as possible, then you may be able to get some type tool in there to work out the dent and weld up a smaller area with less chance of a leak. Although I haven't seen the tank, it sounds like you would know as well as anyone here that even if a stick could be welded to the side and it pulled, you will never get the material back into its original shape. Being it is aluminum, you would have the ability to sand it back to the correct contour. I've repaired several dozen aluminum tanks for vintage bikes over the years and have a good following with satisfied customers throughout the USA. drop a line here if you have more questions. Ill do my best to help you out.

I have seen some videos on youtube of several paintless dent repair techs removing dents in the same relative areas I need to with hook with radiused tip on the hook end and a t-bar welded to the opposite end to pull the tip up inside the tank to pull dent up from inside. It may cost as little as $10 to make something up including the cost of the rod. The hook has enough sweep to point the radiused end up toward the handle. I modeled this but not to scale or proportion. Simply to better describe what I am trying to describe.

I am trying to accomplish this with no welding of the tank and not trying to accomplish a paintless repair. My goal is to simply utilize minimal body filler to restore tank contour prior to paint, decals, and clear. If there happens to be a dent within the polished side panels, that is a different story

Don't know about aluminum but the dry ice trick worked some for me on steel tank. I had a quarter size dent from triple clamp, I used the dry ice and got it down to the size of a nickel.

I have tried dry ice everytime we get in something packed in it. Tried it on both tanks but didn't get far with it because the dents are too sharp cornered. I am going to try to get some rod stock and I will try a couple hooks along the lines of what I modeled and may get it close enough for my purposes.

Thank you everyone for your input

The dents you described "Sharp cornered"...may pose a problem. I have had paintless dent repair done before and really liked the results. I recently had a shop smoothe out a small dent at no charge. If I may suggest, get to know a shop, the work they have done, bring your tank by and ask them. I found the pricing very reasonable.

I will look for a few shops in my area. There is a restoration shop setup in the former Montesa/BMW shop that I got my hydraulic press and parts washer from. I am going to try the pull hooks I mentioned as they are based upon what I have seen paintless repair techs used to work the same kind of dents I have to deal with. I can not justify purchased a set of painless repair tools for the 3 aluminum tanks I have. One is for my TT500 that I made the mistake of taking someone else's advice and tried air pressure. It moved everything but the dents (. That one I am going to try vacuum to try to reverse some of the effect of pressure

jimspac....I agree totally...purchasing a set of dentless tools for one job is difficult to reconcile....thats why I recommend asking around... One shop I used...smoothed out a Tubi stainless exhaust - that had been damanged during shipping!.. Now If a SS exhaust can be fixed..your tank should be easier.. Also...A "Restoration Shop"...may not give you the best price...ask around ..thats the "cheap-easy" part

Guys,

I am going to try to un-dent my 430 CR tank this weekend. The right side is 100% straight and the tank is actually very straight and nice apart from this on quite large buckle on the left side (see pic) . Thing is, the dent is very shallow and I actually did not see it when I bought the bike ! Due to the shallowness and it beeing aluminium I am going to try to pull it out with a glued slide hammer. No one near me unfortunately with the right knowhow on how to take it from the inside with a thin lever.

I acutally considered leaving it even tohugh I am doing a quite serious restoration just due to the fact it is botheringly visible even though it is large (approx 2 X 3 inch). This is due to the smoothes of the buckle.

But...I shall try to take it out, and hopefully I will not ruin the tank I have been trying to buy one, but the ones for sale are actually almost all much worse condition and quite expensive. Anyone for a comment ?

P.S The tank is supposed to be brushed on the sides (its a 1981) but someone painted it all white many years ago.

See pic below.
Thanks
Lars

There is some possibility that Your Tank is an 83 wich would of been all White with Decals. The 83 Tank I have is wider and Holds more Fuel than my 82 Tanks. However I don't know if this is true for all 83's or just the one I have, I always figured it was a 500 Tank.

If you can pull it less shallow with a glued puller you may be able to smooth closer to form with dry ice. Mine are just deep and creased enough that dry ice won't work for me... yet

Unfortunately I was unable to get the glue to stick on the aluminum so far. Might not have the correct melting glue for alu-application. Also tried to smooth out the dent by heating and cooling (using cooling spray, but I only have one that will go to minus 50C, so might not be enough). Might try to heat a little more aggressive on the area, but at the end of the day I think mechanical option from behind the dent is the only viable solution, and I am not capable of that I think

Husqfleet, (or anyone that knows)
Sorry for asking, but beeing a swede I did not understand two things in your post (language wise, tried to find some good translations but failed). What does non-creased dents mean ? and what is the heat source you describe with 'heat from a buffer pad on a pedestal buffer' ? And how did you apply heat ?
Sorry for many questions, but I am having a really hard time accepting that I cannot draw my dent out Been working it all day but I think I am doing something wrong.

Thanks!
Lars