• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

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    Thanks for your patience and support!

Alloy Tank Repair

dingodog

dingodog

Husqvarna
AA Class
Hi all. I have an '82 WR250 which will be stripped down this summer and 'refurbished' so to speak. Just wondering how dents are removed without cutting the tank open? If an 'opening' is required, what precautions do you suggest.
Thanks, DD
 
A good TIG welder can weld pins to the tank and the pins are pulled out to remove the tank. Sand smooth and buff after. Another option is air pressure but you can blow the seams if you're not careful.
 
Auto body shops have specialists they call to remove dents. They show up with their specialty tools. If the auto body shop I have some inside information about calls in a subcontractor that might indicate similar solution. I have not had much success in cutting a hole in an exhaust to get dents out.
 
With the dents in pipes I read about putting water in the pipe and letting it freeze. I would think that you need to position the pipe so that one area freezes.

The dents in gas tanks someone cut the tank apart on the seams then removed the dents and TIG welded it back together. I need some dents removed in a few gas tanks.
 
Eurofreak said:
A good TIG welder can weld pins to the tank and the pins are pulled out to remove the tank. Sand smooth and buff after. Another option is air pressure but you can blow the seams if you're not careful.
Click to expand...

I wonder if we use air pressure and lightly heat the dented area will it pop out. Very little heat.
 
Air pressure and heat will work. That's the method used for exhaust pipe repair. With an alloy tank propane or MAP gas should be enough without overheating the metal. The metal is thin on a tank so obviously you have to be careful not to melt the aluminum.
 
Nope! Claude correct. You cut an alloy tank apart. Remove dents, weld back up.

Now a steel tank as long as not creased, you fill tunnel with cement, strap outsides, and can heat and use water and ice to shrink dent. Sometimes you have to cut them as well.

Air pressure! Good way to for it to blow, tear open and cut your fingers off!

Pipes are different story cause they are heavier gauged steel.
 
Here is steel tank that was smashed beyond recognition.
I cut side out, straightened it with heat, body hammers, filed it and sanded it.
Then you tig weld it back up, using low heat and wet rag so doesn't warp.
Pressure test it with soapy water, send to chromers and your done.
 

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Claude and darty are correct. Do not use air on gas tanks, you will ruin it. I've seen a couple people had tried it on. Not pretty.
 
Thanks for the responses chaps, what was best for cutting them open, I have an air drill with a cutting wheel. Any advice to the bloke who does the welding? Regards, DD
 
Chayzed Pilot said:
Claude and darty are correct. Do not use air on gas tanks, you will ruin it. I've seen a couple people had tried it on. Not pretty.
Click to expand...

I can attest to that as I kept applying more pressure because the dent was not pushing up and everywhere else became bloated and the top of the tunnel caved in closing the tunnel gap. This was on the minorly dented TT500 aluminum tank.

Thank to listening to a knowing friend, I created a much bigger chore than I started with. Chapter 2 soon. I got some good advice from Dartyppty as he had done the same at an earlier project. So this is an example of how we learn from our mistakes and become driven to find out how to recover and move on to our objectives. And why we try to warn when we see you trod down the same path of advice that we get from those who do not see the consequences.
 
Wise words oh Jimspac -san. Definitly a precise job if you use heat and air pressure. Aluminum is hard to heat properly. I shouldn't have suggested it.
 
What do you reckon about this one, require 'opening up' to repair?
Thanks,
 

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Do not try to freeze it with water, the water will split the tank at the welded seams. I saw somewhere a video of a guy who used blocks of wood with a long C clamp to pop out dents, it worked great. I'll see if I can find it again.
 
I agree "Do not try to freeze it with water" I partly messed a tank up , doing that, cause there no way to control what
parts of it expands. It push the dent out, but push the shape of the whole tank out as well..
 
Yup, I didnt do that on a tank but I did it on a pipe. The water will expand at the weakest point, which is rarely where the dent is.
 
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