Dent on Gas Tank Fix?

[justinboyce]

Thanks in advance to anyone with repair experience that is willing to give me a couple suggestions.

So heres the short story:

Because I have limited space in my garage, I had my bike (I thought securly) proped up against the garage wall when doing some work on it. During the process, I noticed that the gas tank was holding the weight of the bike up against a 2X4 stud, so I leaned the bike up to see what sort of damage this idiotic miskate just caused, and there it was....an inch long V-shaped dent in the tank.

I had a couple ideas for myself, but I dont think its gonna work;

First idea: I was gonna try and just fill in the dent with a filler like bondo then repaint the tank, but then relized that probably isn't going to work because it doesnt have anything to grip to on the suface. (anyone have any thoughts on that?)

Second idea: Drill some holes in the tank then try to pull the dent out, fill the holes, bondo, then repaint. (Did I mention I just got done spending about 4 hours repainting this tank about a month ago..lol)

Third idea: Go buy one of those suction cup dent puller things. (The reason I dont think this will work is because the dent is right on the curvature of the tank)

Or..just pay the $400+ and buy a new tank??

So what do yall think?

[loudnlow7484]

That sucks. Creases are hard to get out. I used duraglass and bondo to fix a massive dent in my tank. Like yours, it was in a bad spot, and I couldn't pull it out. You could try a dent-wizard type setup, but I wouldn't think it would work. I'd start bondoing it, personally.

[scottynoface]

I have the same type of crease on my tank from it falling over against the bar in my garage. When it comes time to fix it, I'm just gonna get a new tank, but you can find Katana tanks for pretty cheap I think...

[96katana96]

cheapest and easy fix is getting a tank bag, covers up the dent and you can put stuff in it, lol

[stretched600]

That sucks. Creases are hard to get out. I used duraglass and bondo to fix a massive dent in my tank. Like yours, it was in a bad spot, and I couldn't pull it out. You could try a dent-wizard type setup, but I wouldn't think it would work. I'd start bondoing it, personally.

[kevin2502000]

I would try to pull it first with a suction cup, if that doesn't work and it's fairly shallow fill it with Easysand body filler, NOT bondo. Whatever you do, don't drill a hole in the tank, only welding it will seal it properly. Someone tried that route on my old Gs1100 and it always bubbled the paint there. Good luck.

[justinboyce]

I would try to pull it first with a suction cup, if that doesn't work and it's fairly shallow fill it with Easysand body filler, NOT bondo. Whatever you do, don't drill a hole in the tank, only welding it will seal it properly. Someone tried that route on my old Gs1100 and it always bubbled the paint there. Good luck.

Yeah I was a little septical on the holes (esecially on a tank) but thought I would throw it out there. I will try the suction cup first, then ill go straight to the Easysand filler if that doesnt work.

thanks everyone for the input

[tmk7c9]

Having fixed several dented gastanks, i've found that bondo works just fine if you're patient.

I've never had any luck pulling out the dents. The steel on MC tanks is way thicker than typical car steel for safety reasons, and I don't know of any "suction" strong enough to get one out. Body shops won't touch it for this reason...they can't suck the dents out either.

Definately don't drill for reasons stated in a previous post. It will never seal right.

My typicall process is to sand/scuff the whole tank with 400 grit paper, and then focus on the trouble area with something coarser, 220 or so will work fine. Fill the area with bondo and sand. Fill the area again with bondo and sand. Repeat, repeat, and repeat. take your time to get the contour right, paint doesn't hide mistakes at all (in fact, the gloss magnifies them significantly). I usually go over the bondo with glazing putty one last time and sand that before calling it good, this fills in any pores and blends the patch with the metal a little better.

Prime-sand, prime-sand, prime and sand again. Then paint however you like.

My wifes Katana has been holding strong for 3 years now with plenty of bondo on the tank. No issues. Not sure if it will last forever, but it doesn't show any trouble signs yet.

[KAT TOY]

what about calling a pro dent repair guy? good luck. i just live with my dent.

[diavolo]

Only other method that comes to mind would be to use a "stinger'. You'd have to drain the tank, flush it out real good, and then to be safe, keep it full of water while using the stinger to attach the pulling pins. Once the crease is out, twist off the pins, grind down the remnants, and then prep, prime and paint.

[justinboyce]

Only other method that comes to mind would be to use a "stinger'. You'd have to drain the tank, flush it out real good, and then to be safe, keep it full of water while using the stinger to attach the pulling pins. Once the crease is out, twist off the pins, grind down the remnants, and then prep, prime and paint.

Not a bad idea at all, I have heard of them but never woudl have though about do that, ill have to look into that one. wonder how much one would cost to buy or rent...

[MickM]

Hi;
here is one from harbor freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3223

Mick M

[Katpilot36]

Not a bad idea at all, I have heard of them but never woudl have though about do that, ill have to look into that one. wonder how much one would cost to buy or rent...

I have used the one from harbor and it does work, however I didn't use it on a tank but on a car

[justinboyce]

FYI, I found a friend that had one. It worked perfect on pulling the dent out......not so good when removing the pin though. I ended up with two holes from in the tank, it looked like the metal on the tank is just to thin. I am giong to have someone try and weld the holes on the tank, hopefully it will turn out okay.

[ep87]

Shouldn't be that hard to fix the holes with a mig welder, if you we're closer I'd be happy to do it for you. Normally with a stud gun A.K.A. stinger I cut off
the stud with a cut off wheel and grind it flat with some 24 or 36 grit rol loc's
on my air angle ginder, rather then twist the studs.
Good luck Richard