Stud Puller (Harbor Freight)

scooter

Well-Known Member
I have some pretty nasty gas tank dents to work and picked up Harbor Freight Stud Welder. Before I open the box any reviews from members who may have tried it. I recognize it as a low cost option to use a few times

two of my project tanks

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kirrbby

Well-Known Member
I heard one bad report just within the last couple months...but I can't remember where. PM maybe. Said the studs just pulled off before the dent moved. I've had one saved in my Amazon wish list for a while. Comes with good reviews.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002FZJ806/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_4?smid=AEVS463BVYMRR&psc=1

It's been years back, but I was taking my hardtail tanks to a local autobody shop. Family owned place. The guy would use a stud gun to pull the dents for me, and did a nice job. He also did a little extra straightening on the triple tree dents to straighten the bottom seam of the tank. It was cheap...maybe $20 per tank, or less when he did multiples. I would just drop them off and give him ample time to getaroundtoit.
 

red69

Well-Known Member
That looks like some heavy duty damage and I suspect the HF stud gun will have difficulty keeping the welded studs in place when pulling. The other gun that Kirby references will probably do the job, but cost may be an issue unless you use it frequently.
 

red69

Well-Known Member
By the way, that welded-on piece for the tank emblem looks to be bent from this side of the screen and will take some force to be put back in place. It just adds to the problem. You may end up drilling out the spot welds to remove it before any relief can be accomplished to the tank dents.
 

scooter

Well-Known Member
I heard one bad report just within the last couple months...but I can't remember where. PM maybe. Said the studs just pulled off before the dent moved. I've had one saved in my Amazon wish list for a while. Comes with good reviews.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002FZJ806/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_4?smid=AEVS463BVYMRR&psc=1

It's been years back, but I was taking my hardtail tanks to a local autobody shop. Family owned place. The guy would use a stud gun to pull the dents for me, and did a nice job. He also did a little extra straightening on the triple tree dents to straighten the bottom seam of the tank. It was cheap...maybe $20 per tank, or less when he did multiples. I would just drop them off and give him ample time to getaroundtoit.
Kirby - I saw that bad report here on the site when I did a search which prompted me to ask for some more opinions. I think I’m going to leave the box unopened for a bit and do some more investigating. Thanks for the input.
 

red69

Well-Known Member
Their product's machining, metallurgy and quality are typically low grade. That's what you get with low priced products.
 

69ST

Well-Known Member
I'd take Pat's recommendation seriously.

This dent looks like it'll be a Mofo for anyone lacking direct experience. I don't know anyone who's had a great experience using a HF stud welder. A known stud welder + supplies is a big investment that will probably never be recovered. The biggest unknown with this damage is the amount of metal stretch and that's where experience makes all the difference.
 

scooter

Well-Known Member
I’m going to keep the cheap Harbor Freight unit since I’ve got some tanks with minor dings and start there. Once I hit the wall I’m going to stop and send them out. This is pretty much my MO where I tinker, learn a little and realize it would have been easier to have just sent it out in the first place. Expectations aren’t real high
 

69ST

Well-Known Member
Good approach, imo, few disappointments that way. With clean surfaces, I'd expect the studs to attach well enough to serve their intended function. With some dents, that'll be the best removal method. Dent removal is more art than science and damn near every tank is a unique project, in some aspect.
 

scooter

Well-Known Member
Got around to tinkering today on an ATC70 tank
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- welder seems to work just fine. Learning as I go. Hit the slide hammer a little to hard and ripped through base metal early on (first stud - needed to get calibrated on how hard to hit with the slide hammer). Now working them in a row, trying to make some space to get some tools in through the fill cap .......
 

69ST

Well-Known Member
The natural impulse is to attack the lowest part of a dent. When dollying-out dents, the method is to start at the perimeter, then work your way around more or less spiraling-in toward the center, as the metal gets straighter. The final step is heating the metal, then quenching it rapidly to shrink the area...hopefully...eliminating the stretch created by the crash.

Might try using a few more studs, in alternating offset pattern. If you have an assistant who knows how to handle a torch (propane is fine for this) heating the metal near the edges of the dent (keeping the flame directed away from the deepest part) will soften the metal, might make things easier.

If a tank surface cannot be completely straightened, I leave a shallow depression that can be leaded, leveled, then scratch-filled.
 

red69

Well-Known Member
I may be repetitious considering what Bob stated, but heat application at the outer crease while pulling the studs at the middle will allow the metal to move out easier. I've used a rag soaked in water to apply to the heated metal for shrinking, but in my case I was able to first get behind the area with a dolly to work it with a body hammer into the quarter-sized hot spot, directing blows toward it.
 

scooter

Well-Known Member
I started a “tool” to maybe help get some tooling inside. I found an old shoe stand and set it in concrete in a Home Depot bucket. The foot or whatever the cobbler called it lifts off - Thought I’d rig up a couple of different shaped bars that will slide on the stand like the foot does... who knows - 85% of the shit I try doesn’t work but I enjoy trying
 

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
I found a thread over on PM where a guy was straightening Z50 tanks...and doing a very nice job of it. He was a pro. He had a stack of steel rods, maybe ½ or ⅝", bent into different shapes, that he would clamp into a vice. They mostly had different hooks on the ends to reach different areas of the tank(s). And the ends were flattened...and bent a bit, I think. It was similar to your idea scooter. I tried it once on a tank...it's not as easy as he made it look. I ended up with a lot of pimples on my tank...outward pointing dents...inside dents. It's hard to know where the end of the bar is when it's inside of the tank.

He would mostly just put the tank over the bar/tool, and just kinda pull on the tank to gradually push the dent out. He wasn't using a hammer too much...I think he may have had a rawhide hammer...can't remember...it was years ago when I seen it. Can't remember if there may have been a video.

Might be worth finding that thread again. But I think it could be hard to find.
 
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