flitecontrol

I stand corrected. I assumed the paintless hail damage repairers toocoolgliders observed used the dry ice method as the local ones do.

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I'm keepin' all the left over parts. I'm gonna use 'em to build another bike!

2001 Rebel 250, 1989 Vulcan 750
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Fridgitator

I've seen those guys work on hail damaged cars a couple times. It's really impressive what they can do with all their special magic wands and the like. A tank would be much easier to deal with if it didn't have the throat thing in the way, but I'm sure removing that would cause problems.

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JunkyardDog

I solved my problem the permanent way, I removed the turn signals. But I doubt many people want to do that. Personally, I would not mess with it unless you plan to repaint the tank. I would take the tank to one of those paintless dent repair guys, and see what they think. There are several around here. A new genuine Rebel tank costs about the same as a decent used Rebel, the Chinese tanks are junk, your chances of finding a really nice tank in a salvage yard are not good, you may find one without dents, but the paint will probably not be that great. My local salvage yard has several Rebel tanks without any sheet metal damage, but the paint is pretty faded on all of them. Unless you get lucky, I don't see any cheap way to deal with your problem. I'm pretty sure the water and air ideas won't work, they both use pressure, and the pressure is exerted on every square inch of the tank in the same amount, whether you use air pressure or frozen water. It is just as likely to cause further damage to the tank than to repair the existing damage. Jerry.

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twocoolgliders

I am looking into retro fitting some turn signals, either like shown on this site with trailer type signals, or the Blue Collar Bobbers Kit ($85) Kind of pricy, but cheaper than ruining a tank in a minor fall.

What really ticks me off is all the ads for used Rebels that say perfect condition.....two small golf ball sized dents in tank.........and the normal asking price! First of all you know the bike has been dropped, second it should lower the value by at least $500 to $1000.......I just would not buy one with a dented tank.

I agree that the pressure method, with air or ice probably will not remove the dents. The dents got in there from a very localized pressure, from the turn signal body. An all-over pressure from ice or air would not make enough pressure on the dent, and would over-pressure the rest of the tank.

When my weldor buddy tests aircraft tanks for leaks, he puts in like 1/4 of one psi. I once saw him doing this test and asked, "What do you put in there, like 40 psi?" He said, "WTF? You would kill us both!"

At the airport we have many utility trailers for transporting aircraft (with wings off). These trailers are typically made of 1'" square steel tubing. Water sometimes gets inside the tubing and freezes. It makes the SQUARE tubing ROUND! Sometimes it will even split the tubing open!

Putting water in the Rebel tank and freezing is almost certain to cause additional damage! Putting in enough air pressure will most likely cause an explosion!

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