I know it may not seem like much to others but that metal work was like magic to me. Anytime you can take something with a booboo in a tough spot like that and make it look that good, I'm all in.
As always, great instructional video. We learn so many handy Repair techniques from you. I grew up on a farm with two of these models. I couldn’t wait to get home from school and go relieve Dad plowing the field. They are such great, dependable tractors. Wish I had one of them back but no telling what happened to them when Dad stopped farming and sprigged Coastal Bermuda!!! Coastal Bermuda!!
Brass band instrument repairman do this kind of dent removal every day. THey use steel balls the are drilled and tapped so they can be screwed into various shapes and lengths of rods. Being the "build anything I can picture in my head" kind of guy you are, I imagine you are the perfect fella to make up a set of rods and steel balls to work these dents from the inside. In your tractor/dozer world there must be hundreds of fellas who would chomp at the bit for someone to do this work the easy way. All done from the inside. In theory, the exterior steel is blemish free when completed. No bodo required.. One caveat, working steel is going to be much more difficult than brass - but take your time and the principals are the same. Most of these dent ball repairs can be rubbed out from the inside. This one on the seam will be more challenging. 👍
It's interesting that the marketing people back in the day ensured that stylists were involved in the look of the tractor. For example, it would have been much cheaper to simply provide a cylindrical fuel tank, that would have been perfectly functional, but it was felt that elegance of design was worth the cost. And we thank them for doing that! (Of course early machines did just have a cylindrical tank). Great, patient, work as ever!
Thanks and welcome aboard! You can also go to the “playlists” tab to easily catch up on any projects that might have been already in-progress when you jumped on 👍
I've said it before and I'll say it again; Squatch, in my book you are an artist and the things you create are things of beauty. Beautiful job and thanks for the episode 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Good repair. Sometimes you have to know when to stop. I've seen a lot of people not know that and make a mess of things (including myself when i was but a little zit and had the patience of one).
Another first class tractor restoration coming along nicely. It is going to be worthy of a place alongside your previous restorations. Thanks for the video.
I’m sure now that it’s your desire for perfectionism that absorbs me so much, I hate leaving a job half done and you are the same. Superb to see you back and also great that you take time to talk about the safety aspect when heating the tank.
Squatch I recommend you watch Sarah-N-Tuned if you don’t already.You both are on the same level of attention to details & going above what even the factory’s considered acceptable.Both of you turn out absolutely astounding projects.
Excellent video it's nice to see you back again in the shop. The ihc original filler cap was replaced with a tall style one to keep the gas from slasping out when it was full it is about 2 inches tall the replacement one keep up the great videos
Tank repair worked well. For the cap type in free IH gas cap, and it’s the first website that comes up. I have gotten them for all my Farmalls if you want one. You just type in the serial number.
I have witnessed people using air pressure on fuel tanks to pop them back in shape, especially on motorcycles. I have not used it myself, I was hoping you were going this direction but you did it the way I would’ve so I’m not disappointed! I bet you are glad to be out and about again!
Thanks! Yes air pressure works but only on the flatter areas of tanks because they move the easiest. Corner dents like this one support themselves so well that air wouldn’t do anything to it, the rest of the tank would distort out of shape before the corner dent even moved.
ì think I remember something about the original fuel tank cap not being vented. I know our old H would go whoosh when you removed the cap. guessing that your cap was a vented type or else ours didn't vent properly. I think ih had a taller replacement that vented or vented differently than the original one. our 560 had the taller cap but no idea if either was the original one. love the h. dad said it was the best tractor he owned. the 300 he bought new before the h was not a good one. he tore the final drive out of it and my dad did not abuse it. not sure what the problem was but he traded the 300 rather quickly. good job on straightening the gas tank, no idea what you were going to do for that. just have to not deform the neck at the same time. does that tank not have a liner?
I tried using compressed air on a motorcycle gas tank once...I admit I didn't know what I was doing, but I ended up turning the tank inside out. It wasn't pretty, 😧 My concern with this repair is whether that seam was soldered, and whether all that heat from the torch would open up the seam causing a leak.
Worst advice I ever got. Ruined the fuel tank of my CB400F at the blink of an eye. The sides just spread out, while the dent aruond the filling cap was untouched.
Squatch your fuel cap is a nice orignal thats a intresting topic IH still has a recall on the orignal cap due to someone I bleave that had been injured due to fuel leakage-presure led to the new tall cap I think there might be a article on it be a intresting subject threw all brand of updates of problems and there fixes!
Hey up mate, going to be looking good for plough day, was surprised you didn't make a fixed dolly like the ones for anvil it would've had to look like a big S also could have come in handy for tank on the new toy
Man it’s nice to see you back working on Preparation H! The tank really makes it look more like a tractor again. Can’t wait for it he next video to se the hood getting back in place to! I know there will be a lag with waiting for spring to paint as well. Thanks again and can’t wait for the next video! Have a great weekend!
I'm 61 I miss doing body work with my Dad.He taught me many things I have passed on.Like lead body work pre bonds days, and how to sweat out dents wit a rosebud and a bucket of ice water and rags, my favorite was pulling hail dents out wit a bathroom plunger that was my speciality along a door window and locks actuators and rods.
Nice job on the tank dent. I like observing different techniques. My tank had a lot of dents to take out. I did them from the outside by welding the shaft of my slide hammer to little adapter pieces of metal and then tacked them to the dents and bumped them out. Thanks for the videos.
With the high level of the rest of the restoration I'd contact a painless dent repair shop to see what they could do to take the rest of the damage out. Very likely they could take the rest of the damage out for a modest price.
I've been contemplating how to build an air-powered planishing hammer that would fit through the filler neck and hammer out dents in the top. Only a limited area is actually accessible, but I have several tanks with dents in this area. It's unfortunate that Squatch's tank didn't have more dents, so that he would be forced to invent such a machine for us. Since I never actually finish any of my projects. :D
great episode Toby if you can repair that tank the one on the second W4 should be an easy repair too I am sure you will find a way to salvage that tank also Glad your health has improved love your videos look forward to the next every time Regards Les from New Zealand
I remember back in the 80's I believe when they offered replacement gas caps for IH tractors. We went from a short cap to a tall, black one but since our equipment was on the farm we didn't care about the looks.
Talking about heat transfer, the Ol time truckers have told many stories about how hot the HALL SCOTT engine got climbing the GRAPEVINE . With butter fly hoods removed ,you could look across the road from north bound to south bound at night, and according to those Ol timers, you could see the pistons going up and down, in the HALL SCOTT engine.
Seeing you do that I remember my experience back in the mid 70s I was working as farm tractor mechanic and welder for citrus company in our area one morning the manger brought his Ford torino and told me and leader to repair thumb size hole in the gas tank he explained how to flush it out before we added any heat but our immediate boss didn't like that he wasn't informed personally so he came up with a very bright idea of taking a lighted torch to the mouth of tank well the hose on torch set was about 50ft long that day it was about 15 or 20 free so I looked over at Tin man who nod his head and steps back the other helper Bay hand the torch to mc neil who lit it the tank was on the welding table normal height I think I heard it make a sighing sound now I'm 6ft 2in and can cover lots of ground very quickly if it's required looking over my shoulder for brief second in my flight MC had the lighted torch going about 90 mph with the gas tank following the flame Tin man was disappearing around the corner Bay had no place to run but away from the excitement but towards the control valve towards the backyard when the hose and flame ran out I guess MC drop the his bright idea ran to his car and went home for the rest of the everyone said to change his briefs they eventually had to buy a new tank for car anyway but my friends that was a day I'll never forget the terrified look on MC face with the lighted torch and with tank in mid air in tow wish video wasn't something so far in future you'd have see it to believe and enjoy it
Good job and great to see you back on deck. I wondered if you could somehow mount the hammer in a fixed position and move the tank around on it to push out the dents? Just a thought?
I usually just plop the exhaust of a running engine into the gas tank. Within 30~40 minutes the co2 will displace whatever flammable vapors might be inside and make it safe to weld, bash or heat. Never had it fail.
Your "tedious" work is always really interesting content. You're sharing a lot of know-how/skill with that dent repair, and that's what I always love about your channel. Is the "shadow" of the hammer inside the tank from it sucking the heat out of the metal?.... or is the metal really just that transparent?
Yes, it’s the hammer absorbing enough heat on the contact spot to take the glow away, but as soon as the hammer moves off that spot the surrounding hot metal makes it glow again 👍
We take dents out of exhaust on motocross bikes by sealing off the pipe and putting a little presure in the pipe with air then we heat rit on the dent and they will slowly pop rite out by manipulating the torch and amount of heat when your done you wont even tell where the dent was
Good to see you are well enough to make forward progress! I am also very glad to see you you are going the extra steps to protect your face and eyes, not that you didn't before, It is just something up in the front of the brain because of your issues you had and you are not vain and try to hide it. Those that never had issues like that do not realize the great pain it is. Are you also going to use some filler there or are you going to that character in it?
Thanks, yes another reason for the added protection is that I need to keep my eyes clean in case I need surgery again, because an eye that’s clean to start with has a lot smaller of a chance of infection than one that has a lot of debris in it 👍
Hey Toby I always enjoy your restoration videos and really appreciate your replies to comments and questions. Im wondering whether to use a sealer on my super A tank. Ive observed mixed reviews. And don't see how it can be possible to confidently prep the inside of my tank with that baffle in it. I cut a junk tank in half along the Seam just to see what the inside looks like. Im thinking now that an efficient option for me would be to cut tank in half , sandblast the insides and weld back together. And have even contemplated Fabricating an "insert" tank as an option in some severely rusted cases. Looking forward to your next video.
I shy away from tank liners/sealers unless I have no other option - I’ve even searched out replacement gas tanks to use instead that are already in good condition so I could avoid going the tank sealer route. Most tank dealers fail because like you said, the internal surface prep is very difficult to do satisfactorily. It typically requires a thorough acid etching to get the metal clean enough, but that process is involved and potentially dangerous. The next best thing would be to cut the tank apart and do the sandblasting thing, then weld back together and do the tank sealer. I’ve personally had the best luck using the Red Kote brand, it’s been the most forgiving and trouble free tank sealer that I’ve found.
Yes there was a safety recall on IH fuel caps. You can still get it replaced for free. My dad restored a cub a few years ago and found a website you could enter your serial number and receive the updated fuel cap
