A Massey-Harris 33.

[dutch]

looks nice. Been painting new front wheels for my tractor today. I pulled the old tires to replace them but turned out the rims were scrap too. All shiny and new now...

Can you post a picture of the dent? I`ve had some good results with custom made J- shaped tools to push out dents in the top of tanks. I would not even consider air...

 

[MercuryMac]

Thank you guys.
Dozer, there will be some 'Mind over Metal', but it won't be magic. It might look like magic, though. Anyhow, wishing on a star didn't work.
Bill, I don't think this will come out with a suction cup, but I haven't tried either.
Bama, you're just trying to cheer me up, saying that some people like 'washed out' yellow.
Dutch, I don't like using air pressure either, but I have done it to a few tanks and got away with it. I thought of using an 'L' hook before but I was always thinking of prying against the filler neck to put pressure on the dent, and that would probably distort the filler neck. As soon as you mentioned 'custom made' 'J' hooks I got thinking about just pulling straight up on the J handle, maybe with a sharp little jerk. I'll try to get you a picture later.
You guys may some magic, later.

 

[dutch]

I usually hang the tank on the j-hook ( weld it to a beam or whatever) and hold the tank with my hands. That allows you to put pressure where you need it by pushing the tank down. hope that makes sense [S
And yes, you need a bit of surface and a tube light or it will look like some tank gnome took a shot of hail from the inside out

 

[kenny c]

I usually hang the tank on the j-hook ( weld it to a beam or whatever) and hold the tank with my hands. That allows you to put pressure where you need it by pushing the tank down. hope that makes sense [S
And yes, you need a bit of surface and a tube light or it will look like some tank gnome took a shot of hail from the inside out

That's a great Idea. I never thought of doing it that way. This is why this is the best site. The wealth of shared knowledge.

 

[MercuryMac]

Today I learned some stuff about tanks. Thanks Dutch for starting up my brain in a slightly different direction. My picture of the dent is not good but I tried a few different angles and nothing was good. At first I thought of my skookum J hook, crowbar. [pic two]
While I was cutting up an old car spring to weld onto the crowbar, I thought of my heavy old slide-hammer. So I made a 'J' hook for it. Now I could place the foot of the hook right where I wanted it and hammer away. I tried it on the ground and just slamming the hammer upwards. Nothing moved. So I chained the slide hammer to the front end loader, put the tank on the bottom, pried down on the tank with a two-by-four, sat on the other end of the tank from the plank and hammered down around the dent. That worked a wee bit. Then I got the bright idea to use my big old welding, 'D' clamp. That worked easily. I just used a chunk of two-by-six with, small chunks of plastic on each side of the dent, as a bridge on top. I should have made a slimmer bridge, because I couldn't see what I was doing with the two-by-six covering everything. The clamp worked so well that I overcompensated and now have a slight rise. So I heated the spot up and while it cooled I slap-hammered it. It should be almost ready for body filler now.

 

[dutch]

That looks like a stubborn dent...

 

[Old Iron]

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[MercuryMac]

Thank you guys.
Ya, it looked stubborn because of the thicker tin and the dent went right up to and included a factory crease. It turned out that I'm just as stubborn as it was, and maybe I have more brain power than an old piece of tin.

 

[soltz]

!!![cl[cl!!!

 

[old28]

My moneys on you MM

 

[MercuryMac]

I welded a chunk of car spring on the 'D' clamp to reach the far side of the dent. This worked and I had found another small dent about 10" further back on the tank, so this extension caught it too. To raise some 'closer to the filler neck' areas I used a smaller clamp.
Here's a picture of the tank top in guide coat. After board sanding I found it still not perfect but the body filler will be very thin.
So now it's in body filler.

 

[dutch]

[cl nice.

 

[old28]

Real nice old school metal work [cl[cl[cl

 

[MercuryMac]

Thank you, guys.

I was so impressed with the welding clamps that I recommend using them, BUT, be careful, they work really, really good.

 

[MercuryMac]

The news is, the friend that I sold my back tires and wheels to, showed up with his replacement tires and tubes for me. pic one
I sanded off the body filler on the tank top and found the filler application was not good enough. So I reapplied the filler and put some little dabs in a few more places. After sanding the second coat down smooth, I was happy. pic two
Here it is in primer. pic three. After that dried I put two more coats of 'high build' primer on. While they were drying, I primed the rest of the back end of the tractor

 

[MercuryMac]

I board sanded the tank today, the best I could and reprimed a wee bit. Now the bottom is painted.
The back half of the tractor is now primed and painted.

 

[dutch]

looks good Mac. So now every item in your shop has a red side?

 

[Old Iron]

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[MercuryMac]

Thank you guys. I'm really liking this paint, it will stay shiny a long time. The down sides are, it has a very strong smell and there is a huge overspray problem. I covered my '36 Ford truck first, but the shop cat has to sit on top of everything so I have to check the plastic each day because she climbs up it carelessly. One time I forgot to put my welding hat on before my safety mask and I painted my hair Massey-Harris red. When I'm lying underneath the tractor trying to paint all angles of each contour, sometimes I am spraying too close to my head. It sucks to be me.

 

[28sawrig]

So now your a red head(Ginger)