Fixing Bent Rack Ears

[tubejay]

I searched this, and could not find anyone having discussed this.  I'm sure it must have been done at one point or another, but I couldn't find it.  So here's a thread to discuss methods to straighten rack ears.

Normally I try to remove the face plate and hammer it straight on a flat surface.  If it's a near perfect bend with an even crease, I'll set it on a table and hammer it back with the bend right on the edge of a nice hard table.

In what I do I come across a LOT of bent rack ears.  What is the ideal method for fixing a bent rack ear.  Ideally I'd like some real metal working tools for bending metal so I can get them bent back more perfectly.  Does anyone have any suggestions on what sort of tools I might buy to get the perfect rack ear repair kit?

 

[abechap024]

I have a 300 pound anvil that works quite nice....

 

[Mike Cleaver]

A good old shop vice with the soft caps on the jaws works wonders.
A woodworker's wooden jawed vice will work as well but may not be strong enough to do the job.

 

[Davo]

+1 on the vice

 

[emrr]

all of the above, plus use a rubber mallet for the beatings.  Less marking. 

 

[12volts]

+1 for the vice with softs.

 

[Kir_For_Pleasure]

monkeywrench with some textile in between the jaws for protection of the panel.

 

[zayance]

+1 for the vice with softs.

 

[tubejay]

That's a superb idea.  Looks like I'll be investing in a nice vice! 

Are there any higher tech things people use?  I used to watch Orange County Choppers with my son, and some of the metal bending tools they had looked pretty precise, like you could get metal to do just about anything you wanted.  I have no idea what exactly they used though.

 

[kazper]

I have successfully used a pair of sheet metal clamps like the ones linked below:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/VISEGRIP-Locking-Sheet-Metal-Clamp-3A514?Pid=search

I used thin brass plate or plastic to keep from scaring the front panel.

 

[Kir_For_Pleasure]

to straightning steel to perfection is not a simpel task.

 

[zayance]

to straightning steel to perfection is not a simpel task.

i don't think he needs perfection

Does anyone have any suggestions on what sort of tools I might buy to get the perfect rack ear repair kit?

Edit: oops  , yes i think he needed perfection, but with first story with the hammer made me think, "well at least it's better than with the hammer", and actually i had good result with vice, but yes it will not be as flat as coming out ouf the factory  

 

[PRR]

> Orange County Choppers....  I have no idea what exactly they used though.

I'm not sure about OCC. Maybe they shout metal into submission.

When metal comes out "perfect", the main tools are Skill and Experience.

Sure, sometimes the Experience tells you that a certain tool has the Skill that human hands lack. But in the wrong hands any tool can be the wrong tool.

Rack-ear fixing could start with a long apprenticeship at an auto-body shop. It is astonishing what you can do with painted sheet-metal. You will probably have to work in a Classic Car shop; your Miatas and Hondas, they just throw $180 for a new fender, that's cheaper than paying the Good Metal-Bangers what they get for fine repairs.

OTOH, when a fender can't be straightened without paint damage, the standard process is to beat it close, or cut and patch, and fill the wrinkles with hot lead, then re-paint. Matching the particular shade of Cadillac Pink is tough; recreating painted labels and logos is high art.

Rack-ears aint fenders, and some different method may be needed; but an old fender-banger is the place to learn.

Otherwise: pad a vice. Practice on some Beeringer and ROss ears, find out how the metal fights back.

 

[SSLtech]

(shudder)

PRR, you just reminded me of the Austin Allegro, with all your talk of metal 'fighting back' and car bodywork.

The Allegro (known as "All-Aggro" by anyone who drew the short-straw of having to work on one) in terms of motor design disasters made the Edsel look look a '57 Eldorado.

A mass-produced car, should have been wedge-shaped and futuristic (Harris Mann's original drawings show a svelte and attractive 4-door potterer) but which was sidetracked by dozens of "improvements". not least of which was the last-minute change of engine/transmission to the (I think) O-series.

Whichever lump it was, it was a good deal TALLER, so the hood lost its 'wedge' and became a 'bulge'.

Then the car was 'tweaked' to be more 'plump'.

The final indignity was when the 'spring-back' of the pressed metal was mis-estimated, and (helped by having headlamps well inboard of rounded forward fender edges) further contributed to the car -in production form- resembling a pig.

It became legendary. One other possible error caused by misjudged metal-spring as the rear window aperture. Coupled with the flex of the body, if you jacked up the car to change the rear tire using the factory jacking points... the rear window apparently fell out.

Respect the metal.

Keith

Oh, and just to compound the stunning "camel-as-committee-designed-racehorse" comedy of the whole affair, they launched it with a square steering wheel. -And they were serious.

Further reading on the Allegro:
http://aronline.co.uk/ado67indexf.htm