Straightening bent rims

[amalventano at sc.rr.com (Allyn)]

mine:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41800
also
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=33906
this one is lighter, but also good as it has a narrower head (realize you 
are hitting a concave surface)

when straightening, i lay the wheel flat on the ground with the bend closest 
to me, use my feet in a 'V' shape to stop the wheel from sliding under me, 
and swing down in an arc such that the hammer impacts as perpendicular to 
the surface as possible (without the wheel there, the hammer would go 
through my legs - behind me).

hth
Al

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raffi" <flaatr@yahoo.com>
To: "John K. Gates" <gatesj@twcny.rr.com>; <amalventano@sc.rr.com>; 
<fahrvegnugen@cox.net>; <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 5:33 PM
Subject: Re: Straightening bent rims


> I'm thinking of straightening my tear drops on my POS Jetta... what hammer 
> do you recommend?
> -RGK-
>
> At 01:28 PM 7/15/2004, John K. Gates wrote:
>> > > why is everyone set on going to a wheel repair place?
>> > > all you really need is a dead blow hammer and some method of spinning
>> > > the wheel to check for trueness. i use a portion of a rear axle beam
>> > > with rearrotor installed. the rotor gives me some leverage if a wheel
>> > > is VERY bent and i need to slip a jack between the rotor edge and
>> > > wheel lip.
>> > > Al
>>
>> > As much fun as I used to have trying to true my road bike wheels, I
>> > think I will leave that to someone with more expertise....
>>
>>I too have tried to true road bike wheels and see the point, but there are
>>a whole lot less variables here; you don't have 32 or however many spokes
>>each exerting its own force, just a solid piece of alloy.  With enough
>>force you should be able to get it pretty close with what he's talking
>>about.
>>
>>I know I've straightened steel wheels pretty close with a BFH for my snow
>>tires and have gotten them just fine even though they're more "springy"
>>than alloy..
>>
>>John K. Gates
>>--
>>'97 Jetta GLX - daily driver
>>'85 Scirocco Flash Silver, waiting for my new house/shop for a complete
>>teardown/buildup sometime soon...
>>
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>
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