I am planning to purchase a dent removal system. Eastwood, Harbor Freight and ebay sell them. The prices range from $200 to $1200. I am not a body shop guy and I will be using the kit for small items. Please advise. thanks in advance. Tony
Buy one from the local tool guy, he'll stand behind it, you've spent money local and you'll have a quality tool. I have a Mac and don't doubt it'll last my lifetime, I reccommend it without reservation. It comes with shrinking tips too and that is what I use it for the most. I've only used the nails and slide hammer a couple times.
A coupla years back, I looked into this too. Also amazed by the price difference in various brands, and at the time only needing it for one thing, I laid out the big bucks for the Harbor Freight version...while it was on sale no-less. I figured that if it got me thru this one task, and quit...I didn't care. It not only helped me do the job I bought it for, but has come in handy for a few other jobs since I bought it also. No signs of giving up at all. The kit comes with two sizes of pins/nails, and the slide hammer The only thing I found, on thinner body material, no problem, but on thicker materials, you have to let the pin really burn into the material. And occasionally, they still will pull off and you have to redo one or two. No big deal, it just takes seconds to do another. Overall, it works just fine, especially for the cost. Mike
I've abused my harbor freight one for 10+ years without a problem. I used the big pin tip as a shrinker tip since i don't use the big pins and don't care if it gets messed up. I was using it as a shrinker to take all the oil can dents out of the back of a 56 ford cab and I overheated it. Once it cooled down, I hit the reset and went right back at it.
If you already have a mig welder (you do, don't you?), there is a cheap alternative. Buy several (as in a pound) of flat washers. Tack weld a washer (on it's edge) to the spot that you would have welded the stud. Use a block of wood, such as a 12" long piece of 2X4 to use as a fulcrum (hoping that's the correct term), & put a pry bar, old large phillips screwdriver, or the like, through the hole in the washer. Pry against the wood block, to spread the load & not do more damage to the panel. Pry until you like what you see. Twist the washer with pliers to remove from the panel. Weld the next washer where you need to pull, etc... Just a small tack weld, as you don't want to have to grind the washer off. Work slowly & methodically. If you are not planning to do this kind of work often, it's a cheap way to get the job done without buying tools you may never use again.
I do something similar, I modded up a gocart axle I had, used the weight off the slide hammer, and modded up a piece I welded on the end of the axle, to accept my seal pullers, ground the hook to get a good grasp on he washer and bump/pull the dent out.
I'm gonna bump this up, since I bought a Harbor Freight stud gun yesterday. The welder is working fine, and for those having fits with the slide hammer, you might try this. Don't slide it all the way on the stud. There is a little slot that you can look in to, and if you engage about a 1/2 inch of the stud, it allows you to give it a couple sharp raps downward to disengage it from the stud. This also allows you to
get in there with a hammer to relieve the sheet metal while you are pulling up. Now, the air file my boss picked up a couple weeks ago, lasted about 45 minutes then locked up solid. The 6" DA he snagged is working like a champ, although it is rather noisy compared to a Dynabrade. And about one tenth the cost. I also have a mini belt sander from there, it has held up for a couple months and gets used daily in a collision shop. My two cents worth for the day.
The Harbor freight one I bought worked fine but the hammer would not grip the pins. I took it back and the store manager went in the back and tried all the hammers from the kits and finally found one that would grip them. Free exchange.
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