rolling a fender

Here's what worked for me:

I used a body hammer, a dolly, and a heatgun. I glued pieces of a bicycle tube to the dolly and hammer to prevent paint scratching. I heated up small portions of the fender and then slowly made several passes with a gentle tap-tap-tap...no paint cracks, no scratches.

Good Luck,

John
#2647

I've heard a baseball bat works well (wooden of course).

Right you are, Husker. Any ballbat works just fine; no need for elaborate tooling. Nor-Cal rolled a few front fender lips in the parking lot after our monthly meetings using an aluminum bat 'coincidently' under someone's pickup truck front seat..... Note that only about 8-10" on each side of top center of the fender opening is needed; pretty basic stuff. The tire should be pointed straight ahead during the exercise which is described in the TSBs by Ford. Go slow and if the paint is recent and still fairly soft, it won't crack but the closer to the inside of the fender you bend back the lip, the more risk of a paint crack. With 40-yr-old enamel, or lacquer of any age you're on your own, though!

quote:

Originally posted by JohnnyAlki:
Here's what worked for me:

I used a body hammer, a dolly, and a heatgun. I glued pieces of a bicycle tube to the dolly and hammer to prevent paint scratching. I heated up small portions of the fender and then slowly made several passes with a gentle tap-tap-tap...no paint cracks, no scratches.

Good Luck,

John
#2647

Exactly the same process I used except I used a lead knock-off spinner mallet. Worked like a charm on my 20+ year-old paint. Even the full 180° return at the top center of the fender arcs didn't crack. Key is heating the metal enough but not too much to melt/burn the paint. I found that when the metal was fairly hot to the hand, but not uncomfortably so (but definitely hotter than "warm") yielded the best results.

Don't waste your time and money on the fender roller tool. This is an easy task that is only daunting until you've done it once.

Mark

I use a rubber mallet ... white one and works fine.

If paint isnt an obsticle ...the body hammer dolly a torch and a sponge and water .. to shrink it back.
Ron