• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Hammers and Dollies

  • Thread starter Deleted member 12521
  • Start date

Share this page

D

Deleted member 12521

Guest
Guest
Offline
Hi All,

I've posted this in the tools forum, but thought that I'd ask here as well in case there are opinions particular to doing bodywork on a TR3A: Given the wide array of hammer and dolly shapes available, what advice can you offer a newbie on the essential bodywork tools? Thanks in advance!

By the way, I've been following threads by Texas Knucklehead, Pat Galvin, Mr. Lead Foot a.k.a. Tush, and others for a while now. You guys inspire me. Now that I've finally finished and outfitted my shop, I can't wait to get started on my projects in earnest...
 
I did my own body work on the TR3, and used hammers and dollies. Actually, primarily one dolly. I do have several of different hammers, but there were only two that I used most of the time. I never did this kind of work before this project, so it was a learning experience. Here's some pics of the type of tools I used. Also, with hammer and dolly work, it's good to have a couple of body files to help with final smoothing. They are also called vixen files. I have about three or four of them, one is adjustable for inside/outside curves.

I also learned to lead during the project. I used the leading on the seams of patched panels and any filler work near an edge. Files are a must for that work, as you don't want the lead dust from sanding floating around. The vixen files just shave the lead (and steel) off. The steel on these cars are pretty soft, and therefore easy to work with. One thing you want to do before using is to sand the faces of the hammers and dollies so there are no scratches at all on their surfaces, as the scratches will have an effect on the surface you are working.

This is the dolly I used 90% of the time..
p889.jpg


Actually, looking further on the Eastwood site, this set would be good to get, but I would add one more hammer.

p42389.jpg


One like this. BTW, I prefer the wooden handled hammers, but others like the fiberglass.

p18923.jpg


All of this stuff was from the Eastwood site. Also, when I first got into this, I asked a friend of mine who was in the auto body business (he also taught auto body) to pick me up some tools that he thought I should have, and these are the hammers and dolly (only one) that he got for me. I added the files and a couple of shrinking tools, but I basically I managed with very few tools considering the bewildering array of stuff out there.

I really enjoyed doing the hammer and dolly work. There's a book I bought that showed a lot on how to bump the metal, and I learned a lot from that. I don't remember the title offhand, but if you want it, I'll dig out them name of it.

Body or Vixen files...

vixen-files.jpg


Here's and adjustable one. It will take flat or curved files. See the other pic has a file with holes in it. They go on the adjustable.

65701D.jpg
 
Bainesy said:
I've been following threads by Texas Knucklehead
Click to expand...

Wow, I feel like such a celebrity.

Before the TR3, I had done no body work, ever.
I got a "ASTRO #5510 7pc body and fender set" and "practiced" on the TR3. I did have an old fender that I beat around some to try the different hammers/dollies. I also made very good use of my "anvil", which is actually about a foot of railroad rail. The rail has a flat surface (bottom) and the curves on the inside outside/top are different. It was useful for a lot of brute force reshaping. Luckily, I have a neighbor who regularly checked on me and was willing to show me better ways to use my tools. You can find a lot on the web, but having someone look at your work can be very insightful.

Patience. Practice. Perfection does not exist -at least not with any of my work.
 
TexasKnucklehead said:
Patience. Practice. Perfection does not exist -at least not with any of my work.
Click to expand...
I agree, especially with the "patience" and "practice"! Read/watch up online, look in your local library or bookstores for textbooks and how-to books, and stop by a local body shop and see if they'll give you a mangled fender or something on which to practice. True, modern panels aren't quite the same, but essentially the same principles still apply for the most part!
 
Anyone here tried a shrinking disc, similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8cruauERmI ?

I'm thinking I will wimp out and use a thin coat of Bondo instead (impatient to get the car back on the road), but it looks interesting.
 
Thanks guys, that is all very, very helpful. I found a book on Amazon called "Automotive Bodywork and Rust Repair" by Matt Joseph. Judging by the index and online reviews, it covers most of what I need to learn.

I think this will be a great way to unwind after work each day, and I'm really looking forward to the challenge of learning something new.
 
Hopefully Al Turner will see this thread. He's forgotten more about body work than I'll ever know!

Also, you can never have too many hammers or dollies. It's an addiction. I'm on a 12 step program or I'd go into more detail.
 
TR3driver said:
Anyone here tried a shrinking disc, similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8cruauERmI ?

I'm thinking I will wimp out and use a thin coat of Bondo instead (impatient to get the car back on the road), but it looks interesting.
Click to expand...

After messing with torches shrinking slap files and shrinking hammers, all with limited effectiveness, most likely due to my own inexperience, I'd be willing to try out that technique. The initial buy in for a small disc to get started (about $40) isn't a ton of money. I'd be willing to gamble that if I had another project in the works.
 
CJD said:
...

Also, you can never have too many hammers or dollies. It's an addiction. I'm on a 12 step program or I'd go into more detail.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I could see how one could get addicted, not to just body working tools, but any tools in general. I try to keep things in perspective and get only what I really need. Sometimes that doesn't always go according to plan, but I am a believer in it's not how many tools you have, but rather how well you use the ones you do have.
 
TR3driver said:
Anyone here tried a shrinking disc, similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8cruauERmI ?

I'm thinking I will wimp out and use a thin coat of Bondo instead (impatient to get the car back on the road), but it looks interesting.
Click to expand...

After messing with my hammers, slappers, dollies, stake and files and shrinking disc for some time now I'll offer the opinion that the disc seems much better in concept than it is in practice. The last step between removing the crease, weld line or dent and applying primer without filler is quite elusive, at least to me. The disc heats the high spots which cool with water mist which shrinks the metal and flattens the high spots. It will even shrink around the low spots, pulling them up slightly. This is a slow process, however, and it does not yield a surface that requires no filler, even after repeated tries. I find a slapper just as fast and just as effective.
If you have enough other tools (I have several drawers full and still buy them) then it's worth a try but don't expect any magic. I'd also recommend that you start with a small disc. The one that goes on a 7 inch grinder is quite unwieldy. Tom
 
martx-5 said:
Yeah, I could see how one could get addicted, not to just body working tools, but any tools in general. I try to keep things in perspective and get only what I really need. Sometimes that doesn't always go according to plan, but I am a believer in it's not how many tools you have, but rather how well you use the ones you do have.
Click to expand...

Tool addiction. Oh boy I am just about the founding member of TAA (tool addiction anonymous)

Stand Up

"My name is Yisrael and I have a problem.....:jester:"

Good thing prices are so high here, and I know what they "should" cost, and of course not having a garage makes it a bit harder to sneak in stuff. If I could buy stuff at prices similar to in the US and had space for a real shop I would probably wind up like the guy on E-bay a year or two ago who had one of EVERY tool in the Snap-on catalog!
 
I agree with Tom. I have a small shrinking disc and used it successfully on shrinking high spots from creases, not perfect, but a solution. It is easier to control heat with a disc then MAPP gas torch for shrinking work. I also found a slapper & dolly to be more useful than a hammer in many situations. I had my wife sew up a small hand sand bag out of old blue jean material which works for me. I have been straitening metal on a John Deere 41B, grandpa ran into a lot of stuff.
 
TRMark said:
I . I had my wife sew up a small hand sand bag out of old blue jean material which works for me. I have been straitening metal on a John Deere 41B, grandpa ran into a lot of stuff.
Click to expand...
Bluejean sandbag. Great idea. Here's another I got from a hot rod forum several years ago: Get a leather ladies handbag (best with a zipper) from a flea market and fill with sand or bird-shot.
Tom
 
Anyone have a good link to pics or video of step by step body work, dent repair, sanding, glazing, primer to paint? Welding, and all the other stuff mentioned above?
 
I just checked out the Eastwood site for the first time. Wow! They should pay Art a commission, I'm going to drop a bundle there. Tool addiction in full swing...:banana:

KVH, I stumbled upon the "Metal Meet Forum". It looks like a good resource for what you're after.
 
Bainesy said:
I just checked out the Eastwood site for the first time. Wow! They should pay Art a commission, I'm going to drop a bundle there. Tool addiction in full swing...:banana:
Click to expand...

A commission would be nice to offset Eastwood's somewhat high prices. However, everything I've ever bought from them has been of good quality.
 
Hi Gordon
I have bought quite an assortment of body working tools over the past few years to do my metal work. I could never get that shrinking disc to work but I do use a stud welder or an oxyacetylene torch for shrinking. Both work great and can take an oil can out of a door, fender panel, or floor pan. When welding long seams, the oil cans are inevitable and shrinking is really the only way to deal with them. I suggest Martin hammers and a nice Vixen file or two. Good hammers are so valuable - I hate using the cheap ones, after investing in the nice stuff. I really like Tinmantech.com for these tools. Kent White is a master metal worker and has a great website with very practical tools. I can't live without a lead shot bag too. Just a small one to use behind a panel. I often like it better than the dollies for moving metal. I also have a bench mounted anvil that I use a lot for moving metal. I really like Larry Lyles videos (DVDs) for learning body work. They are current and all focused on resto work versus modern cars. Good for metal work, filler, final sanding, and paint. I hope this helps a bit.

Best of luck with your body work journey. Ask lots of questions - we're happy to provide guidance if we can.

Pat
 
Thanks, Pat. I'm definitely going to go with Martin hammers and dollies, and Tinmantech.com has some nice sets.

Work is holding me hostage for the next couple of months, but I'll be starting in on one of my TR3As by December. Plenty of time for my tool orders to arrive before the real fun starts. There will be lots of questions and lots of photos. At the very least, my foibles may prove entertaining for you all.
 
Back
Top