Advice on how to fix my bent leg


 
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Brian O'Neal

Brian O'Neal

TVWBB All-Star
Here is the old Weber I got for free over the summer. I am cleaning it up and trying to fix some of the issues. The one leg is bent and I'm wondering what I can do to fix it and save it instead of replace it. It an old gray weber, its not black. it looks black until you put it next to a black grill and then you see it's not black

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...05435/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...00911/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...9254/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...28482/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...31544/in/photostream

any advice out there?

Brian
 
i'm one of those that likes to keep things as original as possible. if i was dealing with this i would either leave it or i would find a steel pipe that would fit inside and then carefully pound it back into some sort of shape with a rubber mallet.
 
I agree with George on keeping it rigional.
If you can remove the leg, wheels and triangle brace. Set the bent leg with the crown up on a couple pcs of wood or what-have you and give it a few taps with a mallet.
From your first pic it doesn't look that bad and should be easy to fix.

Tim
 
A piece of rebar in a vise or a wood dowel. A light touch with a mallet. They are fairly easy to bend since they are made of aluminum..
 
I think I fixed it! Check out the pictures. I had an acrylic rod at work the exact same size as the inside of the tube. I just ground a taper on the end of the tube. Then I hammered the acrylic rod down the inside of the leg. I did it with a plastic deadblow hammer. I did tap the outside of the leg a little once I got the acrylic rod all the way down to the end. I think it came out awesome. I just need to shine it up now. The Aluminum leg was very soft I had to be careful not to pound the rod right out of the other end. This prob only took fifteen minutes.

Here it is before;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...05435/in/photostream

and now

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...99243/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...25346/in/photostream

Here is the acrylic rod I used to straighten it out

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6...25618/in/photostream

Brian
 
I might have to get into a side business fixing old Weber legs :^) It came out so good. You might see a few bumps once I shine it up but it's still better that it was. Now I need to figure out how to straighten the ash catcher :^( As soon as I come up with something I'll post it here.

Brian
 
Okay so I shined up my legs today. I did these two legs in 20 minutes, I think they came out great. The leg I pounded back straight has a few dings from the pounding.
legs4h.jpg

By zavod44 at 2011-10-20

legs3.jpg

By zavod44 at 2011-10-20

legsgq.jpg

By zavod44 at 2011-10-20

I have a few more legs to do and the ash pan. They all should shine up the same as these legs

Brian
 
What process did you use to get those legs to shine like new like that? I have some rusted legs but couldn't get them to shine with the steel wool.
 
First I wet sanded it using Goo Gone, and a 3M ultrafine sanding sponge. You should be able to get these sponges at any automotive paint supplier. Check finishmaster or any other place that carries car paint. So I used the sanding sponge all over until it was more or less clean looking. Then I switched to 0000 steel wool and goo gone. By now it is a drippy goopy mess of gray muck. I wiped it down, then I then used a sunshine cloth, you can get these at jewelery stores or I order them from Rio Grande on the web. Rio Grande is not an easy place to order from so you might have to google sunshine cloths. I do believe that the Nevr dull is very similar they are both impregnated with some kind of wax. I used the sunshine cloth and a polishing compound called supra 90. It is the best polishing compound I have ever used. You can probably use mothers billet compound as well. Mothers billet polishing compound can be found at any place that sells car wax and stuff like that. Once I went over it with the sunshine cloth and the supra, I then wiped it off, it will be covered with more gray muck. Then I wiped it with just a clean sunshine cloth and then a paper towel, and there it was, all shiny and new. It took maybe 10 minutes per leg, fifteen at the most. I can't believe they came out as good as they did. Hope that helps,

Brian
 
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