The tools between the two vendors do look very similar. I talked to a guy who has used the Princess tools and he says they are fine.
I'm lined up to borrow one from a friend this coming week, looking forward to it. One thing I will do if I buy the Harbor or Princess pieces is make a stand for them with a foot pedal. I just watched this guys video on building a foot stand it it looks pretty good. In your case you could bolt it to the floor where you bolt your tire machine. I'd likely make it bolt to my floor support I built as well for my tire machine.
Ive had the PA pair for several years and use them for patch panels. Most recent is the bottom of the front fenders on the 57. There are limits that the metal can move but a little practice and it falls right in place.
there a great tool use them omost weekly at work. best thing you can do is make sure the metal is clean from any paint or coating and less is more its very easy to over do a spot.
there a great tool use them omost weekly at work. best thing you can do is make sure the metal is clean from any paint or coating and less is more its very easy to over do a spot.
I've had the borrowed unit here almost a week. Wow, I can't believe I've gone decades without one of these things. What a great tool. It makes such nice bends.
Thanks for the tip on taking the paint off. I didn't realize that. I've been bending metal that was the top of a 66 Pontiac trunk lid. I suppose I better clean the jaws before I return his tool, it will likely have paint in there.
I'll be watching for a sale on the shrinker/stretcher unit and be buying one, no doubt. I can't ever imagine doing metal repair with out one, especially stuff like wheel well lips and windshield channels.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I have that set from Princess Auto. To be honest I was skeptical buying them but man do they do the job. We've used them a lot. I always leave the handles out of them when not in use so rust doesn't form on the jaws. It's important to follow the instructions with them and take them apart every so often for cleaning, lightly oil and reassemble. Initially I had them anchored to a work table I built but that flexed too much. They are now anchored to my workbench, made of 3 2X10's and they work great. Highly recommend buying them!
Since I'm spending two hours reading online while listening to our very own 66_Grande_Guy on the radio, I thought I should post a picture of what these shrinker/stretchers can do for those not familiar with them.
If you've ever fixed a rotted out windshield or back window channel and had to bend pieces of metal to do it, if you didn't have this tool you were frustrated! When I got the borrowed tool home, I decided to play around with it to see what it could do. My first effort took about 5 minutes to make this piece. I know now (thanks for the tip a few posts above this Jacob!) my one mistake was not stripping the paint off the piece first but it still turned out fine.
I can't imagine how easy it would be to make repair pieces for rusty wheel lips on front fenders and quarter panels using this tool.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Princess has the shrinker/stretcher kit on sale for $159 starting today. I just ordered mine and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to having it even though I know I won't use it a ton.
