Platrack struts

[Thomas Lynn Skean]

Hi, folks!

I need to deploy some of the 42cm "replacement" struts that RBW sells in service of a front-mounting a Platrack.

I have the struts. Turns out that the holed tabs to attach to the dropouts aren't angled as they are on the struts one gets with a Platrack.

(Don't ask me why the product name "42cm straight struts" did not mentally prepare me for the arrival of struts that are in fact 42cm long and, in fact, straight.)

So... other than me just grabbing some pliers and gently (oh so gently!) bending the holed tabs to an appropriate angle, is there anything I should do to keep from damaging or weakening the structure they'll support? Any special techniques to use? Any incantations? Offerings?

When use my front-mounted Platrack, I don't want to feel I have to treat it particularly delicately.

Thanks!

Yours,
Thomas Lynn Skean

[Zack]

I think when the riv videos show mark doing something like that, he generally puts the struts into a clamp and then gives em a bang with the rubber mallet.  i would guess you will get better results if you go that route than if you bend them with the pliers.

[Andy Smitty Schmidt]

I did this exact procedure a couple months ago. I bent the round part of the struts maybe 1/2 inch above the hole. I used a wood-jawed bench vise and a rubber mallet. It worked perfectly... looks like it came from the factory that way.  --Andy

[ted]

If you look at the original platrack struts they are bent right at the
edge of the flattened out part with the whole in it (as opposed to the
round part where folks frequently bend em).
When I adjusted the angle on one of mine I used a crescent wrench with
some cardboard from a tube box to protect the surface of the strut.
That worked fine for a minor adjustment. Might or might not work as
well for bending from straight.

[Brian Hanson]

Hammer banging worked for me when I bent the struts a bit more on my Platrack.  I used a vise and a rubber mallet.

Brian
Seattle, WA

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