It can be done. I'm assuming your talking about the T being bent.

Go to a hardware store and find a long piece of threaded hex that you can screw on to the T threads, you may need a smaller one to "cinch" the longer piece to. Place in a vice. Take a closed end wrench and use it as a lever to SLOWLY work back into alignment. Build up some tape on the part that the wrench is working on the T so you don't gouge it.

That's a great idea, with the hex thread. I've straightened them out in a vice (with the t-rod placed in a drilled out wood block) pretty well, but that's perfect!

Bump Hi GoneDrumming (or anyone else who can help!),

Thanks for this post! However, I would appreciate some clarification. A few of the torpedo style T-rods on my mid 1960s WMP Slingerland kit are “bent at the T”. That is, the long shaft of the T-rod is perfectly straight, but the shorter extension (i.e. the part that you grab—which I’ll call the tensioner for lack of a better term) is not perpendicular to the long shaft. I don’t quite understand some of the instructions above, such as, “you may need a smaller one to ‘cinch’ the longer piece to.” Also, my threads don’t go all the way up the long shaft. Does it matter that the hex won’t reach the point where the long shaft meets the tensioner? (i.e. Is the end of the hex the fulcrum for bending; or does the hex just protect the threads and the vice actually clamps on to another part of the long shaft?) Any dumbed-down, step-by-step clarification geared towards the technically inept would be appreciated!!

Well, after not hearing from anyone for several weeks I lost patience and just went for it. Great results. I simply put a thin cloth over the rod to protect the finish, and clamped the non-threaded portion into a vice (fortunately, the grabbing surface area was narrow enough that I could leave the threaded portion un-touched). Put the "T" through the end of a closed wrench (cloth over it) and carefully bent it , little by little. Both of my bent rods work great again!Clapping Happy2

My bad, sorry for not responding, didn't see the post. Yep what you did is what I would have done, or taken a piece of wood, drill out a smaller hole than needed, the cut the wood in half, creating a sandwich around the T, then clamped it down in the vice.