Maybe you guys can give me a little push in the right direction. My old truck was equipped with a hideous aftermarket wraparound step bumper for most of it's life. The sides of the bumper were bolted through the sheet metal. Along the way, the truck was conked in the back hard enough that the bumper, via the side fasteners, managed to cave in both sides of the box. It's pretty typical damage to these old trucks, but it is not the kind of old war wound that looks cool. I've since replaced the bumper with something I've deemed more attractive. I'm not really trying to have to do paintwork right now or restore anything, but I would like the sides of the box to look a little better. Do you guys have any suggestions for a minimally skilled do-it-yourselfer to ham and egg this problem without it looking like an idiot bashed around on it with a hammer? Here it is what the old bumper looked like: Thank you!!!!
kind of hard to tell but it looks like the actual damaged metal is under the chrome strip, and most of the rest of the dent will pop back to the original shape once the damage is repaired. don't just get in there and start wacking the dent from the inside with a big hammer. hammer and dolly it where the actual stretched metal is. might also need a bit of a tug towards the bottom on that piece where the tail light goes
put the old bumper back on,then get about 20 ft. of chain and wrap it around a post or something that won't move. attach the chain on both sides of the bumper,and then pull the truck up until the chain is tight,THEN hammer and dolly it.
An old trick was , if the dented side has a backwall, in other words a cavity, some guys would put in a deflated basketball and start pumping.. the expansion of the bb would "pop' out the dent, cheap, clean, and minimal body work. try it nothing to lose but a lil time...
you might wanna look into getting a porta power or barrow one, stick the ram on the backside with one piece of wood on the back of the ram and one on the front, and slowly pump the ram out. that should get you started . then get out the hammer and dolly. don't know if your going to get away from not screwing up your paint though.
The majority of the dent looks like it will pop back out, BUT the top is creased and therein lies your stress. You need to try and relieve some of the stress before you pop the dent out or else it will out more stress on the crease and it make it harder to smooth out. Ratfink has it right. After it is relieved some, then try popping the rest out with an air bag, foot, plastic hammer etc. You really don't want to mar the lower portion with somehting too big for the job, the porta power may do just that.
I have had good results on similar dents by having someone push on the dent from the back side using a board and hammering on the creases. What you are actually doing is knocking down the creases which are high spots. As you get the high spots hammered down the low spot will come back out. I'm sure there is more than one way to get it done. This is just the method I have had good luck with.
most times the key to fixing a dent it to figure what cause it and reverse the procedure. figure the bumper got a smack, and now the quarter panel is a tiny bit shorter. don't start hitting where the dent it is. that's not going to fix it. Yorgatron had the right idea, but I'd put the tension on it with a come-along which yould give more control. put a little tug on it and hit the crease at the top. you shouldn't even need to hit where the actual indentation at all. that should be a pretty easy dent to get out. you should be able to get it pretty close withot having to do mud work and have a primer spot. I am ***uming you want to keep all of your faded paint intact..
Yeah, you guys got it right. This is more or less the kind of stuff I expected to hear, but since I've never done anything quite like this, I'm glad to hear from people who know. Now if I can muster up the guts to get started, I'll keep this thread handy. I might find someone who knows what they're doing to hover over my shoulder, too. I don't like the dents, but I hate horrible bodywork even more.
If you get a chance, pick up 'The Key to Metal Bumping'. It's a real old book on bodywork from back when bodymen actually REPAIRED cars, instead of just covering up the damage. Essentially, their advice is to figure out what caused the damage and the order in which it occured and reverse it. Since you know what happened, you're one step ahead. Essentially, start where the last damage occured and work your way backwards relieving tension caused by the collision. As stated above, when you get rid of the forward-most CREASE, you release the pressure and the simple (but huge) dent will pop right back out with minimal work. Best $15 you can spend on 'training materials' short of actually fixing ****...
Hey, From the photos, it looks like this thing took a pretty good punch in the ***. What did the bumper brackets look like when ya pulled the old bumper? You may have some light frame damage, as well! As pointed out above, both of the quarters are under compression now, they are shorter at the bottom that at the top, thus the rolled buckles, and ridges. The metal has been pressed foward. Before you hammer, dolly or take a ******* to any of those ridges or buckles, you'll have to restore the quarters to their pre-accident length. If you don't, you'll wind up with alot of high metal (metal that's above the normal conture of the panel) also known as a false stretch. If you try to pound down this metal prior to restoring the length of the quarters, you'll have a real mess on your hands. A 4 ton porta- power pushing from the spring perch, inside the quarter, using a block to push against, so as not to damage the inner quarter, should be able to handel this. A come-a-long, and a length of chain tied to a post or yess, a tree, could also be used, if you don't have a porta- power jack. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE USE OF THE COME-A- LONG, as even the good ones are very dangerous if not used with care. Once you have the quarters under tension, that's their length restored, spring hammer the ridges above, the ones under the trim piece on the lt. quarter panel, with a finishing s**** covered with 200mph. tape. The tape will protect the paint. Most of the damage should pop back once these panels have been pulled. Try and press any damage with a dolly, that doesn't pop out, don't hit the damage with the dolly if at all possible. Also, and most important is to not release the jack or the come-a-long until you have released all of the ridges, and raised most, if not all of the low areas in the quarters. You should be able to save 90% of the paint on this repair, if you're careful, and go slowly. S****ey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
pimpin paint got it right...you have to reverse what the impact was...think about where the push came from and go in reverse...listen to the metal as you pull it, it'll show you what it wants to do...also remember that those end caps are pretty straight up and down, there will be a bend in those that will take a bit of work since they are not part of the outer skin on those trucks...be patient! do not try and get it all in one pull.. use a logical approach to fixing damage like this...the metal will want to go back where it should be, you will just have to help it along...I recommend the come-along or part-a-power...get the reverse pressure on it and start working the high spots(crease) with hammer and dolly...as you push the metal back(shrink) on the crease(high spot), keep adding reverse pressure...go back and forth with it..what I mean is, hammer/dolly the highs to release pressure as you pull it rear-ward with the come-along or whatever...do not try and do it in one big pull by chaining it to something and driving foward...this will just add to your woes...finesse it back..it'll go ...good luck... if you have any questions, pm me.. will be glad to try and explain it further
Thanks, guys! I'm not going to go work on this today or anything, but I'll eventually let you know how it goes and ask questions if it gets to be too much for me.
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