Slightly off topic 78 El Camino,but pretend it's in my 64 Camino or maybe your old vehicle.Yup,I was backing up into position in my shop and clipped the work bench.It's a pushed in dent with a small sharp crease in the center.What's the best way to get it back in reasonable shape. The rust free tail gate doesn't have any removable panels on the inside.The gaps you see are the way they were before the dent.I have the usual tools and reasonable mechanic skills,some sheet metal experience.I can repaint the panel and a little filler is no problem.Thanks....
Try a suction cup, if the paint is smooth enough to grip the tail gate. You should be able to pull out the biggest part of it.
Take the top stainless cap off. El Camino tailgates are the same as station wagons that has a roll up window. Should be enough room there to get a s**** in there to push it out.
The part where I said I have reasonable skills? Scratch that,I'm ****ing stupid.I put this car together,I shoulda known!!!Removing the plate pocket and there's about a 2 inch hole in the bracket.I can easily slip a pipe or home made push tool. Ok,should I just try to pop out the dent? I'm thinking the metal is sprung a little and I'll get an oil can effect?
Dent puller, oil canning shouldnt be a problem since its near the corner. Weld up a few stud holes, grind, skim coat and your good to go.
Hmmm,there's a pinch weld at the top with four 2 inch long narrow slits where the molding screws attach. I bent a length of 1/2 inch pipe,padded the end with tape,put a block of wood in the license plate pocket.I was able to pop out maybe 60 percent of the dent.It's now about a four inch diameter 1/2 deep dent with the slight crease in the center.Any more attemps to pop out the rest and the the small area wants to oil can. I have tried a shrinking disc and heat shrinking in the past with mixed results.........Might be time soldier on some pulling rods???? I do have a slide hammer also...........Dry ice trick?.............
I know we like to do the jobs ourselves...but maybe call out a PDR (Paintless Dent Removal) guy. A decent guy would be able to push the dent out and make a clean job of it and wont cost the earth.
you said there was a crease......but w/o a decent picture of the damage its hard to say for sure but it SOUNDS like its stretched and if thats the case itll need shrunk before itll ever go back to right....
I was a PDR guy for 7 years before I opened our hotrod shop and any pdr guy that is worth his salt can work that dent out and save you the h***le of working the sheetmetal,bondo and priming.
Hey, I can't tell **** from your photo ( old monitor/puter), but from what you're sayin' you've a stretch in the middle of the damage. I'd try to pry up, first at one end of the stretch, then at the other end of the stretch. watch how the panel reacts as you push! The reason for first pressing at one end and then the other, of the stretch is to trap the metal. Try to spring hammer around the outside edge of the dent whyle prying up on the damage. With this method you should be able to get this very close, without any heatshrinking.Pull rods or welded studs could also be used, but not really necessary given you can get behind the panel! PDR (paintless dent repair) would run $125-150.00 California prices, but that's not an option .now! S****y Devils C.C. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed !"
It's got a metal stretch area in the center of the dent.Like take a piece of 1x3 hardwood and jam the end into the panel,leaves an impression of the edge of the board.What the photo shows is exactly how it looks,a large shallow sent,crease in the center . The panel contour is pretty close now.A little body filler,primer,good to go.
it looks like the Edge of the Tailgate is Bowed out by the cable.... once that is pulled back into place the dent can be worked out.. it may pop pretty much on its own...
$125 - $150 for a single panel dent removal. I really need to move back to SoCal. Here in Peoria,IL it would be around $45.00 per panel.
I checked with a PDR guy here to fix a small dime size dent just above the wheel well on my 05 pickup. His bid was $375 and wanted to paint the whole fender. I did it my way and added a set of 1" chrome fender flares and covered up the dent. $45
Yep, it costs about £20 per panel here in the UK, $45 sounds right....jeeeze if your paying $150...someones being "s***ched-up"
Typical prices for PDR run as follows: A single dent, dime to silver dollar sized $65-$75, second dent, same panel $45-$50, third $20-$25. For a dent with no broken paint the size of your fist, that would require some parts removal to gain access to damage $125-$150+. In the Los Angeles area, if you're runnin' a legit business, payin' taxes, insurance & have a business license, not some gypsy MOFO workin' grocery store parking lots, you arn't even breakin even at $45 bucks a pop! Allstate Insurance, and some of the other smaller carriers are payin' less, but not many guys with much experience or investment in tools or training are giving their work away! S****y Devils C.C. " Spending a nation into generational debt is not an act of comp***ion!"
[QUOTE In the Los Angeles area, if you're runnin' a legit business, payin' taxes, insurance & have a business license, not some gypsy MOFO workin' grocery store parking lots, you arn't even breakin even at $45 bucks a pop! Allstate Insurance, and some of the other smaller carriers are payin' less, but not many guys with much experience or investment in tools or training are giving their work away.[/QUOTE] The Hail chasers and dent hack parking lot gypsys and the criminalistic insurance companies are the reason why I stopped pushing dents and started building hotrods. Best damn thing I have ever done as now I am having way too much fun.
as said a pdr guy will be able to get it close for ya and save you some time forget about a suction cup , and most of the other home remeides, they aint gonna work, will just **** it up more the pdr guy wont be able to get it perfect, but pretty close, will problably want to put a hole or two under the molding for tool access in a body shop, a guy would grab the nail gun.......not put holes in it, and pull a little at a time in the low of the crease starting at the ends. tapping the high spots on the ends as you go will help releave it and bring it up. dont go hell bent on your first pull or it will be all messed up in a hurry. a decent metal guy would be primeing that in about an hour. we use pdr guys to rough out somne types of dents when overloaded, then we finish them off. many times , on factory finishes, they get them good enough to give to the customer. good luck skull
The Hail chasers and dent hack parking lot gypsys and the criminalistic insurance companies are the reason why I stopped pushing dents and started building hotrods. Best damn thing I have ever done as now I am having way too much fun.[/QUOTE] Kool! & Congrats on the Hot rod Biz! I've hear all the time of guys who say you can make 80-100K "pushin' dents", but I learned along time ago.........if it looks like B.S. & it smells like B.S., it is in fact B.S.! Good luck! S****y Devils C.C. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed !"
if it smells like a **** sandwich, it probably is a **** sandwich, don't taste it, fix it yourself...
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