I've gotten the rest of the body less wavy, but I have this big ol dent on the front fender of my 51 Ford that id sure like to do something about. Id rather not remove it, but the hood gap is awful anyway so I gotta do somwthing about that, maybe it wouldn't hurt to yank it. I bought the car with it. I may have a slide bar dent puller someplace. Could I just migweld those little unispotter plugs(dunno what they're called) and yabk it out that away? I've never actually pulled dents before, I can't imagine that'll work but maybe? How about a portapower hydraulic on it to push it out? not that I have one but that's my guess. All my $$$ is going to the Landlord, so I gotta use what I have with minimum expense. If I have to leave it then so be it, but I figured id ask y'all first before jumping in to anything. Thanks fellas!
I'm a novice also when it comes to moving metal, but I remember watching a friend take a dent out of a fender similar to yours. He put a couple of magazines on the concrete floor, layed the fender on it and hammered it flat. Remember if you have a dent, you also have high spots around it that need to be knocked down. Good luck.
there's no hard crease, no fold,this should come out no problem. like someone said, if it's a fender, take it off. look at it this way, you'll get to know your car a little better!
Did I mention I have a bodyworking hammer set from harbor freight? OK ill yank it and beat it into submission. Thanks for all your input!
It appears to have a"crown" or kink running vertically in front of the dent you mentioned,,,,that will need to be hammered down first then as mentioned hammer the dent outwards with that set you have,,,,,
sorry about the photos, I tried a bunch of times If you took a 1 qt paint can and smashed it into the lower fender lip at a 45 degree angle to the car, that's the dent you'd get. well it'd have to be full of concrete and you'd have to be superman but you get tge idea. no room to swing a hammer. that'll have to come off.
Take it off an beat it into shape. Easier than you think. That HF Hammer & Dolly will work just fine.
it's kinda hard to really grasp how big this dent is without seeing the whole fender, quarter panel. back up and take a photo showing more. tire, door.
Hey Johnny, I've had to make many a ''field repair'' on bent fenders using only a bumper jack, block of wood & a BFH! The bumper jack gets slid into the wheelhouse without the base, and the bumper hook part of the jack just slides under the crushed, buckled fender flange. Sometime you need an additional piece of wood at the hook to spred the force of the jack and not totally roach the flange when jacking. Crank the jack with the tyre iron or a screwdriver, and watch the corrective force, whyle hammering on the high ridges of the buckled fender. A few cranks and some controled BFH action, and you should be able to get behind the damage with a dolly or s****. Finish out the bumping operation until you've got 80-90% of the damage back to normal contour, and shrink any high/stretched ONLY after you are sure you've raised all the lows in the panel. This method is alot easier on the walet than droppin' $600-$800 bucks on a real 4 Ton Porta=Power or a cheap-*** friction jack You'll probably wind up pullin the fender anyways, as every Schewbaux I've ever worked had rot in the lower skirt area that required additional repair " Humpty Dumpty was pushed "
hah sounds like you've done some racing, pimpin paint! That's actually a great idea. come think of it, I have a few bottle jacks that kinda look like a porta power if you squint ;-) Ugh were you looking over my shoulder when I discovered that rust at the bottom of the fender?!? I swear I didn't notice it till I thought I'd tackled all the rust outs on the car, and on both sides. I've been trying to ignore it for days now! here's another pic of the dent, if anybody cares. There's some white paint on part of the dent , I think it goes to the bottom of the flame a few inches above it.
Just to close the thread, I ended up taking the fender off. Thankfully the bolts weren't too terribly rusted or anything. I got a few whacks at it and the dent is coming out. It's just a beginning, of course, but gotta start somewhere. Thanks all!
A good start. It doesn't look like you've stretched it yet. Use a piece of sandpaper on a board and sand over the dent. That will show you the high spots. Back the low spots and tap the highs down. Sand in a different direction to see your progress. Start at the edges and work down toward the lip. Avoid "on" dolly strikes, you may stretch it too much. Have fun. Doug.
for a starter set, go to H.F. and get the hammer/dolly set for cheep. go slow. practice on a coke bottle. if you break it you hit it too hard. slow= good. look at it and do what it tell you to. bring the bottoms up and the tops down. your pushing the high/low back into itself as not to stretch it into an oil can. pop, pop, pop. . First do no harm!
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