The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Dents

Ive cut the panel and have some dents to get at. Now is the time.
How is the best way to fix? Almost think like a threaded small jack that I can get behind the dent with and
spread using the stiff back panel as a base to spread from. IDK

I also need to shorten this panel and bend/fit this end to fit the door jamb. Or should I cut and weld the bend there?

If you have a slapper or spoon to use as a dolly you should be able to flatten the dents by putting the spoon ( or even a piece of bar stock) on the low spots and lightly hammer around them. That’s known as off-dolly and minimizes stretching the metal.
A jack screw like you mentioned would work too, but you’d probably have lots of trouble repositioning it. You’d still want to hammer around the low spots.

Please keep in mind that metal has a memory. I know...that might sound odd but it does. If metal was formed into a shape originally you can coax it back into taking that shape again. Maybe not perfectly but awfully close. You just have to be really patient and work from the outside in on dents. If you start in the middle of a dent you're likely to stretch the metal more and make it all worse. Once upon a time Ditzler or somebody I can't recall put out a small booklet on this that was very helpful and had good illustrations. Patience is really important.

"pull hooks" are another option. Drill a series of 1/8" holes in the panel and insert a tempered steel hook with a T handle to pull back on while tapping around the area with a flat hammer. You can coax the metal back into its original shape with very little distortion, then weld up the holes with short pulses of a MIG welder. Grind/sand and skim coat with body filler to get the desired metal finish before priming and painting.

www.ebay.com/itm/276001519155?

Jerry

Fixing a dent is somewhat like shrinking a piece of string that's fastened on each end.

Mike

Weld pins can also be used on areas that you can't get to the back of. A little less invasive than drilling holes that need to be welded shut. But you need a pin welder and slide hammer setup to use them. Please don't do like the picture in Jerry's link with holes around the edge of the dent. The outer perimeter (eventually) is what needs to be hammered down while pulling the depressed areas up.
What JonG said about patience is definitely important. Take it a little at a time.

All great ideas! I `ll try some jack screws and see what happens. Go from there.
Any ideas on shortening my repair panel? It would take bending the end at the line and leaving a
1 inch fold. That would go behind the jamb here. I might have to take it to a shop?

Bending the panel and accomplishing a 1 inch straight line fold or foldover would require a press brake. You'd need to find a metal fabricator to get a good one. The good ones are huge, weigh several tons, can be terribly dangerous in the wrong hands and are costly. The hand-operated ones (usually called bending brakes) are not so easy to use but will work for short pieces of metal if you have plenty of arm strength and if you can find one made of seriously heavy metal so it won't bend. Honestly avoid anything you find at Harbor Fright Tools. It might bend beer cans but that's about as far as you'll get.

Many thanks. I am heading in the right direction.

If your panel already has the bend on one end, I wouldn't be afraid of cutting that off, cutting the remainder to length, and welding the two pieces back together. Done before installing on the truck, that wouldn't be that difficult. You can weld and planish the joint with no interference from interior panels.

It looks like that is what I`ll have to do. Cut and weld. I took it to a fabricator. The brake would mess up the bend.

Finished the two. I welded from the inside this time. This keeps the curve. Instead of the factory
flange there at the jamb, this will run behind.
Thanks Kevin!

The dents ,I won`t have much luck with. The jack screw won`t work. Where the dent is,
it ran out of metal on the backside. I feel I will be using body filler anyway. I`ll try maybe drilling some hole and use a hook.

Best I could do with the dents. Everything below the filler and to the rear is pretty
good. Blended the panel good too. My plan with the filler is to use the bondo with metal reinforced aluminum and
then skim the top with 3M Platinum Plus. What do you think?

Should be good. Unless you've already bought the Bondo, I've had luck with a product called Evercoat Easy Sand. The number is 100421 on the last one I bought. Warning: It isn't cheap stuff. You'll find it at any body shop supplier. Might even find from Amazon but I get a discount at the supply store. Sands in about 20 minutes. I usually start with 180 to 220 grit dry and then finish with 320 wet and go over that with 600 in front of a handheld sponge type pad. I just had to repair a fender that was dropped this morning, in fact. Good luck!

PS...it lasts a long time. I have some that is 6 years old and it there are no problems with it.

Thanks Jon. I checked into that. Looks good.