The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Cab dent removal

I was tinkering with the truck a bit over the weekend and happened to see an angle where all the little dings and dents in the back of the cab are visible.

I am curious what people would recommend for cleaning that up.

My thought is to have someone in the back with dolly while I hammer from inside, but I wonder if there is a better way. My bodywork experience is pretty minimal, so I am open to a pretty wide range of ideas.

A couple of thoughts. One...that area is often made with two layers of metal and they usually don't extend all the way down. By that I mean there is an exterior layer and about 1/2 inch spaced apart there is an interior layer. The interior layer normally stops below where the top of the seat is. If you have this double-wall construction you can not easily hammer/dolly these dents until you get to the area where it becomes a single wall affair. For those in the double-wall area you can fill with body filler, prime and paint. Two...For those dents below (in the single wall area), I'd remove the rear window and hammer/dolly. Either way with metal as thick as you have it won't be easy to repair these without using some filler and repainting. Good luck!

A stud puller contraption would work pretty good there.

I was debating getting a stud puller to mess with.

Thanks for the feedback.

I was able to borrow a stud welder and puller to get some dents out of my cab in the double wall section. It actually worked well, and only needed a light skim of filler to finish it off. I'd recommend that where you can't get to the back with a dolly.

On those double wall sections, the bottom is open so you may be able to get a bar in there to pry some of those dents out making them shallower so they shouldn’t require much filler. I would clamp a flat bar or 2x4 behind the area you are prying against to prevent denting the inner wall.

Personally, I like the honesty which those particular dents represent. Those dents were earned during earlier times when it did work.
I wouldn't touch them, in fact I may put some dents like those in my daily driver beater truck. It must have been babied in an early life and earned nothing like yours did.

On AD cabs, the upper rear double wall section is not accessible from an open bottom. You may be right on Task Force truck, Phil, and your idea of using a bar behind the outer skin would work both for prying and as a dolly.

In the short term, I am leaving all the dents alone. The truck has lived its life as a truck and shows it.

In the long term, I would like to have some nice paint and I will make an effort to fix as much damage as I can to go along with that.

It’s almost funny how the front box panel looks to be in better shape than the back of the cab! Previous owner was likely batting sub .100 too! 😂

I`d leave the dents too. If you have to get to an angle to see them, it cannot be too bad.
Good honest wear.

Back in the dark ages when we actually did metal working instead of replacing whole panels, dents in double wall areas like that were often worked with a "pick tool"- - - -a spring steel rod with a bend in it that was inserted through a hole drilled in the interior panel. A dent would be gently ironed out by using the tool as a lever. I've seen those tools offered on Ebay on occasion.

www.ebay.com/itm/286111920154?

www.ebay.com/itm/196553021349?

Jerry