Trying to salvage rear tail light area

[landarts]

I purchased a 71 K20 about two months ago and have been cleaning it up and trying to get it ready for paint. Over all the truck is in really good shape and has no rust to speak of. It is a running and driving truck that i will work on without taking it out of commission. For example the other day I decided that I wanted to do some work on the drivers door and it would be easier off of the truck. So I removed it and installed a spare door I had so I can still drive it. Anyways back to this repair.

The rear passenger tail light area and outer rear panel of bed is in pretty bad shape. I got ready to work on this rear section by first driving over to the storage lot next to y house where I store the trucks I have bought. I had a spare bed that I had taken apart last year to use for parts when needed. I loaded the passenger bedside in to the truck and got it clamped down on a few saw horses so I could study the rear section. The one on the spare bedside is in way better shape and would work out great for a grafting of the section damaged. The only thing really needed would be to weld up the trim holes on the donor.

So just before I got ready to cut out the section on the 71 K20 my brother called to ask what I was working on and I explained and sent a few pictures. He suggested I give it a try at repairing instead of cutting out and replacing, which truly is something I had not really planned on. His point was give it a shot and if it does not work out then cut it and replace. So I started to look at the damage differently. First I thought maybe I should cut out some of it and try to straighten then weld back on. Then I just grabbed a few tools and tried working the damage from the inside with different size dowels and metal rods and did not get to far. Had a little more success after applying some heat to get the metal to move.

Next morning I thought I should try to make a tool to pry out the metal on the inside toward the light area. First started with drilling a few holes and using a block of wood and a Phillips screw driver through the hole to pry back a little. Then I grabbed a piece of metal bar stock I had in the scrap pile and cut a slot it in and that really made bending the inner section back toward middle easier. Next up was to use the stud gun I have but for some reason I could not get a good hold on the metal so I pulled out the mig welder and tacked on a few flathead nails and the really did the job at getting the metal to move back on the outer panel. I used a Steck Stud lever instead of the traditional slide hammer. The Stud lever gives much more control and can use a body hammer while pulling up on lever to work the metal.

I will have more to show and report over the next few days as I work this area when time allows. It is getting closer but still have a ways to go and I feel like this repair might just work out in the end.