A little trailer/camper mishap dented my bumper

[AirSpeed]

My wife and I went on a last minute camp trip this weekend. In my hurry to get on the road I didn't slide the hitch into the reciever far enough and completely missed the hole with the hitch pin, drove about a block and heard a loud scraping noise behind me, looked in the mirror to see my prized home built teardrop trailer grinding toungue first on the road, I tried to decelerate slow enough to keep it from rear ending my truck, I thought I had it until the safety chain sprang the trailer into my bumper destroying the batter/propane box mounted in front on the toungue. Fortunately the box is separate from the body of the camper and is easily rebuilt but when it hit my brand new chrome bumper it forced the bumper against the mounts and made a bump near the two inner bolts. I hope I can tap them out, they're not very noticeable but they suck!
One concelation to this, also in my hurry I failed to plug in the trailer lights, it was dark when I got on the road and if the trailer hadn't fallen off I would have hit the hi way without lights and could have been hit, possibly hurting not only my wife and I but anyone behind me.
I got lucky this time and will be a lot more careful in the future! Anyone know how to tap dents out of a chrome bumper!
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[71gmcburb]

remove the bumper, lay it chrome side down an a thickly padded hard surface, than take a smooth faced 16-20oz hammer and start tapping the dents out. Remember you can move metal faster and with more control with rapid light inpacts then with hard inpacts. start tapping in a circler motion from the outside to the center of the dent. inspect often to avoid over pushing the damaged areas and chacking the chrome.


by the way -

[PanelDeland]

Sorry to hear of the problems with your beautiful truck and trailer.Glad the damage was minor.Hope the bumper comes out well for you.

[AirSpeed]

Originally Posted by 71gmcburb

remove the bumper, lay it chrome side down an a thickly padded hard surface, than take a smooth faced 16-20oz hammer and start tapping the dents out. Remember you can move metal faster and with more control with rapid light inpacts then with hard inpacts. start tapping in a circler motion from the outside to the center of the dent. inspect often to avoid over pushing the damaged areas and chacking the chrome.


by the way -

The dents actually came from the bumper brackets pushing out, the dings are high spots on the face of the bumper. They're not very high, maybe an 1/8" at most, the chrome hasn't cracked yet and I'd like to keep from damaging it with a hammer. I have a hard plastic mallet I was thinking of using. These bumps (as opposed to dents) really show up when the sun hits them and it bugs the crap out of me! Should I tap on the tip of the bumps? Thanks!
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[YBNORML]

These are the kind of things that happen when trucks actually get used! And for that you get extra points

[71gmcburb]

do the same thing only put a clean rag on the end of the hammer must be a smooth face or you will damage the plating. you can lightly heat the backside of the bumper to help but be careful to not use too much heat or it will discolor the face. the plastic deadblow will be of no use here. just use a 16-20oz metal hammer with a rag on it and use rapid light impacts it'll be slow going but you won't damage the plating and still fix the damage.

personaly I would leave it alone as it shows the truck is used and drivin on the road.