Bed damage on the PS tail light housing thoughts?

[May70]

I bought this bed and the seller mentioned their was a dent above the tail light housing. Upon arrival the bed was stored upside down. I saw it upon purchase but apparently did not get a clear look. More than just a dent - the pillar seems to be bent in. Side of the bed does not appear to be impacted but the point above the tail light is definitely pushed in.

I have an aftermarket tailgate, tempted to just take this to someone to fix and gap my tailgate.

Anyone fixed something like this? I dont want to make it worse by taking my (lack of) skills at it.

[May70]

More pics

[Getter-Done]

You can make tools to reach that.
Some for hitting and some for prying.

As good as you are with the floors and rockers,
You can do that

Check out :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCOFV9NjHIc

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw9TjXiMcLI

[HO455]

FYI you have posted this in the lonely and desolate Suburban side of the forum. You may want to have of the dedicated and under appreciated moderators move your thread to the pickup or the body work section.
From the pictures posted the small dents shouldn't be a problem.
Can you post some pictures with the tailgate installed. That's where the more subtle distortions will show their ugly head.

[May70]

Thanks HO, I have no idea how I got this in the burb section. Ive messaged Leon requesting a move. Im sure he will keep me straight

I need to order the fasteners/bed catches etc for the tailgate, but the face where they mount is angled in too so I doubt I could get the gate on or to close. Will try to get that stuff ordered today. Not sure if its availible.

[Caddylackn]

What are your skills? Can you weld?

What are your goals? Does this fix have to be perfect? Is this a show truck or a driver?
What is the final color?

If you require this fix to be invisible, and the final color would be very dark and shiny, I feel that this upper section would have to be cut off and replaced with original sheet metal.

If it doesn't have to be perfect, I think you could get it close by pulling it and hammer massaging it back into shape, then bondo the imperfections. It would be hard to get this area bondo'ed and sanded and look perfect since there are many compound curves. If the truck was white, light green, silver, or yellow this repair would be hard to pick up. If it was black, or dark colors any slightly flat spot in the rounded edge would be visible.

[Grumpy old man]

Steck stud lever and some heat even a small map gas/ propane torch , Hands down ,you'll never use a slide hammer again . harbor freight stud gun about $100. stud lever about $35.00 Buy extra pins when you go to Harbor freight .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlqKYFnIu0Q

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Y0756Q/ref=sr_aod_dp_ttl

https://www.harborfreight.com/stud-w...r_psugg_q=stud

[May70]

Originally Posted by Caddylackn

What are your skills? Can you weld?

What are your goals? Does this fix have to be perfect? Is this a show truck or a driver?
What is the final color?

If you require this fix to be invisible, and the final color would be very dark and shiny, I feel that this upper section would have to be cut off and replaced with original sheet metal.

If it doesn't have to be perfect, I think you could get it close by pulling it and hammer massaging it back into shape, then bondo the imperfections. It would be hard to get this area bondo'ed and sanded and look perfect since there are many compound curves. If the truck was white, light green, silver, or yellow this repair would be hard to pick up. If it was black, or dark colors any slightly flat spot in the rounded edge would be visible.

It will be a shade of blue, I'm not 100% certain but unlikely to be a dark blue. I don't it to be visible there was a repair at all. I'm going to drive it but its going to be pretty nice I hope. I haven't decided if I'm going to paint it or not. Its going to come down to if I can find someone I can trust that I can afford.

Ive replaced the entire bottom of two cabs but rust patch panel replacement is a little bit less intricate than damage/collision repair in my experience. Ive used a shrinking disk and hammer/dolly to do a few things but I dont want to cause myself more of a headache.

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Steck stud lever and some heat even a small map gas/ propane torch , Hands down ,you'll never use a slide hammer again . harbor freight stud gun about $100. stud lever about $35.00 Buy extra pins when you go to Harbor freight .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlqKYFnIu0Q

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Y0756Q/ref=sr_aod_dp_ttl

https://www.harborfreight.com/stud-w...r_psugg_q=stud

Since I cant really get to the backside id have to make something maybe like getter done linked or that tool grumpy mentioned, which looks awesome. That looks a lot easier to control for a novice. I actually have that harbor freight kit with the gun and slide hammer. Amazon reviews show a lot of the Steck stud levers are actually breaking though. Grumpy I assume you've got one of these? Reading some of the reviews looks concerning

[Caddylackn]

What I do, and I am not a professional by any means, but can get decent results, is to just tack weld 1" galvanized roofing nails (with the flat head) to pull from. Then use a 1" or 2" wide by 8" long piece of 1/2" plywood to set by the repair, then use a claw hammer to gently pry against the ply wood and pull up on the nail head in each section with either a curved claw or straight claw hammer. The plywood should flex as you are pulling the nail with the hammer and that prevents from denting from the hammer or forming a ridge.

The plywood does two things: protects the metal from the hammer when prying, but it also pushes down onto the area that is a little raised as a result of the dent. So set the plywood strip onto the area that is slightly raised before the dent. So you are pushing down the high spot while pulling on the low spot. The roofing flat headed nails break off easy (leave the pointed tip on), so there is no way to over pull a dent, or pucker it up around the stud, from pulling too hard. Plus the nails are galvanized and softer than the original sheet metal so they can break cleanly off without tearing the sheet metal. You can also use a 12" by 1" ruler from a combination square instead of a piece of 1/2" plywood. It needs to be flexible but not too flexible. A 3/4" piece of plywood is too thick and stiff.

I fixed up my dented as f.ck tailgate top lip and bed rails this way and many other small to big dents. Previously when I used a sliding hammer puller, I usually pulled up a bunch of pucker marks, and over stretched the metal around the stud, requiring extra dolly work, metal shrinking, or a bunch of bondo to fix.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Caddylackn

What I do, and I am not a professional by any means, but can get decent results, is to just tack weld 1" galvanized roofing nails (with the flat head) to pull from. Then use a 1" or 2" wide by 8" long piece of 1/2" plywood to set by the repair, then use a claw hammer to gently pry against the ply wood and pull up on the nail head in each section with either a curved claw or straight claw hammer. The plywood should flex as you are pulling the nail with the hammer and that prevents from denting from the hammer or forming a ridge.

The plywood does two things: protects the metal from the hammer when prying, but it also pushes down onto the area that is a little raised as a result of the dent. So set the plywood strip onto the area that is slightly raised before the dent. So you are pushing down the high spot while pulling on the low spot. The roofing flat headed nails break off easy (leave the pointed tip on), so there is no way to over pull a dent, or pucker it up around the stud, from pulling too hard. Plus the nails are galvanized and softer than the original sheet metal so they can break cleanly off without tearing the sheet metal. You can also use a 12" by 1" ruler from a combination square instead of a piece of 1/2" plywood. It needs to be flexible but not too flexible. A 3/4" piece of plywood is too thick and stiff.

I fixed up my dented as f.ck tailgate top lip and bed rails this way and many other small to big dents. Previously when I used a sliding hammer puller, I usually pulled up a bunch of pucker marks, and over stretched the metal around the stud, requiring extra dolly work, metal shrinking, or a bunch of bondo to fix.

Thanks for posting.

[May70]

Ordered latch assembly stuff and was looking at the damage this weekend. I was just looking at it and the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became.

I'm not sure if I should take the bedside off to work on it because I don't think it would be as apparent if I was making progress.

I thought I might just order a bedside vs taking it somewhere from a cost standpoint, then I saw the bedsides are at $1000 shipped now each. Fairly confident I'm going to take it to someone vs stressing over it but haven't decided.

[Getter-Done]

I have watched your work on U tube.
You can do this

With a stud gun and bullseye pick.
You can look on U tube and it will show you how to make the bulls eye pick.