Brody
September 6th, 2009, 10:07 AM
So I finally broke down and tackled the bashed in tail section of the 84. I am not a body repair dude, so this particular repair was a bit beyond anything I had ever done before.
Someone, at some point, had cratered the back of the truck bad enough to have bent the actual bed and putting a huge wrinkle in the bumper section, not to mention crushing the area below the tail light. Here is what I did to fix it:
I cut the raised portion of the wrinkle the whole length of the damage to relieve the stress on it. When this was done, I used a bottle jack against a bed brace to push the bumper part back to where it needed to be. Then I used a floor jack and wooden blocking to raise the bed up, beating it with a hammer where necessary. This caused the gap to close up. I then started to stitch weld the gap, beating and jacking as needed.
I then used the floor jack and wood blocks to raise the bumper section to about where it was supposed to be in relation to the bed. When all this was done, I used basic body repair hammers and dollies to get the dents out of the tail light section, which then also had to be welded up. Bondo took care of the rest..
Since this is a work truck and also because I am going to Rhino line the bed and the bottom of the truck, I really didn't have to make it perfect.
Next will come some plain white paint which I found at Pep Boys for $22 a quart...Why white? It was the color of the truck to begin with and I won't have to do the doors. Also because white is one of the more forgiving paint colors for hiding blemishes. Last, but not least, are the color choices at Pep Boys. Auto paint is expensive and going to an auto paint store I would be spending over $200 to paint the truck vs about $22...
Someone, at some point, had cratered the back of the truck bad enough to have bent the actual bed and putting a huge wrinkle in the bumper section, not to mention crushing the area below the tail light. Here is what I did to fix it:
I cut the raised portion of the wrinkle the whole length of the damage to relieve the stress on it. When this was done, I used a bottle jack against a bed brace to push the bumper part back to where it needed to be. Then I used a floor jack and wooden blocking to raise the bed up, beating it with a hammer where necessary. This caused the gap to close up. I then started to stitch weld the gap, beating and jacking as needed.
I then used the floor jack and wood blocks to raise the bumper section to about where it was supposed to be in relation to the bed. When all this was done, I used basic body repair hammers and dollies to get the dents out of the tail light section, which then also had to be welded up. Bondo took care of the rest..
Since this is a work truck and also because I am going to Rhino line the bed and the bottom of the truck, I really didn't have to make it perfect.
Next will come some plain white paint which I found at Pep Boys for $22 a quart...Why white? It was the color of the truck to begin with and I won't have to do the doors. Also because white is one of the more forgiving paint colors for hiding blemishes. Last, but not least, are the color choices at Pep Boys. Auto paint is expensive and going to an auto paint store I would be spending over $200 to paint the truck vs about $22...