HELP! Dented my new m1008!

[Dabba]

So i just got my m1008 and i was testing its off road abilities and apparently i dented it. I didnt feel it or hear it. It looks like it hit a tree and left a nice scratch along the side of the bed too. I got under it to try to bang it out, but i cant get to the top of the dent near the "fold" in the body to bang it out. All i got is the base, how do i get this out!? i have no experience with body work. Or do i need to wait for the body shop to do it? Im so pissed!

the circle is the area of the dent, the little circle is where that "line or fold" of the body is crimped, the shaded area is what i can get out from behind, i get a little of the dent banged out but its hard with a rubber mallet. I cant access the rest of the area because of the bed. HELP

 

[maritimer]

slide hammer, or leave it as it adds character, take it to your nearest highschool shop class and have the teacher look at it for you, might give you some ideas or even get the kids to fix it for you cheap

 

[Dabba]

whats a slide hammer? I dont mind the little dings it has but this is too big not to bother me, im getting it repainted but id prefer not to pay the body shop to do it and thats months away.

 

[tsmall07]

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200334163_200334163

Usually you weld a stud to the sheet metal to attach the slide hammer to but you can also drill a hole and use a screw.
Either way there will probably have to be some bondo work done to get it smooth.

I wouldn't bother with the dent or the paint, but I bought mine as a beater truck. I never really worry about trucks too much, though. That's what they were built for. If you are going to wheel the truck you should just give up now and now waste your money on the paint.

 

[Dabba]

i cant weld. I mean i dont mind the little dings but but stuff like this bothers me. Im so upset, i never dented my k5 all the times i went through the trails. Ahhhhh

 

[ida34]

There is a special gun used to weld the stud on. You just press it to the metal and pull the trigger.

 

[tsmall07]

http://www.chicagolandmgclub.com/members/images/tools/stud_welder.jpg

Search for stud welder.

 

[Dabba]

is it easy to sand off when your done?

 

[tsmall07]

It's a grinding job. You really need an air grinder or an electric grinder with a flap wheel to do it. You can get a good 4.5" Dewalt angle grinder for ~$40. I got mine 4 years ago and have been through hundreds of grinding wheels with it and had no issues.

 

[11Echo]

Looks like a GL dent! I popped dents like that out of some by shoveing a long enough 2x4 up in there that the end extends below the bedside. You can wiggle it around some and even hit the bottom of the board from outboard to inboard to get some of the dent. Sometimes just driving the board up in there pushes it out. It won't be perfect but, it won't hurt, kinda like a scar!

 

[underdog]

slide hammer, or leave it as it adds character, take it to your nearest highschool shop class and have the teacher look at it for you, might give you some ideas or even get the kids to fix it for you cheap

The first dent is always the hardest
Some just put a date on it or some time of identifier to aid travels down memory lane.

As they add up they will add character and be like a rolling photo album.

 

[cam7002]

Try this, but with the following precautions. First, handle dry ice with good gloves or it will burn you. Second, when you are applying the heat to the CARC, wear some kind of respirator mask or use a fan to blow any gassing fumes away from you.

Take your propane torch and heat up the dented area. Get it pretty hot, but not red hot. It just needs to be a couple hundred degrees. Then take a large piece of dry ice and apply it to the center of the dent.

This may or may not pop it out. It's a technique a lot of the young "tuners" use to get rid of shopping cart dings and such.

 

[cam7002]

Oh, and don't worry. You can apply that torch to the CARC for a while and not worry about it hurting the paint. One other consideration would be to make sure you are not too close to where you put in the gas. If you are, you can use a lighter on the spot, too. When people do this on "normal" cars, they just put a piece of aluminum foil between the paint and the lighter flame.

 

[cam7002]

I'm a little curious if you are going to get rid of the rust before you paint it. If you don't, you may as well save your money on the paint job, in my opinion. You can repair the rust yourself. It takes a while. Someone mentioned a grinder. That's a good tool to use to get rid of the old rusty spots, but you have to take it slow. Understand that wherever you see rust, there's more underneath the paint.

Here's a link to a guy showing how to do rust repair. Pretty good videos for a beginner and I like the guy because he reminds me of my girlfriend's dad. Just be careful when you watch it because the guy talks like a boxer -- constantly jabbing at you. He leads way too much with the right, and he leaves his chin way open, however.

 

[BKubu]

You may be in luck. CUCVFAN has a take out bed side that is in nice shape. It is in the classifieds section...or just PM him.

 

[Dabba]

Someone over on ck5 mentioned using a basketball and inflating it under the panel. I was thinking a small jack right under the focal point as well. I am g6nna get rid of all the rust before i paint it. Ill have a body shop do all the work and strip it. I dont need it perfect or all the dings out but the rust needs to go and it needs paint

 

[Broncoman]

Mine had a dent in the same location too, just use a porta power with the small spreader and a 2x4 from under neath and you should be able to get most of it out. Also the long 2x4 that was mentioned in a above post maybe even make a " T " out of a 2x4 then you can slide it up between the bedside and the bed floor and pry most of it out. Don't use something with a small head on it it will leave small high spots, use something to spread out over a large area.

 

[Broncoman]

If your going to have a body shop do the rust repair then just let them remove the dent, you could do more harm than good. But this would make a good time for some pratice also.