Posted by Vaughn on Thursday, February 26, 2004 at 11:44PM :
In Reply to: Anybody know of a good metal pounder locally (Dallas?) posted by dave Austin on Thursday, February 26, 2004 at 8:46AM :
If the side pannels are curved, you can straighten them yourself.
1. Assemble the bed, front pannel and rear center hinge
2. Cut two 2x4's the length of the front pannel, for each end of the bed. Hammer a nail on each end of the 2x4 1/2 inch in and from the side of the 2x4 to hold it at the top of the bed
3. Ther are two 3/8 bolt holes at the top of the fender mounting holes. Cut a 1-1/2 foot 2x4 and drill bolt holes the depth of the 2x4. On the inside of the bed, attached chain to each side pannel and use a hand lever rachet winch attached the the chains
4. Rach some tension on the pannels. Using a 2x4 and sledge hammer, start in the lower corners and hit the 2x4 working your way to the center where the 2x4 and cahins are attached. Keep doing this until the pannels are straight.
The pannels are thick and hard to reshape. As for the little dents, bammer and body tools will take care of those.
This is hard to explain, but take your time and you may be surprised.