Posted by Chris in Idaho on Friday, July 04, 2003 at 1:53AM :
In Reply to: Re: Jungle Truck Man posted by Garth Quapp From Alberta on Friday, July 04, 2003 at 0:50AM :
The first major dent I used a porta power to push it out. As I push it up from underside the cab roof starting on the edges I also used a wooden mallet and banged(not too hard just bumping it) to shrink the metal. I did this repeatedly moving the porta power until I got a big "POP" and the roof was pretty much back to shape. Then I used a suction cup for installing windows and pulled up on it from the top as I bumped the outside with the wood mallet and shrank it back to shape. All the striking was on the edges sorta glancing towards the center going all around working towards the center, not necessarily going in a complete circle I read the sheetmetal to see where it needed bumping to get rid of the "oil can" effect it still had from being stretched. There was just a few smaller dents and I used a hammer and dolly to gently bump the dents back to proper shape. It took a few hours I didn't keep track. You should never have to bang the hell out of it, a little at a time moderatly at most is best and some cussing.
Always use a heavy metal type plate/dolly held firmly where you are bumping dents out of sheet metal on the backside otherwise all you are doing is stretching the metal as you bang it back and forth trying to make it smooth.
I learned from an arthritic old timer body man and still learn new stuff on my own everyday. It takes practice to learn to read the sheet metal and it doesn't always do what you want it to do.
Sorry I can't type the directions more clearly but dented sheetmetal is still better than rusted when it comes to fixing.
Next chapter will be bumping out the warpage from welding in patch panels now that is fun.
Follow Ups: