Re: Body Damage

["Ryan Moore" <baradium@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "mark stegmann" <truckdriver_1977@domain.elided>
To: "IHdigest" <ihc@domain.elided>
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 20:37
Subject: Re: Body Damage


<snip>
>
> Ryan, I know what you are talking about, but that
> won't work here as the dent is too long.
>
> Laura, since the tailgate is sealed, you can try a
> slide hammer. But as it's so close to a corner, it may
> not work so well. You can try it, and the use filler
> to smooth it out, but the thicker the filler, the more
> likely to crack it is.

And I imagine she doesn't want to use filler at all if possible...

> You could also open the tailgate, hammer out the dent,
> and then straighten the side pannel(which I'm sure is
> bent a little too)and then weld the tailgate shut &
> smooth it out. If you use a slide hammer, you'll wind
> up having a ton of holes to to fill, and the screws do
> tend to pull through.

That's what I was thinking about opening up the tailgate, if you do it
right, you should be able to get it smooth again with no filler... at least
they did on that trucks or hotrod tv or whatever show with that old fender
that was beat up beyond belief.

>
> Another option that is really good, is a stud puller.
> go to http://www.eastwoodcompany.com/ & look up "stud
> puller"  It basically welds a small diameter stud to
> the pannel, and you use a special puller on that. Some
> of the body shops I deal with(I work for an auto parts
> store) use them. Once you get the pannel pulled out,
> just cut the studs off, & grind down whats left. A
> little filler to smooth it out, and it's ready for
> paint.
>

Filler again... how much of a trailer queen is this scout?  Did you just
mean it was a nice condition scout?

> As far as the paint goes, a good quality shop should
> be able to match it. Especially if you have the brand
> of paint used, and the paint code.
>
> Mark
>

Except that paint tends to fade, so even if it matches what it looked like
originally, it might not match it now....

-Ryan