97 F150
DOES THE AUTOBODY SHOPS REPLACE BED OR DO THEY CUT AND WELD
ANYBODY KNOW?

 

First of all drop the caps man, thats considered shouting. Now about the dent, how bad is it. Is it just a dent that can be popped out or has it creased the front corner of the bed? Usually if it is just a big dent without any seam or corner damage, they will just use a plug welder and weld these little brass plugs or prongs all over several spots of the dent. Then they will put a slide hammer on them and pull the dent out as best as they can. Then they will fill the rest in with body filler to smooth it out. If the dent is bad enough they will just replace the whole bedside and anything else that was damaged.

People who say it can't be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

 

Thanks for replying. sorry about the caps keyboard at work doesnt work. The dent is probably about a basketball and a half and scraped down to the metal. A friend did say now a days its cheaper for them to just replace the whole bed?

 

Well replacing the bed depends. It would probably be cheaper if you could find one under $500 dollars the exact same color. But since you have a 97 you probably will have a hard time finding one for under $1000. I know some guys at a body shop and saw the price on a brand NEW ranger bed. I think it was over $3500, plus it had to be painted. If you only have one damaged side, take it to a couple of body shops and see if they can PULL the dent and fix it. If they say no, try a few and see if any can. Any body shop can replace the bedside, you just want to see if you can get the dent pulled out and smoothed. If it is pullable get some estimates from various body shops and try to look at some of their work. I would stick with the independent and smaller body shops. They have to work harder to build a reputation, therefore the work seems to be much better quality. Most of the time anyways.

People who say it can't be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

 

It is going through my insurance and I do have a few other little dents that I would like taken care of I have to pay the 500 deductable anyways?