Does anyone have any suggestions on a tool to bang out a big dent in the rear corner or a 76 f-250 bed? I can get behind the dent but the steel is so heavy guage that I cant seem to bugde it even with a sledge hammer. I need a source of where to buy the tool to use to hammer it out.

 

dent puller.

If you're not familiar with this too, it's a long breaker-bar shaped tool with a self-tapping screw-like end, with a huge weight on it that slides.

You drill a small hole in the dent, screw the tool into that hole, then with a lot of elbow grease, slide the huge weight out to the rubber grip. The dent will come out in very small increments. You'll also have to drill many, many holes and repeat to get the whole dent out, and reuse some holes to pull the dent out further.

That's if you want to pull/bang the dent out. Depending on the damage, you might want to find a bedside in decent condition, cut off any rust and weld in a patch panel, and replace the side of the bed entirely. Or a section.

If you like monkey repairs, depending on how and where the dent is, if it's a big flat area you could simple weld over a piece of 22ga steel cut to fit the area, tack it in, and grind the welds smooth and skim over it with rage gold body filler or something like that. I did that on a door for my buddy's chevy a few years ago... it was a beat up bracket car so the work involved in replacing the door with all the internally welded in bars was more work than simply covering the dent with sheet metal. It wasn't a perfect job because we were in a rush and it's a bracket car that gets dented often, and repainted with latex house paint so the repair was done crudely just to make the car look reasonable. Had we put more effort into grinding, filler skimming and so on, you'd never see the repair.

 

Try heating it first...

 

I would take the patch panel meathod if its so bad a sledge wont get it out. Even if the sledge did get it out, youd have to then use a ball peen to try and make it a little more flat. You cant (well shouldnt) just get it somewhat out the slap a couple inches of mud on it. Im not sure heating it is a very good idea.

 

AS LONG AS THE GATE WILL CLOSE I WOULDNT FIX IT NOW, WITH ALL OF THESE PEOPLE USING CELL PHONES WHILE THEY DRIVE ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME TILL YOU GET REAR ENDED AND THEN YOU CAN MAKE THEIR INSURANCE PAY TO FIX IT...........THINK ABOUT IT

 

I would have to see the dent, but if it is in the corner (as in the place where the metal changes direction drasticly to wrap around towards the tailgate) then you proabably have stretched metal. This is often easier and faster to repair by just cutting out the section and welding in a patch panel. The original panel could be fixed but it will take time and skill.

In my opinion of the panel requires holes to be drilled for a dent puller, it is ussually best to just replace the panel. You will have to weld over the holes anyway, and the end result will never be a nice as a new patch panel. It sounds like more work initially, but the end result really will come out better, and require less filler.

 

Buy a stud welder and a stud puller from snap-on or another tool supply company. A stud welder welds on a stud (duh) that you can pull a dent out with using the stud puller. The puller grips the stud and there is a sliding weight that pulls on the stud when you slide it against the stopper on the back. Then you just clip of the stud with wire cutters and grind the left over stud off and putty.