Before I start, let me admit that, yes, I am an idiot.

I had a vehicle on a parked trailer, and needed to move the trailer to unload it. Hooked up the SUV, and forgot to safety bolt the latch on the tongue. Moved the trailer, and unloaded the car. As soon as the car came off the back of the trailer, the tongue lifted up and ate the tailgate on the SUV.

DOH!!!

So now I need to pull the dent out as best as I can, and I'll fill it with filler and paint it myself. The SUV is a 150,000 mile 98 and not worth paying somebody to fix it, but I don't like having a heinously dented vehicle either.

OK, so I pulled the interior panel off, but there is a inner structure to the tailgate that does allow full access to the dent.

I bought one of those kits that you weld on a stud and use a slide hammer, but I've been hesitant to grind the tailgate to bare metal to weld the studs on, because once I do, I need a few days good weather to go at it until I'm ready for paint.

I've considered taking it to a shop just to have them pull the dent out, or one of those guys who does the scratchless dent repair from the back side.

I've tried putting a metal rod in through the bracing and beating it with a hammer, but that tailgate is some pretty thick sheetmetal and doesn't give easily. Either that or I'm just not hitting it hard enough.

What is my best way to pull the dent out?

 

How bad is said dent? If its real bad you wont be able to use a pick, wich means the PDR guys are a no go. (i hate those guys anyway)

I would go ahead and use the stud gun (assuming the dent can be pulled).

Or, you said you have full access to the dent. If this is the case a hammer will be effective as well, and some will prefer this method.

Either method you chose, make sure you go about getting the ding out the right way. Like start from the outside edges of the ding and work your way in. Dont start in the center of the ding and try to pull it out from there. Try to get the metal as close as you can to how it use to be. Obviously, it wont be perfect, but just as close as you can.

If you use the hammer meathod, then finesse the metal back into shape, dont just bang the crap out of it. The metal will get brittle and eventually break if you do. That also means if you beat it out too high, and you try to knock it back down, and you do this a bunch of times, you may actually rip the metal.

So once you get it close as you can thats where you apply the filler. Remember, filler is supposed to be thin. In your application obviously your not looking for it to be perfect so i guess that dosnt matter, but keep it in mind.

Have you used filler before? If not, dont be a jackass and just assume its a simple thing to do and start slapping filler in. It is, but just read about it and pay attention to what your doing.

If you disregard everything ive said, and your better judgement, and you end up packing a bunch of filler in there....then i will be forced to karate chop you....unless your bigger than me, but you get the idea.

 

Wow, that helped immensely. Yeah, I was trying to beat on the center of the dent before and was getting nowhere. I have used filler before so that's no big deal, but it was on a welded seam, not a big dent. I would post a picture of the dent to assist, but alas, this is a Ford site, and, um, well, notice I just said it was an SUV above...

 

Excellent advice I6.

You are more than welcome to post a picture of the dent. We're here to help all of our Ford friends, even the ones that stray a bit.

I'd be interested in seeing the middle and end results also along with what steps you took to fix the problem.

 

OK, here you go. Wide shot just to show 3 other Ford's in the driveway.

 

Ill tell you right now that is a very nasty dent, and wont be easy to repair. Ill give you a few tips tomorrow when im, well, sober. Tonight was "keg killer thursday" at the pool hall.

Thanks for the complement carlene. I have been considering writing an article on basic dent repair with pics and everything for fte. Ive been goin to school for a while now and im starting to learn quite a bit. It annoys me how much bad advice see given. I actually got the idea the other day of getting a websight and writing a bunch of articles on various automotive subjects.

 

Hammering the dent out from the inside or using a dent puller should get it close to what it was, but it's not going to be perfect. What you do after that is use a hammer and dolly, putting the dolly on the outside and tapping on the inside against it, to get as close to the original shape as you can. There are quite a few contour lines on that tailgate so it's going to be tough and you'll need several size and shape dollys to do this kind of metalworking.

Dolly sets from importers (Like Harbor Freight) aren't that expensive and they're useful for body work in the future. Basically dolly's are small anvils that are flat, curved, or rounded that you hold in your hand. Wear a heavy glove on the dolly hand in case the dolly rings - your hand won't tire out too fast that way.

Another option is to find a decent tailgate in the junkyard, and prime/paint it to match your truck, then slap it on. While not the cheapest option once you consider the amount of time and effort you'd be putting into this repair, it might be a better solution depending what you find and how you view these kind of projects.