Hello,
Looking for advice on how to tackle this dent on my truck.
Thanks
Steve

looks like it took a hit from a golf ball off a #1 wood. you need to slither under there and look to see if you can hammer it out. you need to use something to get the body edge out close the rest will be easy. maybe pull the tail light out and see if you can get at it there. its a nasty small dent that sometimes is hard to get at.
Jay D.

Yes, pull the tail light and see if that gives you access. I would trying prying the dent out with a smooth, flat tool. Work from around the edges of the dent toward the center.

Thanks for all the help. I will see if I have access from the taillight. If not I will try a slide hammer.
Thanks
Steve

Ok I pulled the taillight off and have access to get behind the dent. I will need to get a crowfoot type of tool to get in there and bang it out. I assume from the outside edges to the center of the dent correct?
Thanks
Steve

Kc2llw wrote:I assume from the outside edges to the center of the dent correct?
Thanks
Steve

Correct. If space is tight, you can jam a dolly against the dent from the inside, applying pressure, and lightly tap around the perimeter of the dent from the outside. Don't try to get it out with 2-3 big whacks, work slowly and carefully with lighter taps.

Jay D.

That dent needs the line where it folds back pulled out first.

I'd use weld on tabs or pins and a slide hammer, followed by hammer and dolly. If you don't have those then lever out from the inside, but that is much harder.

Once you have that line roughly right the rest of the dent will come out fairly easily. For now it's holding the dent in and pushing the dent itself out will only stretch the metal.

I guess turning the car upside down would have made access a little easier but seems a lot of effort for not much gain.

NFT5 wrote:That dent needs the line where it folds back pulled out first.

I'd use weld on tabs or pins and a slide hammer, followed by hammer and dolly. If you don't have those then lever out from the inside, but that is much harder.

Once you have that line roughly right the rest of the dent will come out fairly easily. For now it's holding the dent in and pushing the dent itself out will only stretch the metal.

I guess turning the car upside down would have made access a little easier but seems a lot of effort for not much gain.

I agree. If you double click on this picture you can see how bad the damage really is. The paint cracked on the front side of the dent because it took half of the impact. The rear side of the dent only took part of the impact, and the panel absorbed part of the dent. The longest red line is the lowest part of the edge line, and the next red line is the pivot point (probably a brace behind there), and the shortest red line is probably a spot weld.
There will also be more damage on the bottom side where the panel folds around, which will need hammer and dolly work while pulling.

Pulling the edge out as mentioned will bring most of the dent out with it.

Thanks Chris and Fred, for the good information on reading a dent.

I admit that I wouldn't have seen the need to pull that edge until I had attempted and failed at removing the dent.