Come on Gary L at least we are offering some advice. Do you EVER post anything worth posting, years I have been here and it's always the same with you bash this post bash that post. Lets see some of your work or are you one of those BOOK experts!!!

Better yet hit it with an AXE your most useful post ever or gotta love the "what color is your truck post".

Mods admins HELP this has gone on long enough with Gary l.

 

Come on Gary...offer useful advise or stfu. Not everyone is a perfectionist. Do what you can with what you got. Only way to learn is start tearing into it. Worst case, he buys another fender after it turns out bad. Or it could turn out good enough for him. You could start a DIY on proper metalworking techniques if you want to contribute useful advise.

 

+1 There Mr. Keaton

I am not the only one fed up up with Garys posts.

 

Thanks I'm totally able to do this as mentioned In my post that I have a lot of experience with body work to go along with my master welder certification. /sarcasm


Why don't you go harrass the third gens?


I will give you a winning lottery ticket if you can find ONE body shop that doesn't use filler ever.

 

+2 'Keaton.

Do you know how I know you don't understand common metal repair techniques?

Quite simple - that is why they have different sizes of sliding hammers - and these Ram's don't have that thin of metal either, there is a HELL of a lot thinner stuff out there. Sliding hammer repair is the most common method besides paintless dent repair and that fender is BEYOND paintless dent repair. I'm no bodyworking expert but I do know enough to make a decent job and get it done easy. I have also helped a body shop repair several of these Rams with similar damage, and slide hammer is by far the most common way. And of course they will use some filler, most body jobs will not get the surface looking good or perfect without using some filler to fill in low areas that only color sanding can reveal.

 

Yeap to the above posts.

In the slide hammer kit you will find different tips that get used to 'Work" the metal and guess what the route I suggested has been used for decades. A slide hammer does not mean hammer the hell out of it they can be used with finesse and achieve great results.

 

You seem to have a small problem with your math. If you drill a 1/4" hole you will not be able to put a 5/16" rod in it without making a dent around the hole.

You may have meant to say a 3/16" rod.

I used to have a body shop. I would probably take this fender off the truck and hammer the dent out from the other side. If I could get a body dolly inside the fender I would use a large old file I have with the filing surface removed to belt the dent out with, works good. many times the paint doesn't even need to be replaced.

Drilling the holes would require that the holes be filled again and on this small of a dent I would not want to do that.

I've seen folks use air bag devices stuffed inside areas like this and get good results. That system is pretty expensive to buy so I have never used it myself.

 

Yes I made a mistake thanks for pointing it out

You can't use a dolly the inner fender is in the way. If you have never drilled holes in a panel to remove dents you never worked in a body shop

Thanks

 

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Hummm, really?

I used to buy repairable wrecks and repair them then sell them so you could say I worked in a body shop all right, and had my own for a spell. I have indeed drilled holes in body panels to straighten them out. I've use rosebuds on torches to work warped panels smooth again.

I had a frame straightener and sometimes used that to pull panels back to where they were usable again.

My first frame straightener was a drive on rack with moveable towers and alignment equipment at the front. The second was an oval ring mounted to the floor with moveable towers. Both had their good points but I liked the oval ring best.

I had all kinds of panel grippers, some were factory made but most were custom made by me.

I had a stack of books that reached from the floor to just over hip high with all kinds of dimensions and measuring points on pretty much every American made car from the 30's to the mid 70's.

I had a slightly shorter stack of books that covered a lot of the foreign made cars, I was doing 4 wheel alignments quite a while before anyone else in my area.

Along about the time I got out of the body shop game a new method had just started to gain popularity. You would weld little pins on to the metal and use a special pry bar or a slide hammer to pull dents.

I tried it and it worked OK but I was too cheap to buy the kit so I just used my welder and other things I had on hand.

I had several slide hammers to choose from, most were home made, some were under a pound and ranged up to one that had 10 pounds of weight on it. I use that big one mostly on axles.

From what I can see in the picture of this dent I'd try to get a dolly inside behind the dent and push on it then wallop the outsides of the dent with my special file tool and try to work it out.

If I couldn't get a dolly inside I'd most likely try to remove the fender and put a dolly behind the dent and again wallop it out.

I learned to do body work from a fellow who might just have done body work on chariots back in his day. He taught me how to lead panels into fenders and such.