Quote:
Originally Posted by steve v
This is good advice here. If you don't get it pulled first you'll be chasing that oil can forever.
When PMD mounted the bumper to the rear body panel instead of the frame it made the 1/4 the crumple zone in an off center hit.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 400 4spd.
It needs to be clamped onto and pulled back before hammering on it. Otherwise you are going to stretch everything and make it much harder to repair after you eventually have it pulled anyway.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Bear
At the corner you have the X, I would be mig welding a plate with a hole on the edge of the panel. Use comealongs or chain falls hooked in the hole to put some constant tension and hammer and dolley the crease and dents. Think of pulling a bed sheet smooth. Try to pull at the same angle as the impact
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I need to embrace all this and step up.
Here's what I'm thinking today, please comment freely:
The compression along the quarter panel appears isolated to the top half. The body line has no obvious deformation, nor does the panel below the body line, nor does the rear face. All this is good IMO. Above the body line there is a creased indentation that definitely oil-cans now... illustrating the need to apply tension and relieve the compression where it's oil-canning.
The challenge for me is how to do this...
One option is to pull from behind. The tear below the rear face makes it weak there and I don't want to risk destroying that face and radius into the quarter by trying to attach something to it and pulling. That's a strong visual element for me and it's not messed up...
So one option is to clamp onto the flange and pull with a come-along winch. It might work.
Another option is to pull at the upper bumper mount nut but I don't think the structure would transmit much force into the upper quarter panel.
This looks like a reasonable tool to grip the flange and it's cheap on Amazon. I can also buy a come-along for not much at Harbor Freight and tie the other end to the hitch on my pickup ???
The idea I like the most is to use a hydraulic ram or leveraged pole inside the trunk and push directly on the rear face in the corner. It is easy to access and I could probably find something fairly strong and rigid to push against in the trunk.
The downside is I don't have a porta-power or other hydraulic ram. I might be able to rig up something with a bottle or scissor jack.. maybe even some hinged 2x4s or some wooden wedges ?? I will call AutoZone tomorrow and see if they have something in their loan-a-tool stuff.
Hmmmm
Mike