Fixing BAD dent in cab

[The Baron]

Hey all. So about the 3rd week of july this summer some :Eater: cut into my lane as I made a turn, and my truck decided to fight a telephone pole. And as a result, I ended up with a hardcore dent in the cab, door and bed. I fixed the bed dent by replacing the bed(Actually managed to snap two crossmembers and three bed bolts), and I'm probably looking at replacing my passenger door instead of fixing the dent. I unfortunately am a broke college student so I'm trying to fix things as cheaply as possible, so probably not going to a shop. The shop in my hometown quoted me $1100 fix the dent in the cab, not counting the door or paint. These are the best pictures I have of the door at this time(I'll head out tomorrow to get better pictures).

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Dent's don't look that bad in this photo, but they are probably at least an inch and a half deep. Again better pictures tomorrow. So what I'm looking for is advice/ideas on how to fix the cab/door dent as cheap as possible. What I'm looking at right now is going to the nearest junk yard and buying the section of cab I need, cutting the dents out and adding the new one in. I do have access to a welder, but my truck can't really be out of commission for more than 3-4 days because I need to drive to school. So here's what I'm planning on buying(except the other side obviously):

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And welding that in, then fixing the door and painting it.

 

[lester622]

Easiest way to do it would be to drill out the spot welds in the door jamb and the spot welds on the back of the cab where that panel meets the back wall and cut it in the middle of the quarter glass and seam it there. hard to weld thin sheetmetal and have it not warp bad

 

[The Baron]

Easiest way to do it would be to drill out the spot welds in the door jamb and the spot welds on the back of the cab where that panel meets the back wall and cut it in the middle of the quarter glass and seam it there. hard to weld thin sheetmetal and have it not warp bad

So what you're saying is do the same thing I was thinking of, but extend the cutting into the jam by drilling out the spot welds?

 

[michael hurd]

Get a scrapyard door mounted, then cut out the side and replace. It would appear that the inner panel is damaged as well. I wouldn't try to fix the door, they are readily available used, at least around my area.

 

[ChristGilley]

Get a scrapyard door mounted, then cut out the side and replace. It would appear that the inner panel is damaged as well. I wouldn't try to fix the door, they are readily available used, at least around my area.

I agree with this, to be honest. The dent is actually pretty bad and may be more then just surface damage. I would personally get a new door, junkyards wont charge you an arm and a leg for it like a parts store would. At that point, you would only have to worry about it being repainted with the rest of the truck

 

[The Baron]

So I went out and got more pictures of the dent.

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Also called the nearest junkyard and they have two doors, Which I'm going to check out on wednesday when i get back from school. Also found out how to remove the door. Once I switch the doors I'll just need to fix the cab, which I'm going to see if the junkyard will sell me the chunk of cab I need.

 

[ChristGilley]

So I went out and got more pictures of the dent.

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Also called the nearest junkyard and they have two doors, Which I'm going to check out on wednesday when i get back from school. Also found out how to remove the door. Once I switch the doors I'll just need to fix the cab, which I'm going to see if the junkyard will sell me the chunk of cab I need.

Sounds good man. Makes me kinda wish I still had my old 81 so when you do the cab repair, I couldve done something similar except it wouldve been rust repair

 

[The Baron]

Sounds good man. Makes me kinda wish I still had my old 81 so when you do the cab repair, I couldve done something similar except it wouldve been rust repair

Yeah. I wish I could've just replaced the truck but this all happened on a thursday. The next saturday I drove 200+ miles north to maine and live there now for college. And I have to drive 3 days a weeks since I live 30 miles away from campus, so I can't get away without a vehicle while I replace it.

 

[ChristGilley]

Yeah. I wish I could've just replaced the truck but this all happened on a thursday. The next saturday I drove 200+ miles north to maine and live there now for college. And I have to drive 3 days a weeks since I live 30 miles away from campus, so I can't get away without a vehicle while I replace it.

Honestly I think it's good that you didn't replace it. Because it may seem like a lot of work now but if you had replaced it, you would regret it. I love my current truck to death but it doesn't feel nearly as powerful as my old truck. Even though it was a rust bucket, it was bada$$


Sent while pulling out a Ford

 

[lester622]

So what you're saying is do the same thing I was thinking of, but extend the cutting into the jam by drilling out the spot welds?

Pretty much same concept but itll be easier to weld it up then trying to weld a big patch panel in

If you drill out the spot welds the panel comes off neatly and its easier to put back on since you just have to line it up and weld the spot welds back in. Id cut it in between the quarter glass and weld it in there since its smaller area to weld then across the whole panel. Less chance of warping it to bad.