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How to repair dent in Fargo door skin?


Geekay

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Hi all panel beaters out there around the world.

 

My Fargo's passenger door has the common dent caused probably by reversing with the door open, resulting in the door being "opened" too far and putting a massive crease inwards.  :(

How is this fixed (assuming it is possible)?  :confused:

There is not enough room inside the door to swing a dolly or hammer.

I assume it needs to be pushed out from the inside, by either some form of expanding small car jack or perhaps even inflating something e.g. football.  :P
Presumably professional panel beaters, assuming they still exist, have a way of dealing with this as it must be a common damage.
Probably whatever method will involve heating the door skin too?

Maybe drill a small hole in the skin, slip in puller (maybe a slide hammer) and pull it out, then fill hole?

 

Or, is it possible to buy door skins?

 

Any suggestions welcome.

post-7009-0-17455800-1466294337_thumb.jpg

Edited by Geekay
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I had a similar experience with one of the doors of my 52 truck GK, but it wasn't as badly creased as your door! The metal in that area is hard to get to so we found it easier to replace a partial door skin (see photos). You could try and spot welding those wire pieces on and using heat and a puller, but that dent is deep and access is poor. A partial door skin IMO is a much better, easier and cheaper option.

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I had my sheet metal worker fella chop a piece of metal out and my panel beater finessed it and attached it for me. We don't have that lower access panel in our doors here in Oz like the USA trucks do so space to work in there is very limited. The door has a metal diagonal reinforcing bar in behind the door skin as well. The task shouldn't prove too difficult for a good panel beater, but I suppose another option is that you could look for another door?

Rough weather is about to hit here, so I suppose that you will feel it down your way in the next day or so.

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I had a friend with a stud gun weld a row of studs down the crease and then work up and down the crease area with a slide hammer until the crease was mostly out. Then we found that the door skin had an oil can effect so he got out the shrinking disc and worked it a bit to get rid of that. I then smoother it out with body filler.

Edited by Merle Coggins
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Sometimes...and I mean sometimes! I will cut the dent area in such a way that I can grab the dent, pull on it, or plain remove and fix it.

The process is really a blend of both Davin and Merle's post. You still have to weld and use body filler, but the location can really dictate the decision to cut.

 

The real problem with an area like that, is the angle of the jam. As the door is dented, it pulls the jam out of alignment. Don't forget check it before you call the job done.

 

48D   

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Hi all panel beaters out there around the world.

 

My Fargo's passenger door has the common dent caused probably by reversing with the door open, resulting in the door being "opened" too far and putting a massive crease inwards.  :(

How is this fixed (assuming it is possible)?  :confused:

There is not enough room inside the door to swing a dolly or hammer.

I assume it needs to be pushed out from the inside, by either some form of expanding small car jack or perhaps even inflating something e.g. football.  :P
Presumably professional panel beaters, assuming they still exist, have a way of dealing with this as it must be a common damage.
Probably whatever method will involve heating the door skin too?

Maybe drill a small hole in the skin, slip in puller (maybe a slide hammer) and pull it out, then fill hole?

 

Or, is it possible to buy door skins?

 

Any suggestions welcome.

This is a future project for me as well.

 

I have often been curious how a vertical dent was put in the Driver's side door by a previous owner on my project  .. now I know.   

 

Merle's recommendation is what I had planned on doing when I get to this part of rebuild ....

post-7088-0-73529300-1466453948_thumb.jpg

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Count me in too, my drivers door had the same whammy in it...I think those hinge stops must have failed pretty easily and was a design flaw for all the trucks. Heat and a stud gun with a puller is about the best choice. I have seen guys with limited tools just drill small holes in the door and a piece of flat bar and some small bolts pull the dents out by tightening them slowly.

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In lieu of a stud gun, you can weld metal tabs and use those for pulling or a length of light chain and weld several of the links into the low spots. Applying pressure to the tabs or links and tapping with a hammer around the edge of the dent will ease the dent out. It doesn't have to come all the way out in each location before moving on to another tab or link and you don't need to wail on it with the hammer either. Work your way back and forth along the crease. You may need some heat to get the top of the crease to come out. It's in pretty deep and has stretched the metal the most and may need some shrinking. Let us know when you get to that point. Leave the door on the truck. It's the best holding fixture you have and you can keep checking the door fit and hinge movement as well. When done pulling, cut the welds loose, grind down the residue and finish.

This will only bring out the skin. If there is support structure under it that's been damaged, you may need to cut that section out, repair the support structure and then weld the skin back in

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I had the same issue on my truck. I used bars and wood inside to pry, then I drilled holes and used a slide hammer with screws. It took a while, but got 95% of it out in the metal, and the rest in filler! I did weld the holes shut. 

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Access to the inside door area is an issue for us here in Oz as our doors don't have the lower access panel like the USA trucks...

That access hole would suck so bad, for so many jobs it's not even funny.....what about cutting a new hole and making a nice access panel like the North American version? You could do like myself and others and make a door panel that comes down to the bottom sill rather then just the small stock one

post-3231-0-21403000-1466600895_thumb.jpeg

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That door looks like it has much better access for door latch work than the US version.  Neither door has good access for the type of repair Geekay is looking at, and to be honest, of all the door panels I've ever had off, regardless of year or manufacture, none have good access to that area.

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Geekay,

 

Can you post some pictures of the back of the door. What type of access is available from the back? The suggestions of trying to pry it out is a good one, then hammer and dollies to help smooth, along with shrinking will be needed. You can either shrink with a torch or shrinking disc if you have one. If there are supports in the back that block the access to this area i would cut them out. Regardless if you try removing the dent or cut the dent out and shape a patch panel you'll need access to the back of the door skin. The weld seam on the patch panel will shrink during welding and need to be stretched back out (hammer and dolly). Hopefully this helps.

 

I also don't think door skins are available to buy. You'd have to have a metal shaper make you one.

 

-Chris

Edited by 1952B3b23
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks everyone. At least now I have some ideas on how to approach it.

 

I have another "spare" door which has a similar dent as well, so between the 2 of them, I should be able to get one that is reasonable.

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