Popping out a dent

[rylee144]

I bought a tailgate the other day and I am going to sell it. The top has pitting and there is a dent. It's not a crease just pushed in a tad. I have no tools for this task or experience. Do I sand down the pits and use body filler. And how to pop the dent out.

 

Or take the way easier way and sell it as is and devote my truck time elsewhere? I am leaning toward the second option.

 

As is I was thinking on posting it for 150 and see what happens. 

[eaglescout526]

Tailgates are a pain to get dents out. I used a stud welder and I think I needed something to thread in and use a slide hammer on that as that metal is tough. I was able to get some top dents out using a rod and hammer and go in from the handle area but that's not applicable to where your dent is.

[rylee144]

If that's the case I'll leave the dent. From the front view it's hard to see anyway

[JustEmptyEveryPocket]

My opinion would be to use this as practice. If you are not familiar with filler, sanding, painting, dent repair, etc its much better to practice on something besides your own truck. This would be a prime case for renting or borrowing a few tools, trying out some youtube methods, and not worrying if the results aren't perfect. That tailgate will sell just as well with a not so great dent repair as it will with the original dent. So why not try it out?

[rylee144]

Very good point!

[Eagle]

1. Suction cup

 

2. Stud welder and slide hammer

 

[ghetdjc320]

The stud welder and slide hammer will probably work the best. I used the Eastwood kit with my mig welder

[OldSch88L]

You won't get access from the inside where that is located, so a unispotter with a slide hammer is your best bet like the others said. As you pull the studs, tap around them while keeping tension on the stud to realease the stress once in a while. Don't try to make it 100% factory perfect cause you can't, unless you're a seasoned body guy that knows how tu use shrinking hammers! That dent streched the metal, so you'll never get it perfectly flat since you now have excess metal, unless you shrink it like I said. Think of sheetmetal as pizza dough; you start with a ball, and the more you hit it, the more it expands... If you want to make it smaller, you have to fold it onto itself. Just sharing tips of the trade ;) As for stud welders or "unispotters", you can get he cheap nowadays on amazon. On the other hand, since you're not keeping it, my opinion would be to leave it as is, so the buyer knows exactly what he's getting, and leave him deal with the repairs since he'll probably get it painted to match his truck anyways.