Very cool! Nice to actually LEARN something on here for once. Other than learning that a lot of guys like REALLY UGLY cars, that is...
Great idea, but I already used my old pair of grips to make MP&C's tool for removing door skins! Good thing its rummage sale time around here.
A blast from the past. This one is refreshing for sure. I Remember when there was all sorts of informational threads.
Hammer and dolly are the easiest. Strike the dolly with the hammer with the metal between and you are stretching.
Probably one of the biggest challenges in taking things apart for repairs is doing so without inflicting more damage. I had seen a recent post on pliers used to remove door skins, and thought they would come in handy here on the bottom of the tailgate. This is why you never throw away Vice grips that have the worn off teeth that have just lost their bite. The lower jaw is modified to receive the edge of the door skin... Then a suitable "blade" is found.... Some welding and grinding, and we have a new body tool..... Starting at the corner, a diagonal slice is made in the inner panel so it will remove easier... ....and the tool is used to gently pry up on the flange of the tailgate skin..... Spot welds were removed with a burr grinder, in an attempt to keep the damage (and hole diameter) to the skin flange at a minimum. Continuing: Next we'll work on making replacements for these structural members:
This little gizmo works pretty damn good for shrinking. First crack out of the box you'll be making tucks with it but It takes a bit of practice to get repeatable and even tucks. Tuck shrinking is sort of inefficient at the way it works. The tucks are hammered into itself and that surely does shrink the metal but at the same time hammering the tucks flat stretches the metal. You can't shrink it without loosing some shrink into the process. Then if you get a tuck that doesn't want to hammer in, you'll really give it a stretch there. I can see the heating of a tuck greatly increasing the tuck shrinking process.
Yes it is a good stretching technique (the original power hammer) but hammer on dolly is also a straightening technique if stopped before stretch occurs. I think it's interesting to note how much metal thickens as it shrinks and thins as it stretches. Two factors to keep in mind when moving metal.
The Jalopy Journal
