186 Section 2 Nonstructural Repairs
5. Picking and filing—File across the damage. Any shiny
spots indicate high areas. Tap the high areas down
with a pick hammer. Areas not touched by the file are
low areas; raise them by blind picking. Continue pick-
ing and filing until the repair area is smooth.
Two-Sided Repair, Body Line
Before beginning a two-sided arrowhead repair that
involves a body line, determine which damage is stronger,
the arrowhead or the body line. The strongest area is the
deepest or has the most buckles. Start on the strongest
area first. Most of the time it will be the body line.
1. Raising—Use a body chisel against the back side of the
panel to partially raise the body line. It may take consid-
erable force to get the body line to move. After raising
the body line, use a dolly with the same contour as the
underside of the undamaged panel to hit the underside
of the panel below the point of the arrowhead. Continue
to hit the panel until the buckle begins to unfold.
2. Leveling—While pushing out with the dolly under the
point of the arrowhead, use a dinging hammer on
the sides of the arrowhead. This hammer-off-dolly
operation will lower the ridges and raise the point.
Start hammering away from the point, alternating
sides while working toward the point.
3. Raising—Use the body chisel to complete the rais-
ing of the body line.
4. Stretching—Use a dolly to bring up the shaft por-
tion of the arrowhead. Then use a stretching ham-
mer to correct the upset, starting at the point of the
arrowhead. Hold the dolly tightly against the under-
side of the panel as the stretching hammer is used
on the dolly. The stretching starts at both ends of the
shaft and progresses toward the middle.
5. Filing—File across the damaged area. Low spots
are areas that the file does not touch. Raise them
by blind picking. High spots can be felt as resistance
when filing or seen as shiny spots after filing. Tap
down high spots with a pick hammer.
C A U T I O N
Never file on the body line. Filing on a sharp corner may
cut through it.
Folds
Folds are caused by longitudinal force and are
corrected by lengthening the panel. This type of damage
can be remarkably easy to repair if you understand how
it was created. To make this repair, use corrective force
that is the opposite the force that created the damage.
Fold Repair, No Brace
In this type of repair, panel length is restored as the
folds (buckles) are removed. If a body line is present, it
is repaired along with the folds. The following example
explains how to repair a damaged quarter panel, as it is
the panel most likely to be repaired in this way.
1. Pushing—Set up a four-ton hydraulic power set in-
side the trunk. The base should be set against the
wheelhouse and the pushing end should be located
at the direct damage. As the ram is extended, the
panel will lengthen and the damage will walk out.
2. Leveling—As the power set lengthens the panel, you
must work the folds. Relieve the folds furthest from
the point of impact first. The low areas are raised
and the high areas are lowered by the hammer-off-
dolly process. Gradually increase panel length as
the folds are removed.
3. Stretching—Tight folds (where the folds touch), such
as those shown in Figure 8-50, are upset. Hammer-
on-dolly work will increase the surface area.
4. Filing—File across the repair area to identify high
areas and low areas. Avoid any body lines. Pick and
file to restore panel contour.
Fold Repair, Internal Brace
When making this type of repair, it is important to
note that the internal brace is the strongest part of the
damage. The length of the brace must be restored while
repairing the folds. As the brace is lengthened, much
of the damage in the folds will snap out. In the example
that follows, the internal brace is a collapsed unirail. The
panel does not have any direct damage. The folds are
gentle, so minimal upset is present.
1. Pulling—Mount the vehicle on a frame machine and
tie it down. Attach a clamp to the damaged frame rail
and begin to pull out the damage. As the pull on the
frame rail begins to restore panel length, the folds
begin to move. High areas drop and low areas rise.
See Figure 8-51.
2. Leveling—Hammer-off-dolly work will help unlock
the folds as the panel length increases.
3. Stretching—Tight folds are upset. Stretch by ham-
mering on the dolly after the panel length is restored.
Dolly location for
hammer-on-dolly
Dolly location for
hammer-off-dolly
Hammer site for
hammer-off-dolly
Figure 8-49. This diagram shows how to stretch a
V-groove.