Truck bed sheet metal swap question

Hey All,

I got rear ended and my truck bed is damaged on the passenger side. Has anyone ever had to replace the sheet metal fender panel ? How difficult is it? Asking in case I buy back the truck from the insurance company.

 

PDR tech might be able to reform it for you

 

Buy back? Looks to me insurance would repair that. I doubt there is enough damage for insurance to total it.

 

2006 Prerunner with 435000 miles on it. Values are way down. Estimates for repair are way up. There is bend in the frame above the rear axle too.

 

Part Out!

Seriously though, if the frame is bent I'd be more concerned with making sure the new parts would fit on the bent frame, and/or getting the frame straightened.

Might check into replacing the whole bed with a used one. Maybe go flat bed? There is (was?) a good used one in Buy / Sell / Trade.

I dunno, all I got is suggestions beyond my "expertise".

 

I'm hoping to get the bend in the frame repaired.

 

435K miles?

Just prime & paint any scratched spots & call it good. Gives the rear some character.

Frame looks like it might be repairable, using a hydraulic spreader to bend that section back down to flat?

 

A good frame shop should be able to fix that. Never to "like it never happened", but it looks and sounds like you're realistic about the truck. As someone else said, those dents look like they might pull out good enough, too.

A little honorable battle damage gives a truck actual character.

 

Or I can buy new...

https://www.carid.com/replace/passenger-side-outer-bed-panel-mpn-to1757105.html

 

Good PDR person could fix those dents no problem. Obviously there looks to be some damage to the paint as well so they can't fix that but depending on your end goal and how picky you are some PDR followed by a little polishing compound may get you to where you want to be.

My wife just got a DEEP and sharp door ding from the corner of another driver's door and my PDR guy was able to remove it entirely. There's a 1/8" square chip of paint missing which I will touch up later but after he was done you couldn't even tell there was ever a crease/ding there. The good ones can work magic.

 

you can replace tailgate and bedsides with used or PDR

sketchy part is that frame bend
Easiest way would probably be a collision shop using a frame straightening rack

 

What's PDR?

 

Paintless Dent Removal.

At $500+ dollars for one fender you might be able to find a whole bed for cheaper than the parts. More so if you don't care if the color matches.

 

Haven't found a dent free bed yet. But they're more than $500. Quite a bit more. I was dent free prior to the accident and would like to end that way after.