Some excerpts from my Jeep web site ...
Close-up of "The Crunch". Note the peak along the top of the tub. Ouch!
After a trip to the library for some body work books, it was time to get to work.
The first order of business was to start pulling the corner back out at the lower part of the seam.
At the same time the crease in the wheel well was pulled and hammered.
Both of these actions relieved pressure of the peak along the top rail of the tub.
I used a heat gun to take off the decal trim, but found it easier to spray on aircraft paint
remover and use a wire wheel to remove them. They just sort of mushed and melted off this way.
This distortion under the door was caused by the wheel well being pushed foreword and out board
when the rear corner was hit.
First, the bulge caused by the movment of the wheel well (a foot behind here) was pushed back in
to relieve the pressure that cause this wrinkle
A flat, rectangular heavy steel plate was used as a "dolly" on the inside and a body hammer on
the outside to smooth this back out.
A long (4 ft.) metal ruler is the best thing to have to achieve a straight side panel.
This is the only way to be able to understand which way to push the metal.
Note the vertical crease just left of the wheel opening caused by inner wheel well movement.
Holes are drilled along and in-between the crease lines to accept a "pick" to pull the metal out while hammering next to it and for stress relief as the sheet goes back in place.
The idea is to push the metal back in the reverse order that the metal was distorted.
You have to visualize how the metal was crushed and try to pull and hammer it back starting from the last movement of the metal.
The corner creases were knocked out from behind using a standard curved
"dolly" as a hand held hammer head.
Even the rear panel got it. And hard to get behind to work on!
With a large hole saw I cut two holes 1 foot apart from behind into the inner rear panel.
Then I cut the middle portion of sheet metal away with a cut-off saw. After that, it was easy
to knock the rear panel back into shape. A sheet metal cover panel will cover the surgery.
Then I'll screw on a steel patch panel on the inside before final installation of the gas tank.
Smaller, 2 inch holes were drilled from behind into the ends of the inner panel to give access
the bottom fasteners for the Off-Your-Rocker corner plates.
After seeing this damage, I'm all for body armor!