Hey!
Rockhead's XJ came down pretty hard on something while I was wheeling in it, and as a result the rocker panels on both sides of the vehicle are a bit impacted (upwards).
Anybody here ever tried repairing these? Rockhead plans on installing rails at some point, and the lips that those would normally clip on to and run along are in a pretty bad way.
Thanks!

 

U can replace then but they are a huge pita, itd be easyer to just fill the dents with body filler

 

Well, it's not so much an issue of dents as the whole panel essentially being one large dent...I was hoping for more in the way of tools and tips for straightening them back out (to an extent). Thanks though!

 

cut them out and weld in 3/16" 2"x6" steel tube. fixes the dent problem and the lack of sliders problem

 

Well, they can be pulled out, if you really want to stick with them. I had a buddy that worked at Maaco, and when we were about to put my sliders on, he straightened them out pretty good. I don't know what the tool was called, but it would tack weld a small pin to the sheet metal, and you could pull it out via a slide hammer, or pliers for smaller adjustments. The pin will break off pretty quickly, so quite a few were used. Afterwards, it was smoothed out and still puttied a bit.

So that is one way to do it

 

Just curious, does Rockhead know that Rockheadsson did this?

Being a dad myself......... well, good luck.

 

he knows! he's not /exceedingly/ cross...just a bit. but hey - no rock rails, bound to happen eventually.

 

It's not dented.
I call that self clearancing!

I saw Rockhead today. He didn't mention the damage. You got off easy!

 

Just look into replacing them with the 2x6 square. Lots of folks do it, ts not that difficult.

 

Hell ya! That's the way to go!