Bending the body back to normal...

Okay - my 76 CJ5 is bent on the side panels just below the doors...on both sides they curve inward at the top while it is straight at the bottom. It's almost like if it were made of plastic you could just pull it outward and bend it back, but of course it is made of steel, so I need to find a way to bend it back and then get it to stay there. Any ideas?

Im probably not describing it right...it almost looks like I would be able to take a huge offroad jack and place it horizontally, from the bottom of the door to the bottom of the door and just start "jacking" it back into position. Boy, that didn't sound right....

 

I have done some straightening of a few things by placing a towel over it to protect the paint and placing a piece of angle on both sides of the body the full length of the door and then clamp them together. Once it is clamped and is tight take a rubber malet and hit it on the inside of the body to relive the stress of the metal. Do this a little at a time and dont knock the you know what out of it or you will cause a crease in the body.

 

Big hammer.

 

:uwop:

 

Can you rig up a jack and some lumber inside? This should get the biggest part of it done, then you could finesse it with a mallet.

Okay, I just read the rest of your post. I'd try it...

 

FWIW,in my experience, Jeeps bend like that when rolled over.

 

you may want to consider how the damaged panels got that way.On my cj-5 i had the same thing.this is caused IMHO by heavy impact to cowl area (landing hard or hitting hard).I found that the measurment from top of w/s to rear of tub is less than what is specified when installing Bestop.the fix was to place a porta-power hydralic ram between front of wheel house and top of cowl(by w/s hinge)gentley apply pressure as you work the area by door opening.when your done the panel will be straight and the top will fit correctly.I am not a bodyman, but this worked for me.


mike s.

 

That is possible, but I am wondering if it is worth that much effort. This body isn't really worth fixing, given the rot and the bends (It's all messed up), and I found a guy 3 hours away with a fiberglass body, new in box, for $1000


But then, I dont have a grand yet....

 

Birdman, so sorry .have a nice day

mike s.

 

I don't understand what you are sorry about...your post was very helpful on how to possibly fix the problem.

I appreciate it!

 

You can use one of these.

http://ww2.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44899