Floors Dented Up Due to Jacking

jeffsunzeri

New Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2018
Messages
26
Reaction score
16
Location
Hollister, CA.
1971 Imperial Coupe.
The really bright, careful and super-mechanic previous owner/mechanic apparently ignored the proper way to jack up a unibody Imperial and placed the floor jack under the rear floor pans. On both sides. More than once, I believe. The result is footwells in the back raised 2 to 2 1/2 or so inches from flat.
I'm a little surprised they are only raised that much.....

Has anyone encountered this and repaired it successfully?

I'm thinking BFH and some serious whacking, or ?????

I think I've eliminated heating the pans with a rosebud, but I'll listen to experience.
 
1971 Imperial Coupe.
The really bright, careful and super-mechanic previous owner/mechanic apparently ignored the proper way to jack up a unibody Imperial and placed the floor jack under the rear floor pans. On both sides. More than once, I believe. The result is footwells in the back raised 2 to 2 1/2 or so inches from flat.
I'm a little surprised they are only raised that much.....

Has anyone encountered this and repaired it successfully?

I'm thinking BFH and some serious whacking, or ?????

I think I've eliminated heating the pans with a rosebud, but I'll listen to experience.

We fixed a few of these at the dealership that had been damaged in transit with a 4x6 block of wood and a 10lb sledge hammer. Start at the center of the damage and work your way out. Laying one 10lb sledge against the wood block and using another to strike it works the best. This method works as long as there are not any deep kinks in the floor pan, most of the time the foot well will be bowed up in the middle and that is not too hard to bend back. Avoid using heat as this destroys the rust proofing. Be sure to inspect for missing paint and rust proofing and re-coat as necessary when done.

Dave
 
I wouldn't recommend striking one hammer against another hammer. I would use a 2x4 or 4x4 and the BFH. the wood could just be slightly larger than the damaged area to prevent additional damage to the surrounding areas. The under coating most likely will crack, you'll want to repair that also. Good luck!!!
 
You could also get things started with a 10lb rubber mallet.
But at some point, yes, you want to use some blocks to flatten things out.

If there are any body plug holes nearby, you could run some boxtube across the rear framerails, and make a bolt/washer apparatus to draw the floor down toward the boxtube. Using large flat washers and then thru some wood blocks could help.

As mentioned, start at the deepest part of a dent and work toward the shallower. If you start at shallow and go toward deep, you'll be stretching the metal more.
 
The idea behind using one sledge to hit the other is that the stationary hammer can be positioned where you want the blow to strike and the stationary hammer also provides some additional kinetics to add to the force applied. Striking one hammer against the other can result in some small fragments of either hammer flying off, so wear eye protection. It is fairly difficult to swing a sledge thru a car door accurately so this method was devised as a field expedient.

Dave
 
To some degree you can use dry ice to help shrink the metal back into shape...although I'm sure you will still need the hammers...it should help some.
 
Back
Top