Need some body damage advice.

[Tjarget]

Full disclosure, I’m pretty rough on my truck. I use it for overlanding often, I tow a large trailer, and I’m kind of a speed junkie. That being said, I have never seen body damage like this before. About a year ago, while off-road, I took a particularly harsh bounce and noticed my tonneau cover and rooftop tent askew on the back of my bed. I was able to re-seat everything and the following day I noticed a tear in the rear panel. I’m fairly certain the jolt and twisting motion in the bed caused the tear, what I’m not certain of is what to do about it. Any thoughts on whether a repair is possible or if this is a panel replacement? The damage is currently about an inch and a half long.

 

[John Kloehr]

I'm sure it is repairable, probably a couple thousand with panel paint and no real blending. If you don't really care about it, drill a 1/4" hole at the bottom of the crack (make sure it is the end of the crack and does not continue on) to stop it from spreading.

 

[mikeru82]

First thing first...please include your truck details when you make a thread in which you're asking for help. Your pic shows the damage but exactly where is this damage located?

 

[Tjarget]

First thing first...please include your truck details when you make a thread in which you're asking for help. Your pic shows the damage but exactly where is this damage located?

My Bad. Its a 2019 Ram 1500 Big Horn 4x4 crew cab short bed. The damage starts at the stake hole closest to the cab on the passenger side.

 

[2025 Ram Limited]

I saw a post mentioning braces for the bed. You might want some for what you do.

 

[mikeru82]

My Bad. Its a 2019 Ram 1500 Big Horn 4x4 crew cab short bed. The damage starts at the stake hole closest to the cab on the passenger side.

If this is at a stake pocket it's clear that you overloaded the bed or you didn't have it secured correctly. You may be able to cut the damage out and weld in new sheet metal to fix it but I'm not sure if that will weaken it. I'd take it to a body shop and talk about how they would fix it. There's no charge for an estimate.

 

[PurpleRT]

Might be even cheaper and easier to find a new bed. Idk if i’d trust a repair longterm then find out exactly what you did or can do to prevent it from happening again.


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[Apny2nv]

Did you buy the truck new or used? That tear looks like it has body filler on it. If it is bondo, then that panel was damaged before and someone did a crappy repair.

 

[PurpleRT]

Did you buy the truck new or used? That tear looks like it has body filler on it. If it is bondo, then that panel was damaged before and someone did a crappy repair.

Good point, Im not a body man personal so I can’t tell but this might even be something you get a bodyshop locally to look at it and give their expertise/ price etc and go from there.


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[Tjarget]

Did you buy the truck new or used? That tear looks like it has body filler on it. If it is bondo, then that panel was damaged before and someone did a crappy repair.

Bought it new in 2019. 6 miles on it. I think maybe there’s some polishing compound worked into the rough edges of the tear.

 

[Tjarget]

I saw a post mentioning braces for the bed. You might want some for what you do.

Interesting. I’ll look into it.

 

[Tjarget]

Good point, Im not a body man personal so I can’t tell but this might even be something you get a bodyshop locally to look at it and give their expertise/ price etc and go from there.


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Agreed. I thought I’d start here in case someone had seen this before. I hate taking my truck somewhere without some basic knowledge of what my options are.

 

[PurpleRT]

[mention]boogielander [/mention]

Might have an opinion, he’a really the only one on here that that does the overlander/camping thing that I know around here.


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