Hand - Bending Sheet Metal?

I am finishing up building a high clearance rear bumper and am preparing to cut my bedsides somewhere around this:


I would love to cut the sheet metal a little lower than that line and then bend it back on itself - anyone done this? I think the straight cut edge looks a little unfinished. Edge trim is an option, but I don't love the idea of water sitting in the edge trim and potentially rusting away the metal.
My two concerns with bending are that there is a body line running 2-3" along the bottom edge of the bedsides that I'd be bending across, and the paint. I know people use a heat gun to get the paint to be a little more flexible when rolling fenders, but I think I'm bending more than the paint can take.
I'm a 100% body work newbie - any advice?

 

Make your finishing bed where the line is and then do a 90 degree bend to fold the cut edge facing the frame. Your paint is going to crack and flake off anytime youre makin abend like that. So you will have to sand prep and blend paint in that area.

 

@831Tun @boardude this guy has me curious; what did you do?

 

Might be in my build thread. I picked up new glass today so I'll be doing it again soon. On the 3rd gen there's different angle to deal with. I filled a portion where the bumper end is. Here's how I created a return to the bottom of the cut to add strength.

 

Well dang, that’s right, all you guys with badass “big Tundras” have 2nd gens. Gotta think of who has a 3rd gen and may have done their own fab’.

 

Get a pair of these and take your time.

 

Mine is a 2nd gen, but @831Tun is a 3rd gen. Body lines are not that different, though. Thanks for calling out to the helpful people!

I like that little bend, and probably adds a fair bit of strength. That came out looking really clean!

That looks like the ticket!
Thanks @Cubo55 for the first reply, looks like I need to learn how to blend paint now...

 

Mine is 3rd gen

 

I get confused. I’ve spent a lot of time on the 1st gen page where Hand Model has convinced me, apparently, ‘there are only two generations’.

 

Some people nit pick this and say that since the only consequential change was some body style differences it’s not a “real” new generation.

 

There is, the 2.5 gen guys got ripped off.

 

Since you know you are going to have to touch up the paint anyway, I'd make little pie cuts at the seams before you fold it over. Use those little pliers that the previous guy said and a hammer to tap at the bend to keep it crisp. Tack your pie cuts back together after the bend and grind them smooth.

Probably no body work needed. I'd just blend the paint line with some higher grit sand paper - maybe work your way up to 600 or something, then get you a rattle can from automotivetouchup.com. While you are at the site, check out their how-to videos for feather sanding and blending paint. It won't look perfect when it is perfectly clean after you are done, but give it time to get a little dusty. Where it is on the truck will hardly ever be clean. You won't notice it once there is a little dust on the truck.

 

I love this project, by the way. You are doing awesome!

 

I’m kinda in the same boat with cutting body panels, thanks for this great tip!

 

Fantastic advice! Thank you!

 

Just my opinion. I would say that you need to grind all the paint an inch past where you are going to do the bend. draw your line with the sharpie. Only go to where the bumper kink is in the bed. cut that straight back to the bumper. Take a sheet metal seamer, do a little at a time to get your whole length bent. just 1/4 inch of a bend at a time or something. do the whole thing. Then put yourself a tape line, prime, and then hit it up with some bedliner. You will have a 1 inch stripe of bedliner, and a perfect bend.

Does all that make sense? you're not going to be able to get a lip behind that bumper or whatever unless you do a little welding which is easy enough to do.

 

Hey Pete, I know you're documenting your bumper build. It would be great to see how you tackle and document this portion of it as well.

 

No problem. Looking forward to seeing the finished product! Keep your little pie pieces from the outside corners, you're going to need one for the inside corner and the bottom. lol.

 

I am one of those people! A mid-gen facelift does not a new generation make. See also: 5th gen 4Runners.

See also also:

 

I’m home on paternity leave and had some time where everyone was napping so I decided to just go for it today!
I laid out some painters tape and marked the ends where I wanted. For reference, 3.25” behind the wheel well lines up with the natural outline bend of the bedside and 11.25” below the taillight lines up with the bottom of my bumper.

Then I used an old flexible sewing tape measure to make hash marks 1 inch below my original bend line. I connected the dashes and had a cut line.

I put a 6” cutting disc on my 4.5” angle grinder (it was all I had, and it cuts like butter), and cut on the lower line.

I made a few pie cuts on the major bends, and used the Harbor Freight 6” metal seamer/bender to bend the edge over 90 degrees.


The forward pie cut will weld together nicely, but I’ll need a small piece to weld in the rear gap. And this is what I ended up with:


I really need to finish welding the bumper and get it painted, and that last picture sure makes it look like I need bigger tires!
The only thing I’d change if I were to do this again is to buy the 3” metal bending pliers, not the 6”. There’s not a whole lot of edge, and the bends are tight.

 

Did the paint crack at the bends?

 

Definitely more to worry about bending it, just cut it off and add rubber liner

 

It did. I figured it would and already ordered the paint so I didn’t bend a little at a time or use any heat. Not sure if either of those things would have made a difference.
The bigger section (washed out in the picture) I picked at, but you can see the thin crack at the bend line in the middle of the picture.

 

Definitely true. I like the more finished look of a bend, and wanted to add a little structural rigidity as well as a place to remount the support bracket.
Those wheels and the 37 Coopers look amazing btw!