Cracked Bed

[Dane]

I just noticed that the plastic bed of my Gator is cracked. It's in the lower corner where the horizontal bottom radiuses up to the vertical back corner at the tailgate. The crack starts at the tailgate opening and it heading straight across the radius heading for the corner. And, I'm pretty sure I'm out of warranty.

Anyone else have their plastic bed cracking?

[WOEII]

I don't like the sounds of that. :OhNoes:

[Dane]

Sorry, I forgot that a picture is worth a thousand words. I stop drilled the end to see if that stops the crack.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad67/pilotdane2/2014/Gator/CrackedBed_zpsc5ae4a18.jpg

[vanderrt]

I have a small crack starting at a screw at the back center of the bed, when the tail gate up it covers it. It is very tiny right now.

[WOEII]

Sorry, I forgot that a picture is worth a thousand words. I stop drilled the end to see if that stops the crack.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad67/pilotdane2/2014/Gator/CrackedBed_zpsc5ae4a18.jpg

Manufactures defect. :lurk:

[MBDiagMan]

Very wise to drill the hole at the end of it. I wonder if you could "V" it out and fill it with an epoxy that is known to be compatible with the bed material.

You would make a good aviation IA. That is the guy that does close inspections on aircraft, looking for hairline cracks among many other anomalies. Good catch.

[Dane]

I'm way out of warranty. When I check on what a new bed would cost I see that they have obsoleted the old and now have a new number. I wonder if they made a change due to cracking.

The bed looks roto cast, of which I don't have much experience. I don't know if that can impart stresses in the plastic. I have a lot of injection and vacuum molded parts made and I know the quality of the material makes a huge difference in crack resistance. I once tried using material that had re-grind and had cracking problems where using 100% virgin material it's almost impossible to make crack.

[vanderrt]

Use super glue or another plastic repair product cut several small strips of flexable plasic and set the strips across the crack like you were using butter fly bandages to close a wound. That should keep it from spreading and cracking any farther. Make sure it's clean and place them on the inside so they don't show. Guess you really didn't need me to tell you that :Nnd: