AF 1150 trim strip fix?

[NorseNW]

So completely new to the truck camper stuff. We have about a year under our belt now and loving it. Our setup is a 2015 Chevy 3500 dually diesel and AF 1150.

A few months ago I noticed a wavy spot in the diamond plate on the side wall of the basement area on the slide side. Hopefully the pictures explain it better than I can. It appears the diamond plate got pulled down or bumped into something causing it to come down below the trim piece and get stuck outside the trim piece. Aesthetically I could care less. The problem I see is this now has a nice open spot for water, snow, dirt, critters, etc to get in. I would like to get it sealed back up.

I contacted my local dealer and they said it looked like we ran it into something. My wife disagrees with them but I'm thinking we did it. On one of our first couple trips we decided to take the camper off to go explore some places. Not knowing any better we left the slide out put the jacks down and off she came. When it came off the truck it moved toward the slide side due to the weight. My guess is this piece rubbed up against the truck wheel well in the bed of the truck. That motion would pull down and away causing the issue I now have.

Local dealer said to bring it in and they will take a look at it which is great and they have been nothing but good to us through the purchase process. Here's where I start looking for a better option. They want $100 just to take a look at it. I get it that's pretty standard wage for getting stuff worked on but I'm a handy guy and do a lot myself. Plus it's a 2 hour drive to Apache and all the sudden I'm in this for an entire day maybe more to get this fixed.

Sooooo - Would someone be able to tell me how this trim strip is attached before I start reefing on it? It appears from my antics of trying to pull down on the diamond plate piece to get it to slide back under that the trim strip is just shiny plastic.

I'm guessing just pulling that trim strip off and putting a new one is about the only way to go. I've also thought of make two cuts on either side of the bulge and taking just that piece of finish strip of and replace it with something else.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

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[NVR2L82AV8]

Good fix. I'm gonna have to do the same to my AF990. I've got a good 1/2 gap that has easily pulled out from under this piece of trim coverup with a nice ripple in the metal. From the looks of the comments this is clearly a poor production design flaw. I just wonder if Northwood ever redesigned and corrected this on the newer units. Heck mine is a 2013 model.....go figure.

[GeoBoy]

Very nice. I am going to keep this in the old memory bank for future reference.

[NorseNW]

Well here is the finished "product".

Joe417 you get the winner winner chicken dinner trophy! Thank you for the "duct tape" idea it worked perfectly.

So I cut away at the plastic trim strip thinking I would remove the entire section and lay the diamond plate back down flat. Apparently that trim strip has a backing on the other side. Think of it like an I-beam I guess. You have the flared piece on the front with a straight connector in the middle. On the back side it looks like there is another plastic piece that lays against the body of the camper.

Once I found that I went to plan B and just cut away the bottom section of the trim piece allowing me room to lay the diamond plate flat again. I squirted some roofing adhesive in behind the diamond plate to make it stay flat.

Side note - it's very hard to get a caulking gun into that tight spot. If you think home economics taught you nothing....... I fashioned a "piping bag" - think cake decorating out of a zip loc bag. I pumped some of the caulking into the ziploc bag, cut off a corner and easy peasy in goes the caulking even with a tight crack.

I put some pressure on it to make it hold flat with a handy dandy 2x6 and a tv tray overnight.

Came back the next day and super duct taped that bad boy shut. That metal backed duct tape seals very nicely. There you have it!

I have all the stuff to do this to your rig if you have the need. I'll only charge $50/hr plus gas for travel!

[Joe417]

Sounds like the newer models are made that way. Ours is an 05. That may have been a build change to make them easier to assemble. Maybe easier to get it behind the gas lines.

I personally would rather have a smooth skin on it. It would have cut down on the camper rash in the truck bed. I have about 3/4" on either side of the tailgate jam when loading.

It is what it is.

I guess it looks more rugged when it's off the truck.

You do know they make designer duct tape these days. That might be the "touch" that makes it yours.

[NorseNW]

kerry4951 wrote:

deltabravo wrote:

Joe417 wrote:
Looking at the picture, it looks like the diamond plate was 2 inches too short so it was pieced and sealed with, I believe you said plastic trim.

Mine is the same way.

X2........ I suspect that trim has double sided tape behind it

Well that kind of makes me not so happy. For what you spend on these puppies if I should have a full sheet of diamond plate with no splices I think it would be nice if they gave me one. Most importantly don't say anything to my wife! If she finds out I fear for the lives of those at Northwood and they are not that far away.

Actually took a short break there to make sure I wasn't the only one getting the hose job. Looked a few 2015 1150's online and they have the same trim strip.

Still would rather have the full sheet you guys got but oh well yours won't have the nice homey duct tape feel that mine will! Just wait til you see the results - you will be begging me to "upgrade" yours 😉

[kerry4951]

deltabravo wrote:

Joe417 wrote:
Looking at the picture, it looks like the diamond plate was 2 inches too short so it was pieced and sealed with, I believe you said plastic trim.

Mine is the same way.

X2........ I suspect that trim has double sided tape behind it

[deltabravo]

Joe417 wrote:
Looking at the picture, it looks like the diamond plate was 2 inches too short so it was pieced and sealed with, I believe you said plastic trim.

Mine is the same way.

[NorseNW]

Joe417 - I like it! Thank you for the suggestions. I'm going to give your solutions a try first. Seems like the best option so far in my opinion. As long as she is sealed up I'm happy. I'll keep you posted on the results, but first a camping / fishing trip at the lake awaits.......... priorities and luckily it's not raining here!

[Joe417]

Looking at the picture, it looks like the diamond plate was 2 inches too short so it was pieced and sealed with, I believe you said plastic trim.

The diamond tread on our 990 is all one piece on each side. It isn't glued on. It's attached with trim along the bottom and front edges and some small angle aluminum at the back. The top edge butts up to the bottom of the camper wings and is caulked with clear sealer.

The easiest thing to do would be flatten the diamond plate, put a couple of short screw in the top edge and seal it with aluminum duct tape.

If you clean the aluminum area that the tape will be on with acetone and then press the aluminum tape down into the crevices of the tread, it will make a water proof seal. It's used on air conditioning duct work with exposure to weather and last for years.

Another quick fix would be to use aluminum trim like that used on the front cap to rubber roof seam. Install it with short screws and seal with clear caulking. Either way, you won't see it when the TC is on the truck and it will keep dirt and moisture from behind the diamond tread.

[Nautique200]

I have the same exact camper. I'd be happy to help you out when I get back next week from our trip. I'd be curious to see how this works out. I went and looked at mine and I am not sure what that piece is there for? Is there a seam in the diamond plate? Why would there be a seam there? Mine bows out a little bit but not enough to see anything behind it.

[NorseNW]

Yes it certainly does not need to pretty for me. Just functional and not allowing stuff into the voids. I've gotten away from the pretty stuff and more into functional as I get older. Kind of like me - less attractive but more functional than I used to be........ That's what my daily mirror affirmations are anyway!

I may just start pulling stuff off after our trip this weekend and see how functional I can make it. The worst that can happen is I screw it up worse and still need to take it back in. Seems like the Northwood gent was mainly concerned about getting it sealed back up which is where I'm thinking as well.

[Bedlam]

I don't think you have to replace plating, but you will have to remove it and clean off the adhesive. I do not think it is welded anywhere but do not know how the ends are held in place.

You could skip removal and use a wooden block to straighten the plating and clamp it down after filling the voids with adhesive, but it will not be a perfect fix even if it is functional.

[NorseNW]

Super Dave - yes that is the correct piece. From what I can see it's just a plastic trim strip. There is a space between the two pieces of diamond plate there. I'm not so concerned about the plastic trim strip it's the diamond plate on the bottom side that is bowed out a bit leaving a gap for water and junk to get in.

Unfortunately I think Bedlam may be correct. To properly do it that whole piece may need to come off. It just doesn't seem like there is any adhesive on the back side. But I'm not sure how to get the diamond plate to lay flat again.

Here is the response from Northwood Mfg that leads me to believe Bedlam is on the right track - "if you didn't want to replace the diamondplate, i would find a flat molding and install it there . and be sure to seal it with geocell. staple the diamondplate on both sides to make it lay flat. seal it and mold it. then seal the molding with geocell"

I don't think I have the know how or tools to replace that whole sheet of diamond plate. I used to weld aluminum but that was many moons ago and don't have the equipment anymore

[Super_Dave]

It is unclear to me what purpose this piece serves? Also not 100% sure what I'm seeing in the picture. I'm assuming you are talking about the piece that runs a couple of inches from the top of the diamond plate and the full length of the floor?