Anyone ever had a cracked camper shell?

I'm in the same boat. Mine needs a reseal, debating driving under a large tree branch and attaching some ropes to the roof rack

 

Regarding the cracks: Do you have bed stiffener brackets near the tailgate? They can help if this is caused by bed wall flexing near the tailgate.

When your tailgate is closed, do you have uneven gaps between the vertical edges of the tailgate and the bed sidewall?

 

I think you likely need a new rubber double bulb seal under the cap rails where the contact the top of your bed rails.

Basically this stuff, widely available in slightly different spec from many places:

$29 ESI Super Cap Seal 20 FT (1 1/2" Width x 1/2" Height x 20' Length) EPDM Rubber for Caps 200 lbs or less

https://www.amazon.com/d/Truck-Cove...d=1546408347&sr=8-1&keywords=truck+shell+seal


Regarding possible leaks under your plastic bed rail caps and at the front bed wall corners, I posted this recently in the Show Me Your Shell thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/show-me-your-shell.13598/page-356#post-18785015

Window leaks: depends on where it is coming from. You can try tightening all the screws holding the metal window frames to the cap. If that doesn't do it, you may need to remove them, clean the edges, and add silicon caulk, then reinstall.

 

Awesome. Wish I could use the forklift at work for this job LOL. Still unsure what to do about the cracks. On the outside of the window there is some slots that I noticed. The windows did not leak at all when it was actually raining, just from the car wash pressure spray. It seems like a lot of that water is coming from my bed cubbies? What do you think?

 

Do you guys think drilling a hole and epoxy or using bondo hair will work for stopping it?

Thoughts on adding more clamps?

 

Drilling holes to stop cracks in metal works so I would try that if it were my cap. My friend told me about this thing called rapid fix . Like super glue but you add the powder part and it instantly hardens .Only thing on vertical surface liquid part will tend to drip. I used it . Better to try something instead of leaving it .
Of course grinding area and fiberglassing is best repair but drilling a hole and filling in with epoxy or the rapid fix would give me some piece of mind .
Also finding out what caused it is the most important thing . Think I would also use a fender washer under bolt for clamp to give a little more surface area to clamp on .https://www.rapidfix.com/
God luck with what ever you decide

 

You need to pull the cap and reseal it. There are several threads on here about how to do it but scocar basically summed it up. When you pull it off you can get a better idea what's going on with the crack and decide whether it's superficial or all the way through. Either way, you are going to need to repair it to keep it from getting worse. There are videos on youtube showing how to repair fiberglass boats that will show you what to do; it's not hard, but it is time consuming to do a proper job.

If the slots that you are talking about in the window tracks are along the bottom they are to allow water to drain out of the channel. Be sure that you check the frame screws as suggested and snug them up. If you still have leaking around the windows you can pull them and reseal.

Personally I'm not sold on the style of securing that shell that your installer used. Yes, I know it's what's commonly used on most shells these days but just based off what I've read here and some other sites, it's folks with that setup who seem to be the largest group complaining about leaks. My non-engineer guess just based on pictures is that it's pulling the inside part of the shell down which would leverage/lift the outside part slightly. My shell was installed in 2006 IIRC and it just now starting leaking last year in the front corners where the seal is starting to come out. The installer used two layers of seal in the front to compensate for the height difference and six clamps, three per side, not the ARE nubs that you run the bolts similar to the ones on your shell.

Again, I'm no expert by any stretch, just basing my guesses on my own experiences working with fiberglass, my trucks, etc. I'll post a picture of how mine is attached, just ignore the camping junk. Yes, the windows between the truck and cap really need cleaning.

 

@Bajatacoma do you know what those clamps are called? and where can I get them?

 

Just google "toyota tacoma camper shell bed clamps" and you'll get a million hits.

This place is a pretty good source for cap parts in general

https://www.truckoutfittersplus.com/store/topper_parts_clamps.htm#clamps


Scroll to
Toyota Tundra/Tacoma Fiberglass Cap Clamp (with utility track)

Look like this one fits in the track. But @Bajatacoma 's is different.



EDIT: Note that they have two different sizes of this type. Looks like the depth is different depending on need for specific caps.

 

the seal is easy, just lift it and reseal it. you can do it yourself as i do it. just lift it a few inches and put a bar under it to keep it up. seal it then lower it. I have cracked a few cabs, mainly from having a RTT and driving fast off road.

 

I'll just add for general info that you need to be careful tightening these clamps down. I've had them strip out on me.

 

Looks like the ops one missing the clamp portion and hole was drilled through cap. This looks a lot better .

 

That is how the camper shell is suppose to be installed. It is also how snugtop and leer is installed


However I do have these clamps as well because I bought extra. They were not installed

 

I thought the same thing about the clamps but when I move the shell it seems extremely solid. This is how almost all snugtop and leer are suppose to be mounted . I do have the same style clamps you do but I never installed them.

Do you have a long bed?

 

My Leer uses the through-glass bolt, and I took one look at that wimpy washer under the bolt head and stuck a big-ass fender washer under them all to reduce the point load on the fiberglass.

General observation to all posters in here: The more you crank down clamps, the more likely you are to deform/stress the fiberglass with point loading. The more clamps you add, the more stress points you create. I think less is more.

 

Yeah when I tightened the bolts I snubbed them and stopped before noticing the “wing” bending down. One point that I read was that a bigger washer would actually create more stress and would make it more likely for the “wing” to snap off

 

Just realized because of bed design cant use the clamp under rail clamps . My last camper was in a 98 Dodge Dakota .
At least it had a V8 lol.
Think I would use that other clamps you have . Seems like clamping force will be on top of bed rails so camper cant be pulled down on edge
Hope things work out for you .

 

I have no idea where to get the clamps like mine. Unfortunately the dealer, who'd been around for decades, has since closed up business when the old guy retired and the kids didn't want to continue it (they were in Rock Hill, SC). The comment about not over-tightening them is correct too, they're aluminum so just make sure to snug them up periodically. If I can get motivated enough I'll pull one of mine off and take a picture but I don't think they use a sliding t-nut, they have a jaw that goes inside the track.

I understand the concept of the newer mounting style but it seems like physics would come into play and the middle, unclamped section, would bow up slightly. The longer the space between clamps, i.e. the longer the bed, the worse it would seem to be.

 

Bed channel stiffeners might prevent any further cracking of the topper.

 

About the repairing the crack. In aerospace we grind off the crack and fill with 2 parts epoxy with chopped fiber glass cloth.