80-cents & 2 hrs to fix the $700.00 rear scuff plate

Not sure if anyone else had this problem, but my little flap gate on rear scuff plate broke? I removed it and found the little tiny plastic molded feature of the scuff plate that acts as a hinge pin holder, that has about 1/8 of material simply snapped off. I said wow that looks really cheap no wonder it broke!

I thought I 'd simply replace the main molded part thinking it would be cheap, re-using the chrome trim, flapper door and spring and found they only sell it as an assy for approximately $700.00!!

So as I had it off, and didn't want to deal with a dealer right now, I thought I'd see if I could fix it myself. As a FYI, I'm going on a 4-week travel trailer adventure with the truck in a few days, and wasn't sure if I could get in to the dealer, if the dealer has the part and could fix it on time, or would even cover it under warranty (blame me for breaking it, which I probably did but not really sure how).

In general I just made a 1/4 wide new hinge bracket that is screwed to it vs molded in (see pics).

I also want to say that this part is so poorly designed that the spring pressure (cross bar between spring coils) is distorting the plastic making it bow, which also prevents the flap from closing properly. Who ever designed this needs to re-think what design standards a 100K+ vehicle should be built as...

Below are pics the tiny molded plastic feature (arrows where it attaches to the main mold and snapped off), the new alum bracket, the screws from the outside that attach it and the listing of the scuff plate on line. Note; the old part number ended in AD, now AE so maybe they made it a little better.......maybe...