this was how i climbed up and down from the roof rack of my formatter i know not the most ideal way
now with two kids i'm not getting any younger as a dad so yeah i need to look out for the recaps
hi i'm Ratha Sochenda and in this video i'll take you through my process of how i built this ladder
from scratch my goal for this ladder build was to have it match the rest of the
runner and make it secure as i may be using it as a secondary anchoring point for a future project
before i know exactly what to build i need to see what else is out there
more often there are already pre-made ones that i could buy but if you're like me you enjoy the
process of building things this process normally involves searching on pinterest and youtube
to create the images i like best doing this step helps me set a general direction for the project
from there i start out by creating a basic master sketch in solidworks
once i'm happy with the cad model i'll create a 2d drawing that includes a cut
list for the steel a list of hardware any key dimensions and cut out templates basically
it would be a road map that helps me preview where i start to where the project will end up
i started with the top and bottom mounting plates this would help determine my upper and lower limit
for the side rail the bottom bracket i made it so it would hook under the lip of the flip gate
this involves using a few steel angles and steel plates well together
so
since some of the steel angles didn't come in certain sizes that i needed
i used a piece of rectangular tubing and modified it to get the two size brackets
instead of using the angle grinder i decided to switch it up and use my horizontal band soft
i'm not sure if it was any more accurate but it was cool to experiment
because i needed the lower bracket to sit flush i used a grinding bit to get into tight spaces
to remove enough of the inner welds and edge
i gave it a quick test fit and you can see
i used three bolts to help spread the load when securing it
next was to finish the components of the top mount
i start off by getting a rough angle measurement of the curve then created a one-to-one template
to get a layout how it would look and help determine placement for the upper bracket
this would also hook in the same way as the bottom but additionally be secured with double-sided tape
to make the plate i started off using some steel sheet i measured and marked out the bend line
after getting the sheet bent it needed to go a little bit further i threw it in my table bias
and sandwiched a piece of steel between it while i clamped it to my desired angle
because of where it needed to be placed it interfered with the hinge of the liftgate
i marked the area where i needed to shave some metal off
this part is actually not done yet but i'll show you later in the video where this picks up again
so before i even make start you know bending stuff uh one cheap way to to kind of get a template is
use pvc pipe um i've seen other videos they use the hanger they use cardboard
i wanted to use a template to better match the end product
this is three-quarter pvc this is going to help me get my angles and my lengths because
as you know dom's pretty expensive so i wanted to use a alternate cheap way to prototype
before i start bending this guy up so how this works is i start out with two pieces of pvc pipe
then i 3d printed this two piece adjustable elbow that inserts into the pipes this allows
me to rotate the tubes to create the desired angle i guess you can look at
this like a homemade angle protractor then i connected the third piece of pipe and so forth
trimming and adjusting the angles of the pipes so that it follows the contour of the lift gate
i made sure to space the ladder about four inches from the body from where i would step
this allows enough clearance for my feet to comfortably climb up
to clear the spoiler i put a scrap piece of quarter inch plate in between then once
i was happy with the pvc mock-up i laid it flat on my table to measure the angles
i used two one two three blocks and a digital angle finder to record the angle
then went back into the cad model to update the angles in the sketch to get the first tube length
i measured the tube and to the center of the axis of rotation or i guess to the center of the bolt
and then repeated this step from the center of the bolt to the next now that i have my
angles to refine and the distance from each tube i plug those values into the 3d sketch
then turn each connecting point into three inch radiuses to match the center line radius of the
bending die i would be using i know i'm cheating a bit by using a software to calculate the
distance needed after each band is made but i'll link a video in the description on how
this could be done manually to achieve the same results now that we have all that figured out time
to bend up some round two i use my trusty jd model 2 2 bender made by jd squared that i modified to
allow me to bend in the vertical position due to the limited space in my home garage
but most importantly the bend quality is amazing and looks professional
this is the same type of bender i use when i built my rock sliders and roof rack
before i would bend the second tube i brought it over to see how it aligned with everything
i felt pretty good and then the second rail and trimmed it to match
because i care about aesthetics i take it one step further
and moved in the left railing to follow the contour of the lip gate
in the horizontal to protect the forerunner from weld sparks i use a welding blanket
i space the steps about 10 inch apart from one another
now with everything tucked in place it's time to burn it all in
to attach the top part of the ladder to the lift gate i marked and drilled to help me locate
where the two threaded studs post would need to be installed
to provide a clean weld up i grinded off the mill scale
then scribed in crosshairs to later help center the studs
to make them weldable i use my belt grinder to round and shorten the head of the bolt
this will allow for a clean pathway for filler weld
then ironically this bad boy showed up in time it's the lincoln tig 200. not totally necessary
for welding in the stud but would provide a smaller weld profile than my make welder
added some tap holes as i would later secure it with screws together with the double-sided sticky
tape after the stud was welded on i ran into issues fitting up the top plate with the top
mount of the ladder i came up with two options that could work simply drill a larger hole or
create a dimple around the hole now option one would work great but would allow some slack around
the stud which could cause a ladder to shift over time i know i can torque the bolts down and that
would help but it also puts a lot of stress on the welds now option two would work better as
far as function but take some experimenting since i don't have the proper tools to make a dimple if
you're like me i appreciate the challenge and took the road less travel and did a little experiment
i got some tubing to provide the backing and some scrap plate that a hole already drilled out
then use a socket to act as a die then brought it over to the press
once i was satisfied with the results i moved over to where i would need to do this on the ladder
to attach the bottom part of the liftgate it's sort of like how we did the top
you can see i left about a three inch gap this is so that when i bolted it down
the ladder actually squeezes down tight to the lift gate
i then clamped it down then drilled and tapped the holes
i chose to drill up and through where it's centered with the round tube
i also forgot to film this but i also went ahead and drilled two
holes through the bottom of the plate into the lift gate to have a place where i can bolt it down
then made a backing strip to bolt it to
to finish it off i scuffed and wiped down the parts down with acetone
and applied my favorite can of steel it
after a few days of letting the paint cure it was time to get everything prepped for install
for the areas that would get the 3m double sided tape i wiped him down with alcohol
and heated up the surface to help promote better adhesion
after that was out of the way i moved on to installing the top plate
then installed the ladder
because of the additional weight of the ladder and my already worn out lift k
shocks the lift kit has struggled a little bit to come up and stay up
i got some aftermarket replacements and they seemed to do a better job
a little slow after it had reached a certain point but
i was satisfied to have it clear my head and stay up in the up position
after all that this is how my foreigner looks like with the new ladder aesthetically i think
it complements the roof rack gives it that more off-road look i guess
and it's super sturdy which gives me confidence that it will be secure
but most importantly i can easily climb up to my roof rack
which will help make it easier to load and unload things especially when the family and i go camping
as always i hope you found this entertaining and it gave you some ideas or tips
and if you're wondering sure i could have bought a pre-made ladder versus making one
for about the same price i spent on materials and time but if you're like me
i simply enjoy building stuff i actually enjoy the process and the challenge
if you have any questions about anything in the video leave me a comment and i'll do my
best to answer it as always i appreciate you watching see you in the next one