Bend Rear Ladder

[ajkishgolf12]

Has anyone had success bending a rear ladder back? It is slightly bend on one side in between a step. It is not broken and only slightly bend. Purely for cosmetic reasons. It appear if i put something in between the back of RV and the bend pipe i could winch i back with something. Any ideas?

[Goodspike]

I have no idea what your particular ladder looks like, but I would remove it before trying to bend it back to avoid breaking anything on your vehicle. Also it would probably make bending it back easier and lead to a straighter fix.

[SLOweather]

I say remove it and take it to a body shop or machine shop.


Or, buy a new one...

[Morich]

If the right tools are on hand there is some hope of doing it without folding the material.
Think of trying to get a crooked board straight by adding a second straight one?
I've used an item called a "strongback" to place on the outside of the ladder and then used a large clamp like a pipe clamp or other that has a screw type adjustment to gradually pull the upright close to straight.
A strongback is a construction term that winds up being pretty simple to build out of 2X4 put together at a 90 degree and then screwed solidly so that the wide part of one keep the narrow part of the other from bowing. Think angle iron or for stronger, think "C" channel of wood?
Some padding like old carpeting, etc. to pad the wood against the ladder, will help.
When getting close to straight, I had to go for an extra wood block at each end of the strongback to let me bow the ladder more than straight as it seemed to want to pop back to a bit crooked after taking the first try.

[cptdzl]

I damaged mine bad enough that I needed to cut out the 2' section on each side of the ladder. I then did some measuring for both the O.D. of the ladder aluminum and the I.D. to order new tubing. I then sister'd (is that the correct term) in the I.D, pieces with rivets and then installed the O.D. pieces ( messed up on ordering anodized not chrome) again with rivets. It really came apart easy and measure, measure, measure and then test fit. With the exception of the mismatched aluminum finish the ladder is as strong as ever. I priced out a replacement and I found a used/salvage for ~$300 and new ones up to $600+. I think I spent 80-100 dollars (20 of it shipping) on the tubing and rivets. I chose the repair route. see attached

[NeilV]

The forces required could compromise the mounting brackets if you try to winch it away from the coach. Best is to remove it, fill it with clean sand and then bend it straight if there are not any sharp kinks in it. If you pull on it with a winch and compromise the mounts the consequences from them failing unexpectedly while your using the ladder can be severe enough to leave you crippled or dead so caution is advised.

[RTrider]

If you are going to straighten "in place", I think Morich has the right idea. I have done similar things and the result isn't always perfect, but can provide significant improvement. One additional suggest with using this method is to find a piece of pipe that will just go over the outside of the tube and cut in half, to place on the clamp point. This will reduce the chance of denting the tube with the clamp.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by RTrider

If you are going to straighten "in place", I think Morich has the right idea. I have done similar things and the result isn't always perfect, but can provide significant improvement. One additional suggest with using this method is to find a piece of pipe that will just go over the outside of the tube and cut in half, to place on the clamp point. This will reduce the chance of denting the tube with the clamp.

Definitely a good point that I did not mention is that the point where we put the pressure needs help to avoid just pushing a dent in it. Pipe is good but I'm not well set up to cut a pipe lengthwise, so I go for wood as easy for me to work.
A 2X4 with groove cut on the thinner (2"?) edge to match the ladder size will also work and it does also help to keep it all lined up whilewe work to put the pressure on.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by cptdzl

I damaged mine bad enough that I needed to cut out the 2' section on each side of the ladder. I then did some measuring for both the O.D. of the ladder aluminum and the I.D. to order new tubing. I then sister'd (is that the correct term) in the I.D, pieces with rivets and then installed the O.D. pieces ( messed up on ordering anodized not chrome) again with rivets. It really came apart easy and measure, measure, measure and then test fit. With the exception of the mismatched aluminum finish the ladder is as strong as ever. I priced out a replacement and I found a used/salvage for ~$300 and new ones up to $600+. I think I spent 80-100 dollars (20 of it shipping) on the tubing and rivets. I chose the repair route. see attached

Does that one rung come off? What is in this hole, a rivet or Bolt?

[cptdzl]

Edit - I thought ?allen or hex head set screw,



Roll pin that is driven through the front and back side of the step, had to drill the tube. Did that after dry/test fitting the part on the work bench or solid surface. Recommend a roll pin punch driver for a smooth installation