Between all the smoke and ash, an inch of rain and 3" of snow, and several days of 30* weather, we finally had two very nice days on Saturday and Sunday.
The instructions weren't very clear, and some of the illustrations were oriented wrong on them, causing you to either stand on your head, or rotate the page.
The hardware was typical Chinesium quality, all thrown together in a bag so the threads get dinged up, and I spent a good hour with a rethreading tap and die set to get the threads cleaned up.
It took about an hour to get the brackets mounted to the body, and then I fiddled around for another hour or so installing the steps to the brackets. Things weren't lining up quite right, so rather than get all bent out of shape, I picked up my tools and vowed to finish it on Sunday.
Wound up crawling around loosening the brackets to get the steps aligned, made sure they were square and level, and then tightened everything back down.
They're solid enough to hold my disgusting fat body (195lbs) , and SLW was very happy with them once she tried them, making comments about how easy it will be to get in the truck when there's snow and ice on the ground.
My helper was quite pleased with the job, and gave me an "ATTABOY!" with his bottle of soap bubbles..
Today he and I are playing Monster Truck out in the back yard. His little truck is an amazingly competent RC model, but for today we're getting out my Arrma Senton to bash.
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Yay! One step forward and NO steps back!!!
ReplyDeleteNothing major, anyway!
DeleteLooks good!
ReplyDeleteThanks, WSF!
DeleteIf you say the Neil Armstrong quote four times, it fits perfectly.
ReplyDeleteOne of the assembly rules says that no fastener gets tightened until every fastener is in place. That's saved me a lot of rework over the years. I am however of the age that I'm having to relearn lessons.
They do look sharp.
I didn't fully tighten them. The instructions said "snug", but I guess what they call "snug" is what I call "finger loose"!
DeleteYou really need to leave the brackets "loose and rattly" before you put the steps on the brackets with the supplied T-Bolts.
Yep. "Loose and rattly" nails it. I forgot to ask about my favorite relative, Auntie Seas. :)
DeleteShe's doing just fine, John, and was applied to the bolts that hold the brackets to the truck.
Delete:)
DeleteNice looking rig!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Parson!
DeleteThat looks like a good job, well done. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rev Paul! Off to get an Ariens later this week.
DeleteDrJim, are those step sides made from cast aluminum? How durable are they? Would they hold up to North Idaho winters?
ReplyDeleteThe frame for the side steps is made from square aluminum tubing. The steps that bolt on to the frames are cast aluminum. They're "powder coated", but I expect I'll be taking them off in a couple of years to get sand blasted and then coated with bedliner. I think the material they're made from is durable if you can prevent it from corroding. In my experience, ALL the chinesium stuff has pretty poor powder coating. I'd guess they don't prepare the parts properly (degrease them at least), so the coating can't adhere very well.
DeleteDo you salt the roads in Idaho? The guy at the bedliner place said they don't use sodium chloride (table salt) on the roads here, but they do use magnesium chloride. It's not as bad as salt, but it does corrode things.