Stairway to heaven (not quite!)

[clivehorridge]

So I must have been a good boy for some of 2013 'cos Santa's come early with one of these...



No, no, not the spare wheel, the ladder thingy on the left!

With my back not getting much better, I thought it time to invest in a better way to get my bikes and stuff up on the rack...




I asked for the treads to be as wide as possible so that there would be less chance of obstructing the number plate and it makes it more easy to use being able to stand with both feet on the same rung...



Some pics at various stages of assembly... one of the top support tubes and hook over door top...



Progression to the verticals bent to a similar profile of the door both rear on and side on...



A bit of a grind and shaping...



Some machining



Naked, pre sand blasting and 2 coats base, 3 coats gloss and 2 coats super tough laquer (it looks like plastic coating now!)



Voila !



The treads have some alloy chequer plate on for grip and it's ace!

Well chuffed!

 

[Shayne]

Very tidy i can't imagine how it could be better well done

 

[clivehorridge]

Cheers Shayne! He's a good old boy, doesn't speak much English, I don't speak much Romanian, it's a wonder it turned out to be a ladder, could have been a tow bar or something else lost in translation and sign language!

 

[Chas]

Looks very nice Clive, I got Julian V to build me one very similar but not so wide for getting up to the rear door of the roof tent. I sympathise with you, I've got a back like yours.

This is the only pic I can find of it.

 

[clivehorridge]

Looks very nice Clive, I got Julian V to build me one very similar but not so wide for getting up to the rear door of the roof tent. I sympathise with you, I've got a back like yours.

This is the only pic I can find of it.


View attachment 10129

Sorry Chas, but I don't think your back is anything like mine, I've got double side hinged doors and you've got the lift-up & drop-down tailgate configuration

 

[Chas]

Sorry Chas, but I don't think your back is anything like mine, I've got double side hinged doors and you've got the lift-up & drop-down tailgate configuration

No, I meant the ladder itself was similar, the 'back' was referring to pain of lifting, bending and such.

 

[clivehorridge]

Oooops, almost forgot, look what else Santa brought me.....

Cheers muchly to the two of you who know who I'm grateful to

 

[Chas]

I didn't realise those LR recovery stickers were 'see through' I thought they were a bumper sticker.

 

[clivehorridge]

Me too till I opened the package!

but it looks better on the truck than it shows in the photo, subtle...

Thanks Chas, well chuffed. I hope it doesn't mean lawn roller owners are going to phone me at 3:30 in the morning thinking I'm on 24/7 call out

 

[Shayne]

If you want it on a white background Chaz just stick it on a bit of this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gloss-600...allpaper&var=420083271385&hash=item1c28ad46c9 .

 

[Chas]

If you want it on a white background Chaz just stick it on a bit of this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gloss-600...allpaper&var=420083271385&hash=item1c28ad46c9 .

I haven't got one Shayne, I just bought one for Clive.
Chas

 

[Gary820]

Nice bit of work

 

[clivehorridge]

I haven't got one Shayne, I just bought one for Clive.
Chas

cheers Shayne!

 

[clivehorridge]

No, I meant the ladder itself was similar, the 'back' was referring to pain of lifting, bending and such.

I know, I know, I was only teasing Chas You have to excuse my weird sense of humour!

What's up, muscular or disc?

 

[Chas]

I know, I know, I was only teasing Chas You have to excuse my weird sense of humour!

What's up, muscular or disc?

Muscular, it started off doing

, then it was exacerbated by an accident on stage at the ROH pushing something extremely heavy that was in a place it shouldn't have been.

 

[clivehorridge]

Mine too, torn ligaments that won't heal properly. did them in as a youth doing silly things like lifting engines out of cars standing on the wings with a rope around my neck!

It's fine for a year then it goes without warning, lasts about 10-12 weeks, very painful. Muscle relaxants and pain killers are the only way out when it happens.

 

[Shayne]

Quinine (the malaria drug) is the best muscle relaxant i ever had .

 

[clivehorridge]

Cheers Shayne.

Mydocalm is what I take, and it works for me. It stops the spasms within an hour or so and 1 a day is enough over 10 days.

Getting a strong enough pain killer was the hard part. Actually, it wasn't the strength that I had a problem with, just finding one that didn't give me other side effects, nausea and dizziness. Ended up with Voltaren surprisingly, the best ones for me and straight off the shelf, not so strong either but enough till it passes.

 

[Shayne]

Still might be worth a try Clive , and for Chas , i'd had my leg in plaster for about 18 months , when the plaster was taken off my leg looked like a skeleton with skin , i exercised it as best i could constantly , physiotherapy asked to be signed off my case because they said i was pushing myself more than they would ever ask . 2 weeks later (christmas bloody day) i just stood up too quick and my leg snapped again . Put back in plaster the pain was beyond description , they suspected deep bone thrombosis . Nothing worked to relieve the pain until my surgeon decided quinine relax's muscle as an unavoidable side effect .

 

[Chas]

I decided to stay away from painkillers after I was told by a St Johns medic that just 7 paracetamol taken at once can do permanent damage to your liver (or was it kidneys )
The pain manifests itself in my hips, because whatever muscle it is that is the problem is pressing on my sciatic nerve, although both hips are affected there are times when the pain reaches right down to my left foot but not the right.

Sorry Clive we seem to have hijacked your original theme.