Home made Bridging Ladders?

Question

I'm contemplating buying/making a pair of GRP bridging ladders. They will form part of my rarely used emergency recovery collection. So far I've kept it cheap with a £50 2nd hand T35 tirfor (never used in anger), free rickety farm jack (regular source of much anger), and an assortment of blades/ropes/shackles and straps (often used).

Skip to the end..... Has anybody bodged up their own pair of bridging ladders from a GRP flooring section. I'm not prepared to pay £100 for a bit of disguised factory floor that might never be used.

I'm getting a quote from a company that just make the factory flooring, but unlike FibreGrid don't cut it up for 4x4 users and triple the profit margin. If I can get a section of GRP flooring, I'll be cutting it into 4 foot sections and flogging the spares. Any thoughts or advice? cheers DavidM

Steve · Accepted Answer

Yes, cut it with a diamond blade.Steve

DavidM · Answer

Yeah, I was expecting it to be pretty tough. Have you worked with the stuff before? I don't know how feasible the idea is, they may not want to sell 1 or 2 sheets or maybe GRP could become the new checkerplate. David

Steve · Answer

Yes, but not in thick sections like this. Diamond or carbide is the only stuff that won't lose its edge in 10 seconds on it. You are cutting glass when alls said and done. And in consequence the dust is very bad for the lungs - loaded with silica.

Steve

DavidM · Answer

Cheers for the advice. My brother works for a plastic engineering firm, sowill probably be taking care of the cutting. Best not to attemp this one inthe garage.

David French · Answer

One of "our" students made a set of ally bridging ladders as an A-levelproject.  They were a very neat design.  Let me know if you're interestedand I can get some photos / details to you.David

Roger Martin · Answer

I've knocked up some very basic sand ladders from steel angle iron - similar to the car ramps that you can buy in accessory shops. I did nt need anything flash, just something to get novice drivers out of soft sand. Width is 2 x tyre width, cross braces at 250mm, length - wide enough to strap onto the bull bars. One got badly bent and I ended up "straightening it" by driving over it a few times on concrete floor - hey presto brand new again.

DavidM · Answer

If you have any photos handy that would be appreciated. I fully expect the ladders to become a fixed part of the interior, so it would be good if they could double up as a storage box over one of the wheel arches. The GRP pannels look ideal for this. cheers David

Home made Bridging Ladders?

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