Lazy-Ferret
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2012
- Messages
- 5,217
My side steps have obviously got to the stage in their life where the aluminium channel in the step part has corroded away and it is coming away from the stainless steel.
It started with just one bolt, which meant the step had an annoying rattle when stationary, or closing the doors, which I fixed. Then, over the past 2 weeks, the other step went, and while I was contemplating fixing it, the step I had already fixed started rattling again from a different place.
So I decided to do the job properly, and fix the problem once and for all.
First, I undid all the 6 square headed bolts that hold the aluminium foot plate to the stainless steel tubing from underneath, and lifted out the foot plate, leaving the main step on the car with the 6 bolting points, some as seen in the pictures.
Most of the bolts turned in the channel, as I undid them, and were obviously holding on by the last knockings, and the mountings looked like this..
I used the Dremil to grind out the corroded part of the channel, back far enough that I can get a small 10mm spanner in there to hold the head of the bolt.
For what I wanted to do, I needed some more square headed bolts, and discovered that the aluminium bolts used in greenhouses are perfect, so after a quick trip to the local garden centre, I had 40 extra bolts... I only needed 24, but wanted a few spare, as I discovered when I built the green house, they distort as you do them up, so if you make any mistakes, they can't be undone and reused... also, they sheer very easily, so you must not be too ambitious when you do them up.
I then got 12 "Mending plates", these are strips of metal with a number of holes drilled in them. Luckily for me, I already had some 3" ones, with 4 5mm holes in them, so had to drill the holes out to 6.5mm, and and on 6 add an extra hole in the middle.
These were then loosely bolted to the lugs on the stainless steel step, using the original steel square headed bolts that help the foot place on.
I then slotted the "Green house" bolts into the channel, 2 for each mounting.
Then working from one end, I lined the "Green House" bolts up with the "Mending plate" holes and loosely fitted the nuts, until they were all ready to be tightened up. As previously said, use a nut driver to tighten the aluminium nuts and bolts, as even a small 1/4" socket driver will easily sheer them off.
Once they are tight, using a tiny 10mm spanner on the top of the original steel bolts to stop them spinning, tighten up their nuts.
Jobs a good'n... no more annoying rattles...
It started with just one bolt, which meant the step had an annoying rattle when stationary, or closing the doors, which I fixed. Then, over the past 2 weeks, the other step went, and while I was contemplating fixing it, the step I had already fixed started rattling again from a different place.
So I decided to do the job properly, and fix the problem once and for all.
First, I undid all the 6 square headed bolts that hold the aluminium foot plate to the stainless steel tubing from underneath, and lifted out the foot plate, leaving the main step on the car with the 6 bolting points, some as seen in the pictures.
Most of the bolts turned in the channel, as I undid them, and were obviously holding on by the last knockings, and the mountings looked like this..
I used the Dremil to grind out the corroded part of the channel, back far enough that I can get a small 10mm spanner in there to hold the head of the bolt.
For what I wanted to do, I needed some more square headed bolts, and discovered that the aluminium bolts used in greenhouses are perfect, so after a quick trip to the local garden centre, I had 40 extra bolts... I only needed 24, but wanted a few spare, as I discovered when I built the green house, they distort as you do them up, so if you make any mistakes, they can't be undone and reused... also, they sheer very easily, so you must not be too ambitious when you do them up.
I then got 12 "Mending plates", these are strips of metal with a number of holes drilled in them. Luckily for me, I already had some 3" ones, with 4 5mm holes in them, so had to drill the holes out to 6.5mm, and and on 6 add an extra hole in the middle.
These were then loosely bolted to the lugs on the stainless steel step, using the original steel square headed bolts that help the foot place on.
I then slotted the "Green house" bolts into the channel, 2 for each mounting.
Then working from one end, I lined the "Green House" bolts up with the "Mending plate" holes and loosely fitted the nuts, until they were all ready to be tightened up. As previously said, use a nut driver to tighten the aluminium nuts and bolts, as even a small 1/4" socket driver will easily sheer them off.
Once they are tight, using a tiny 10mm spanner on the top of the original steel bolts to stop them spinning, tighten up their nuts.
Jobs a good'n... no more annoying rattles...
