Flexible step??

[1leglance]

Hey now guys....let's slow this pony down now..
What's with all the talk of putting Rover stuff on a Sportsmobile?
How dare there be such cross cultural cross marque blastphemy within the sacred Expo world

I will do some searching for "in use" images of the Rover step. I think I have seen them before.

After SEMA I will have to bring Dave from Aluminess into the discussion so that what ever we work out can be fitted to the rock rail he would make.

Rover parts...next you guys will have me switching from cigars to a pipe and from root beer to Earl Grey tea

 

[lowenbrau]

Some Toyota guys weld t-case chains to their rockers to mock the domestic guys. They are pretty grippy and only flex front to back and not side to side.

 

[lowenbrau]

Also, I was wondering if a nurf could be made to sufficiently protect these steps on a less hardcore, mostly street driven rig. I've followed this company since they started making mountain bike forks.

http://www.amp-research.com/products/truck_accessories/powerstep.asp

 

[spencyg]

Some Toyota guys weld t-case chains to their rockers to mock the domestic guys. They are pretty grippy and only flex front to back and not side to side.

Combine T-case chain with a step bar on the bottom and you might have a winner there. I hate steps that push away when you step on (similar to what a standard chain would do), but a bit of side to side sway wouldn't be bad. So very clever....

 

[RusM]

Here are a couple of shops to try.

http://www.capitalindustrialinc.com/

http://www.woodslogging.com/index.htm

 

[WF-Wagrub]

Flexible Step

I think what you were describing in the first post is similar to what you find on any Motor Grader, also on the rear of many Loaders. Both are made with either cable or rubber. As they are quite prone to getting ripped off, you could probably go to any John Deere or Cat dealer and they would have one on the shelf you could look at.
One thing, with this type of step, when you climb up the step swings in somewhat (obviously), not sure if this would be a problem for you or not.

Also, not exactly sure how to describe this, but there is also a premade step for flatbed trucks that slides into a pocket on the truck with a simple keeper when in the stored position. When stored it sits between the frame 'joists' under the bed, takes up about 1.5", then it just pulls out and drops down.

Good luck.

 

[1leglance]

Good call on the Cat dealer as we have a big one here in Phx...
And I like the sound of the flatbed truck step.

Since this is a Disabled Explorers rig then it will be important to look at a number of solutions depending on if a person is a lower limb amputee like me or upper limb (less tolerant of needing to grip a handhold to enter).

Of course I could just use the wheelchair lift but that would be a bit goofy

 

[chet]

what we used on our off road gravel trucks was chain and welded the middle 5 or 6 links together to make the bottom step. then the sides could still flex and swing if the hit something. The seemed to work well and hardly ever got tore off

 

[78Bronco]

For the budget concious. Take one old tire and a sawzall. Cut the tire into sections, so they look like rubber stirrups and then fashion with bolts/fender washers to your rock rails. Voila:wings:

 

[86cj]

what we used on our off road gravel trucks was chain and welded the middle 5 or 6 links together to make the bottom step. then the sides could still flex and swing if the hit something. The seemed to work well and hardly ever got tore off

I like this idea, only use the Transfer-case chain mentioned earlier.

I went to the Heavy equipment place a couple years ago and asked about the flexable steps, I think it was about a $100 each for the rubber, the cable ones weigh a ton..........

 

[KG6BWS]

i built one for a loader at work one time. the operator was a pregnant woman so she needed something lower down and that didnt swing. what i did was cut a couple of mudflaps up into strips 6" or so by by 12" and then bolted them to the steel steps so that they were sandwiched together. i used 4 layers on each side, made them a lot stiffer and tear resistant but they were still flexible while go overing dirt piles and such. for the step itself i bent the ends down on a piece of flat bar and bolted it inside the flaps.

sorry i dont have pictures, i dont work there anymore.