Post by 8 inches longer, again on Jun 28, 2011 23:05:39 GMT -4
Here is the situation. I have an 8 yr old Chocolate Lab, Bailey, he's healthy but not much of a jumper anymore as he injured his ACL (knee) a few years ago. As a result, he needs a bit of a helping hand getting up into the truck when we want to go for a walk, even more so when stuff is in the way, like the soft top down, etc.
I can lift Bailey up into the truck no problem, but girlfriend finds him heavy to boost up. We've been talking about buying some sort of step(s) that are available from the pet store, but they are expensive, hard to transport, and kinda lame.
At coffee night a week ago, was talking about this dilemma with a couple of fellow Jeepers (no names, sorry, I suck...LOL) who had their big dog with them. One thing led to another and we kind of came up with this idea. BUILD a Step for Bailey using the hitch of the truck. It's functional, easy to use, and portable.
Pile of stuff. The 6" drop hitch is the only thing for this project that I bought...on sale for $17.99 at PA.
We cut the checkerplate platform to shape with a zipcut and Glen is wire wheeling the rust off it.
Starting to weld it together (nice to see that I don't appear to have any telltale signs of male pattern baldness yet). No closeups of welding porn to see here, I'm a welding newbie.
Glen was a tremendous help, he spent most of the afternoon doing this
Slapping some paint on it. Yellow, what else.
Glen had some spray on bedliner stuff, so we sprayed that on the platform surface. A little more traction for the critter. Here is the finished product, it turned out really nice.
I didn't take any good pics of the bottom, but we actually gusseted up the bottom pretty good. I can stand anywhere on it and it doesn't bend / flex. We tried it out with Bailey when I got home and he was a little perplexed by the step at first but with a little coaching and, uhhh, 'persuasion', he stepped up on it and into the back of the Jeep.
A worthwhile project for $17. Here is a pic of the handsome fella who this project is for.
I can lift Bailey up into the truck no problem, but girlfriend finds him heavy to boost up. We've been talking about buying some sort of step(s) that are available from the pet store, but they are expensive, hard to transport, and kinda lame.
At coffee night a week ago, was talking about this dilemma with a couple of fellow Jeepers (no names, sorry, I suck...LOL) who had their big dog with them. One thing led to another and we kind of came up with this idea. BUILD a Step for Bailey using the hitch of the truck. It's functional, easy to use, and portable.
Pile of stuff. The 6" drop hitch is the only thing for this project that I bought...on sale for $17.99 at PA.
We cut the checkerplate platform to shape with a zipcut and Glen is wire wheeling the rust off it.
Starting to weld it together (nice to see that I don't appear to have any telltale signs of male pattern baldness yet). No closeups of welding porn to see here, I'm a welding newbie.
Glen was a tremendous help, he spent most of the afternoon doing this
Slapping some paint on it. Yellow, what else.
Glen had some spray on bedliner stuff, so we sprayed that on the platform surface. A little more traction for the critter. Here is the finished product, it turned out really nice.
I didn't take any good pics of the bottom, but we actually gusseted up the bottom pretty good. I can stand anywhere on it and it doesn't bend / flex. We tried it out with Bailey when I got home and he was a little perplexed by the step at first but with a little coaching and, uhhh, 'persuasion', he stepped up on it and into the back of the Jeep.
A worthwhile project for $17. Here is a pic of the handsome fella who this project is for.
;D
