Refurbish Your Bunk Ladder

Many LD'ers aren't real happy with the rungs on the ladder used to access the cab-over bed. They can be pretty uncomfortable on bare feet. But with a little work you can modify the ladder to make it much more comfortable.

Here is how Patricia accomplished the project:

My son-in-law the engineer made me find oak instead of pine, said that way the "old one" as he refers to me, wouldn't break the pine and break her neck getting up and down.

I finished my project by putting the original wood that was inserted in the bottom of the aluminum rungs and then wrapping the carpeting around the newly extended wider steps all the way to the bottom wood. Stapled the carpeting with 1/4" round tops and 1/2" depth. Used the air gun to get those into the oak.

Anyway, not bad for a grandma with some tools. The steps are wonderful now. I opted for really really soft tufted carpeting so I don't have to put on slippers to go up and down now.

Also, thanks to the guys for making sure that I made the slots angled 15 degrees. That really did work.

I used carriage bolts, locking washers, and small washers to connect the wood. Used boring bit to sink the pan heads of the carriage bolts and also did counter sinking for the bolts, washers and nuts.

Here are some pictures of such a project in-progress.

In 2003 LD changed the ladder to the overcab bed from the carpeted wider steps to a steel, 12" wide ladder, with hard-rubber-wrapped 2 1/4" wide rungs. It's lightweight and strong, but there's no possible "comfort" modification except wrapping the rungs with some sort of padding, e.g., closed cell foam or carpeting. You can wrap the rungs with closed cell foam (secured with electrical ties; make sure the knots are underneath the rungs!).

Contributors: Patricia, Andy Baird, Joan Taylor

Revised 24 Jul 2011