DIY Custom ALUMINIUM Side LADDER for the VAN | Ford Transit Conversion

[@rebeccamchardy4367]

Your videos are so practical, I'm sure they will help lots of people. Thanks for sharing your knowledge & ideas

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thanks so much. Very kind. Me too!

[@leannewalker8679]

I just love your videos. I feel so much more confident in my ability to fit my own.van ojt with such wonderful know how instruction. Thank you so so much, Leanne

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

I’m so glad it was able to help you out! Makes all the hours filming and editing worthwhile 😊

[@bobbyholden5389]

Yep learned heaps thanks mate

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Glad to hear it

[@kylebodenham4911]

No way!!!! I was just looking at this in Yamba over the weekend and wondering how it was made. Here it is!!!! Sick van mate

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Haha small world right! I suppose you found your answers then!

[@kylebodenham4911]

@@SALTYVANVENTURES hell yeah! I’ll be trying it at some stage for sure!

[@glennr9913]

Great job. I watched your roof rack video, and wasn't sure about the strength and durability of the rivets. I think brazing it would add a lot of strength. It's good to see that you've learned to braze and will be able to upgrade the rack if you decide to. Thanks for taking the time to share your projects with us.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

you're very welcome

[@MarioPerez-ml4xd]

Fantastic job , I will be using your methods to create my on rack 😀

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Go for it!

[@davidramossalsologoporexse2469]

Always drill holes for the steps to go into the run up & down pcs. then weld around the tube..is the strongest way. you did perfect 👌. Besides been a woodsmith i worked 15 years in a shipyard Making aluminum navy boats. I was in outfitting. I use to make all the ladders and foundations and doors including the frame. and weld them...so I know you did great 👍

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Awesome thanks for the feedback. Well you seem more than experienced tell me too! I’m so happy with how it turned out. It’s super strong. The alloy brazing is much much strong than what I expected it to be

[@RamblingsWithDan]

Very impressive! The ladder looks pretty solid. Nice work.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thank you very much!

[@LincolnMcCann]

Nice job. Ali brazing is great for those of us who can’t justify having a mig or tig and as you say, it’s actually quite easy once you get the hang of it. Love the satin black too. Looks great.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Exactly, thats what I was going for so really anyone can make this at home without any overheads and "real" skill. I would liken it to soldering in terms of difficulty.

[@isstuff]

Inspired by you I am aluminium braising my roof rack. I am too finding some crappy joints and will be reinforcing with pop rivets. Some joints are strong, some are not. I sanded 2 joints to prep them then did one joint and about 10 minutes later I got to assembling the next joint. I thought I was being efficient. But all of those second joints failed after testing with bumping with the heal of my hand. The delay between cleaning and braising was the mistake. My advice to others is freshly sand the joints just before you heat them, don’t prep too far ahead. I was adding a shoulder of aluminium angle to my cross members. Also if you have an open pipe you are braising to the outside of, point the flame to the inside of the pipe. All the flames energy goes into the pipe and things heat up way faster.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Yes it is a bit fidley. I was cleaning the joints immediately prior the heating the aluminium to not allow any oxidation to occur and hinder the braze. I head sanding is also not the ideal method for prepping the metal. You should use a stainless steel brush. Great tip with the flame position though!

[@gorillacyclist]

Great idea, I'm thinking of making a custom ladder using this technique, but using an old aluminium ladder as base and cutting out some bends to contour the van.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Sounds great!

[@ericssb]

Thank you for the help!

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Happy to help!

[@bandjolyn]

Heck yes, dude! I was hoping you had a ladder video after watching the roof rack vid. Nice work, looks so awesome!

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@AMGMANIAC]

Very clever and resourceful man. Definitely a custom build, congratulations. Best wishes from sunny south of England by a relatively new but ever so impressed recent subscriber.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Wow thank you! So glad you are liking the videos! Greetings from Australia!

[@kevingalloway9338]

Ladder looks great

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Cheers, I'm loving the way it has turned out!

[@johnwren3976]

An excellent source for hardware for such a project would be a boating supply store. They'd have proven mounts, brackets, treads, etc.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Yes i have bought quite a bit of bit from our local marine shop. It's always nice finding a ready supply of stainless steel bits and pieces.

[@MarioMartinez-ts8fn]

Great job Guys!!!!!

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Cheers!

[@perfectbreakcaravans]

Your're a legend. Great design etc

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thanks mate! Appreciate it

[@artofnoly9754]

YAWP!! Got it!! Great vid. Thanks.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Glad it helped!

[@user-vn2xi8fo6j]

A grinder and paint... Make me the welder I ain't!

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

I like the analogy!

[@anthonymarino4260]

Well done

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

🙏

[@eckythump6429]

Rivets look aero/steam punk, like it 👍🏼

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Yeh they do!

[@hakancakr1253]

Nice job as always.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thanks again!

[@noahpan496]

Man got some skills...

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thanks haha!

[@jerryg957]

Nice Job !

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@number1genoa]

I will borrow this design for my transit , thanks.for posting . I have quite a lot of those rods but have had zero success getting them to work, tried every which way but nothing seemed to work.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

I have found from videos on KZbin that there are many different brands of these rods available and some are much easier to work with than others. Also some are much much stronger than other too. The cheap Chinese made ones i hear are no good and hard to work with. The ultrabond ones I used were very easy and very strong. There are quite a few videos comparing usability ad strength you should check out.

[@lalafaux4926]

Instead of putting timber under the piece to be welded, use ceramic tile. It doesn’t take the heat away from the aluminium

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thank you, or fibro sheets right! Problem was it was all I had at the time 😂

[@owenrichardson3026]

Good job mate :)

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thanks mate!

[@boxster1970]

Great video on building with aluminum pop rivets. I've been doing it for decades but nothing as elaborate as your roof deck and ladder. Adding a strong adhesive for aluminum to the pop rivet joints would ensure they are strong enough to handle the load and vibration on a Transit van. The pop rivets them selves are really not that strong.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Thank you! I believe for the function of the pop rivets as secondary means of bracing is more that sufficient. Ill be keeping an eye on it though. I suppose this is a first prototype and could always improve if required.

[@paulraymond1804]

@@SALTYVANVENTURES yeah, how have the blind rivets been holding up mate? Personally I'd have used M6 aluminium rivnuts, as in my experience blind rivets loosen with movement over time. If nothing else, rivnuts would stop me second guessing it every time I used the ladder! 😅 Love your videos and builds mate. Top quality. I weld a lot, albeit steel, and I think your brazing methods were pretty sound, although I did question it when you thought the rods were a good thermometer. Like you later talked about, I thought the work piece should be closer to melting point. Well done. 🍻

[@JustinShaedo]

Great job! Might not need rustguard paint on aluminium, unless your rivets are steel?

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

It was just a super hard wearing black paint I had

[@WishfulWanderers]

I'm very impressed! It came out so nicely in the satin black 👏🏼 A year down the line, how has the paint held up on your ladder and roof rack? I'd be interested to know

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Paint has held up really well. There are some stone chips around the lower part but it didn’t penetrate the etch primer. Just the top coat but unnoticeable unless you look.

[@WishfulWanderers]

@@SALTYVANVENTURES oh that's great to hear. Thanks for the info!

[@numisaccent6723]

You could have just actual aluminum ladder. and cut it to fit, it's alot stronger

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

It doesn’t work like that unfortunately

[@carlynhowells6444]

Great video and idea. Hoping you could tell me how thick the aluminum is that you’re using?

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

its 3mm

[@yachtmustang]

Hi guys. Love all the tips especially around how to do a conversion in Australia. Any chance you could put up a link to the SketchUp design of your Aussie van. Thx heaps

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Hey my sketchup file is a total mess at the moment so I’m not willing to release it just yet. If you search on the sketchup warehouse however there is a model of a 2015 transit. Search for those key words. The model size is a bit out but the ratio is the same so you can scale it down to the correct dimensions of your van.

[@yachtmustang]

@@SALTYVANVENTURES Was hoping to copy a lot of the concepts in your van particularly the bed/garage and it would be good to just lift the measurements in your design. So pls let me know when you're happy to share Sketchup - I don't care if it's a bit messy

[@SquanchyDF]

I prefer to pronounce aluminum as aluminum compared to aluminum

[@bradykeckin7160]

That's funny. Good stuff haha

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

That’s what I keep telling everyone but no one understands me

[@Stungray22]

Choice 🔥

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

glad you liked it

[@joeblow1942]

It’s been a couple years. Has the ladder and roof rack held up? Would you still recommend braising?

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Yep! It’s still holding up like the day I built it. Paints holding very well. Only a few stone chips on the bottom near the base

[@maintconsul1844]

Hi, I intended to do a conversion like this in Victoria and found that there are legalities involved. You can't register the van unless you go to a VASS inspector, once before you start so he can approve the plans, 2nd for him to inspect all wiring/plumbing, before you close them off, 3rd when it is finished at a cost of around $1100.. A converted van becomes a passenger vehicle and costs about $150/y more than a van. I guess that there will also be insurance consequences in higher premium. The Vass man said that if the police stops you and finds that the car is wrongly registered it could be a big problem, also if you have an accident and the insurance finds out the car is modified AND wrongly registered you may not be covered. SO, how did you deal with this??

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

NSW has similar rules. I will be transferring the rego to a camper van from a panel van ( when this bloody lockdown will allow) to do so I will need to take I over a weigh bridge to comply with vehicle mass and then take it to an engineer who will check the paperwork for the weigh bridge and gas certificate that the gas fitter supplied to me when he installed my gas lines. He will also charge about $800. He will then issue a gas compliance plate and then give me the paperwork to take it to service NSW where I will transfer the rego. The insurance can then be change to a camper van with the relevant insurer. I have heard this insurance is actually quite a bit cheaper than for a panel van and covers a lot more.

[@maintconsul1844]

@@SALTYVANVENTURES Thanks very much. It seems NSW is a bit easier if a weight and gas cert is all you need. In Vic they want to inspect all cables and pipes before you put the wall panelling on. If you had to do that with yours, it would involve dismantling. And when 'in the hands of' some inspector, you'll never know whether they want you to change things, whether reasonable or not. I forgot to state in my last posting that our inspector said that you didn't need to do any of this as long as nothing was permanent in the van. SO I 'clamped' things with battens between them and the battens not fixed to the floor. Nothing moves and nothing is fixed. I can pick everything up and carry out of the van quickly. I use a camping stove with cannisters, have a 15l water 'tank' from Aldi, an Engel fridge and a generator that I need to drag outside to use. I have a single bed with plenty of room to take my bike as well and made a 'half bed, so that I can put a queen matrass in for 2. I have the sturdy separator between cabin and the rest of the van, so in case of an accident I should be safe as all heave items are directly behind the separator, so they won't move much. Unfortunately for my friend who made a converted van, when I showed him all this stuff from VicRoads, he pulled everything out and made it 'non-permanent'.

[@jwc3104]

Mate, how is it holding up? I am looking to build the whole roof rack and ladder using aluminum square tubes and brazing.

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Solid as! Not a problem with it.

[@adventure_onthedaily9851]

Hey guys, did you end up putting a design spec up for sale anywhere? I’d love to buy it

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Not yet sorry, I'm still building the website where it will be available.

[@michaelrobe4377]

Any legal issues with having the ladder on the drivers side?

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

The engineer signed it off so..

[@xenosonic]

Awesome video. But too much shirt :P

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

😂😂😂

[@grigooo000]

So you don't need flux?

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Nope, the flux is built into the rod

[@asterfrancois6201]

What size is this van H2L2 ?

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

H3L2

[@asterfrancois6201]

@@SALTYVANVENTURES Thanks !

[@higbeedoug]

Psssst. In case you didn't notice, there's a naked girl on your roof (aka-what ladder)

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Oh really!

[@elineblind348]

A-lu-mi-num

[@SALTYVANVENTURES]

Al u min i um

[@elineblind348]

@@SALTYVANVENTURES ;)~