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I once got a ticket on US50 going 127 in an airport Malibu; throttle pinned to the floor, the sightline on that particular stretch of highway was 12.1 miles. No kidding. You could see an approaching car 12 miles away. Unfortunately, the only one I saw (a slicktop SUV) was a county cop. Fortunately, he wrote me up at 85 after clocking me at 127 so I could just pay the fine by mail.
For the record, I had slowed down to 65 a mile before I got to him, so as to not approach another car at unreasonable speeds. But he shot me from like 4 miles away.
Yes I got nailed outside of Elko on US-50 for doing the speed of heat in the Range Rover. Friendly sheriff. Wanted to know first off if I had a firearm in the car. Duh! I said I work in the middle of nowhere with something like $100K of gear in the car. I have a permit, valid in your state. Anyhow he was curious what I did, showed him all the cool stuff and some of the samples I had collected to slice up for thin section analysis. Showed him the cool 3D renderings of one of the sites. He then said well, "keep it safe professor." No ticket, win!
They could pull over any car on that road, everybody is speeding. Just don't do it near the end of the month. People think the 3D stuff is cool. I did this one yesterday, testing new software, why I was hoisting all the survey crap out in and out of the car:
I'd probably start out with a $100million demand and after a protracted and tense negotiation, settle for a used hinge and a new zip-tie.
That beefy and bendable little gem has been a valued member of my garage bric-a-brac for quite a while.
Joking aside, a few other ladder owners have got in touch with me. One bloke is on his third ladder. All broke in the same manner as mine. It does appear that this failure/defect (whatever you'd like to call it) is not uncommon in these OEM ladders; those that actually get used.
When I spoke with parts they mentioned having a number of in house meetings about this part's durability or lack thereof. They might have been BSing me of course. I don't hold much stock in what the folks at my dealership tell me.
For all the dick-waving in Defender adverts about how tough and rugged their product is, this type of failure is a reality check. In my mind, a metal ladder is a product that typically outlasts the consumer. A complete failure of its ladder structure is not really something I had on my radar. It should be near impossible to break one under normal use. Were it my job to address such things, I think I'd seriously consider making some modifications in hinge material and customer response. But as I said, I clearly am biased (and probably too fat, hence the ladder issue).
@GavinC and those who have gotten in touch with you about their same experience with broken ladders, I recommend you all file a complaint with the NHTSA about this. You do not need attorneys for this and you can do it online. We see recalls of baby car seats all the time for defective or poorly designed latches and these ladders should be no different. Those complaints will land on someone's desk at LR. Thank you for posting your experience on this forum. I think it is a serious safety issue and someone will end up getting hurt using these ladders.
Last edited by wcc18999; Mar 27, 2024 at 09:50 AM.
Serious question. How much would it cost to machine a new hinge out of solid metal?
if you came to me with a blue print of the part , it was being made from nickel silver (997) i woudl have to make a pattern to cast it , that is expensive. but it lowers the cost of making the piece significantly , now you have a blank casting ready to get final machined..my guess on tooling is somewhere around $800-1000 to print a positive and make a rubber mould. the originals are sand cast aluminum and that is a very inexpensive way to make then but the tooling is probably twice the cost of an investment casting for one offs. tldr;$1000 for tooling and around$75- $85.00 for each casting machined.
if you have a machinist mill it from stock its probably a few hundred bucks for one.
If enough people went in on it, it seems like it would be worth it. We live in a disposable society, we used to fix things but now we toss them. I would personally buy an upgraded set of hinges before the OEM ones snap.
if you have a machinist mill it from stock its probably a few hundred bucks for one.
@outcast is the price difference due to the added labor of casting vs machining? Correct my ignorance, but wouldn't machining yield a much stronger part?
