I made that mistake seized part open, I know others have complained about same issue with them

 

replaced those dumb o-ring things on the master cylinder. no more refilling my master every week.

 

Installed lights and new newer alternator!

 

changed the oil filter, new air filter, greased the u-joints, and discovered a coolant hose leak .....one off the intake manifold to the throttle body......the hoses were rotten inside...

 

Traveled threw 3 Countries, Mozambique-Swaziland-South Africa to collect my DC front propshaft. The Couriers could not deliver until next week.
I have installed it on the side walk and returned the same day the same route South Africa-Swaziland-Mozambique.
Total 960 km on 1 Tank Diesel and the drive back was such a pleasure i wished it was further.
No Roar. no clanck, no vibration, low or high speed: LOVELY !!!!!!

 

Installed my full-length ladder, and that was an experience. The hardware included nutserts, which I HATE using, because I always screw up drilling the hole, and sure enough, did the same thing again. So I had to go to the hardware store and walk back and forth in the hardware aisle, figuring out how to attach the ladder. I decided to use these things called "jack bolts", which are sort of like metal moly bolts, but more barrel-shaped, and not as long. Had to find the right bolts (10/32x1), some flat washers and lock washers, and off I went.

Had to drill out the holes a little bit more to fit the jack bolts, smeared some black RTV around the holes to prevent rust, wiggled the jack bolt barrels in the holes, then proceeded to mount the ladder. It's on there pretty snug, should support my weight without any issues.

Some words of advice to anyone else who might be thinking of doing this. Try to mount the top of the ladder where the holes are thru the thin part of the door at the top. There's not much wiggle room up here - too high, and the edge of the ladder will hit the door frame on the body, too low and the bottom part of the ladder will be against the part of the door that angles inward, not the flat part of the door. Of course I was about 1/4" to 1/2" too low, and the holes went right against the part of the door that boxes out at the top of the window. So I had to use more black RTV to cover those holes that I made at the top. And the old saying, "measure twice, cut once", certainly applies to drilling the right size hole for the nutserts. What I should have done was fit the nutsert into the drill bit holder, finding the bit that's one size smaller. Drill the hole, then lightly hammer in the nutsert, so the knurled part at the top will fit good and snug in the hole, and won't turn when you tighten the bolt. I did this, and thought the hole was still too small, so I used the next size bit, and the hole ended up being too large. It would've been nice if the instructions actually listed the max size drill bit to use, but nope, had to find that one out the hard way. Also would've been nice for the instructions to have some helpful hints about where to mount it, i.e. thin part of the upper door, bottom of the flat section at the lower door.

 

Polished the paint with Mothers and put a coat of wax on. I'm amazed at how well that 20 year paint turned out.

 

SOCAL, that's an interesting design for the ladder. I'm suprised they rely on 4 little bolts holding the weight of a person on the ladder.
Looks good, tho!

 

Yeah, I've seen the little ladders, where it ends at the license plate. In my advanced age (lol), that would be an accident waiting to happen, me standing on the rear bumper, trying to get a foot up that high on a ladder! So when I saw these longer ladders, I knew that's the one I wanted. And yeah, if I had to do it over again, I would've put the upper part of the ladder about a 1/2" higher, that way it would've been thru the thinner part of the door, and used some body washers (or a piece of flat stock) and lock nuts on the back to spread the weight and keep it secure. I would think when climbing that ladder, that's where most of the stress is going to be, on the upper mounting points, not the lower ones, so using some good bolts, body washers, and lock nuts should do the trick.

After I took those pics, I found some extra white reflective tape in the garage, so I cut little strips (10mm wide) and put them on the side of the rungs that face to the rear. Might get creative and cut some little grippy strips for the side of the rung that your feet touch, just for a little added safety.

 

I have the short factory ladder, top is a piece f thin steel wraps over top of door to support your weight, lower screws just hold the ladder on