After years of tightening and replacing loose and lost nuts on a wobbly and dangerous garage attic pull down stairs I overhauled as follows:
Problems:
(1) Spring assembly on 35 year old stairs were severely worn such that spring arms bent inwards and springs would jump the U catch bracket on the frame for proper spring tension. FIX: Since the assembly is NLA I drilled out the large rivet holding the swivel arm to the frame and replaced with bolts washers and nuts. Now much tighter and the springs catch properly.
(2) The ladder section hinge bolt holes in the pine ladder had become severely wallowed out over time resulting in a rickey unsafe ladder with too much play in it. I have been worrying about it failing as I move heavy items. FIX: Replaced all hinge bolts with new 1/4 - 20 1" bolts and 1/4" - 20 5/16" T-nuts which required drilling out the worn holes fo the T-nuts to fit. Ladder sections are now much tighter. The section gaps and ladder play are now gone.
Now that the stairs are properly functioning and safe I like them much better than the ones I replaced with a newer aluminum set in the house with narrow treads blocked by the opening cover attached on the back of the treads. I regret replacing them now that I know how to repair the old ones.
