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Short homemade ladder stand extensions

I stumbled on to a incredible deal on 15' Ameristep 2-man ladder stands and would like to add a 2' homemade extension. I have access to square tubular steel the walls of which are a 1/4" thick so strength is not an issue. I plan on welding any extension I make together so structural strength of the extension will not be in question. The OD of the stand steel is 1" exactly and the ID of the tube steel I can get is 1-1/16" so they should mate with little slop. My question is has anyone done this and encountered and problems? Thanks, DJager/Art.

I added a 4 foot extension similar to what you have described.

I've done it on tripods with no problems at all.

Buy an extra stand that is cheap and of the same ladder size and split it up to add one section to each of three of your ladders. I buy 4 to make 3 whenever I need new ladders.

Done it plenty. No problems. Of course that depends on your welding skills. ;)

Thanks for the replies, good idea buying and extra stand.

Yeah, I've done it as well. With your heavier wall extensions you're more than good to go. I would be a little cautious about adding sections as suggested above. There is a reason why the stands only have three sections to begin with. They are built cheaply and engineered using the cheapest/lightest gauge materials to do so. I'm sure they have a decent safety factor but adding an extra section from another ladder MAY weaken it.

You need to add a 2nd extension bar to the tree to make it safe. I make my own extension bars and sometimes use 3. I wrap ratchet straps back to the ladder at every extension bar location to keep them secure.

I just bought another ladder stand today...gonna raise 3 other stands with it.

$40 bucks at a Fleet Farm...can't beat that.

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