I'm helping my dad clean out his garage and he said to help myself to anything i liked. Anyway, I found this old folding cot, but I can't see to get the thing set up. everything is there, but I can't get the second end bar in place.

SCORE


ok


BUGGER


Try as I might I can't get that second bar in place.
am i doing something wrong, or has the fabric just shrunk from sitting in a garage for a thousand years?

Have used these in the past, and they are designed so the canvas is very taught. From the first picture, it looks like the side rails are convex when viewed from the side. The rails should be straight, not angled so the middle of the cot is the highest point. Also, it looks like the canvas on the left side has wrinkles in it, indicating the fabric has to be slid to the left. As an indicator, the fabric located at the middle juncture should be right in the middle of the frame. Try sliding the fabric to the left,as viewed in the picture, then attach the end rail. Try attaching one end of the side rail to the end rail, then put very hard to attach the other side. Don't know if the material has been washed in the past, but it's also possible the fabric shrank. Try wetting the material, putting it together, then let it dry for a few days.

My Cabelas cots are so taut I can barely set them up.

To get the final bar in place I sit on the ground, put my feet up against the legs and pull. With use it will loosen up a bit.

A comfy sleep is the reward.

It looks like the same model I have used/wrestled with/cursed at many times. Make sure you are opening it to it's full width. The nylon fabric should end up very taut, with no slack or wrinkles at all in the assembled cot.

After fully opening the cot and attaching the first end bar using the most distal holes, there should be enough slack to attach one side of second end bar to one of the side rails of the cot. At this point, try standing the cot on that second end, and stepping on the unattached side of the second end bar. While standing and holding the sides of the upright cot, stretch cot's fabric and work the side rail onto the remaining hole in the second end bar that is being held down by your foot.

Hope that helps.

Can't tell from the angle of the photo but my similar cot is tough to assemble too. Then I realized that one of the end bars is longer than the other, use the longer one as a lever to pull the fabric tight after you attach the shorter one at the other end.

Does that make sense?

It's like there's a handle for you to get more pulling power to stretch the fabric with.

both of my bars are the same length.
i weigh over 200 lbs and i couldn't get that other end bar to go far enough to get it on the darn pegs. even if i managed to get one peg in one of the holes i just couldn't get the other one far enough. i think the fabric must have shrunk. i worked up an honest sweat trying to put that thing together.

Having never, ever, set up a folding cot, this may be the dumbest idea around, but that never stops me! :

Does the cot fold up in the middle or down? If it folds upward, can you get enough slack by lifting the end and then hooking on the bar? And then carefully lowering it again, taking care not to tear the fabric if it has shrunk?

Or is that guaranteed way to rip the fabric on ANY cot?

We use the same cot in a lot of our camps; while I have no idea if the fabric has shrunk, I've always had a heck of a time getting that second crossbar in place. That's held true for different cots, different climates, and different years (thus introducing the passage of time).

I usually run out of patience before I get results and end up walking away for awhile (up to and including a couple days). To date the solution has always been:

Just force that mother! Best of luck.

EDIT: Oh, and also what Barbakane said.

I'm reminded of an old saying:
If it doesn't fit; force it.
If it breaks; it needed to be replaced anyway.

I'm tempted to suggest you horse it into position. You can't use it the way it is so if it breaks your out very little. But, before I go that far I seem to remember that old army cots used to shrink a bit in storage and a trick was to dampen the fabric before trying to get everything in position.

Now those old army cots had cotton canvas and once assembled if the canvas was weak it would sometimes rip when it dried. And it looks like your might have nylon so I'm not sure how that changes things. If wetting the fabric allows you to stretch it enough to get everything in position you're golden. If not a few hours in the sunshine the fabric is dry and your out nothing but time.

HAA HAHA HAAAAA!!! I'VE DONE IT!!

I DEFEATED THAT MFer.


I bent a steel pipe in the process, but I did it.

BTW, that dark spot is from me spilling my celebratory Corona.