compared to its width a first large contact area brace assembly 18 is attached to the first siderail 12 of the ladder 10 and a second large contact area brace assembly 20 is attached to the second siderail 14 of the ladder 10 the brace assemblies 18 20 are interchangeable and the left brace 18 may be used on the right siderail 14 while the right brace 20 is used on the left siderail 12 only the right brace assembly 20 will be described in detail herein with it being understood that the left brace assembly 18 is identical the right brace assembly 20 includes an arm 22 with a flange 24 formed on one end opposite its distal end on the distal end the arm 22 has a bore for vertically pivotally connecting a resilient pad assembly 26 preferably by means of a bolt 28 such a resilient pad assembly is described in detail in u s pat no 4 754 842 which issued to the present inventor on jul 5 1988 and which is incorporated herein by reference the flange 24 has two openings through which the two ends a u bolt 30 extend the two ends of the u bolt 30 are secured with.