avslash
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You say that until you have to drag this 7,500 pound ***** over a boulder or drive over an IED....
Voyager Rack Ladder Nightmare
- Thread starter MW3Designs
- Start date
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You say that until you have to drag this 7,500 pound ***** over a boulder or drive over an IED....
Michael Gain
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This thread is making me reconsider the Voyager winch mount and front skid combo....
Davidinseattle
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When I bought my LR4 I noticed some rust on the rear ladder for the voyager rack where it mounts under the lift gate switch housing. I just assumed I would take it off and Powdercoat it. Well it was a nice sunny day today and I thought I’d take it off, what a nightmare! The steel was rusted so bad that it was in rusted paper thin layers.... bolts and nut inserts on the lift gate switch housing are now broken. The lift gate is in bad shape, and i tried cleaning it up but it still needs some further attention. I am now left shaking my head trying to figure out where to go from here....
East coast winter and road salt suck.....
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take it to a local fab shop and have them make a new bracket. Get some rubber gasket material and cut it out int he shape do the bracket. clean up the area on the lift gate. paint the new bracket. Install with gasket in between liftgate and bracket. Not sure why the heck anyone would install that metal to metal anyway. You should be into this for less then $200 to fix IMO.
shawn luton
Member
do you think the issue is due exclusively to the road brine/salt winter conditions common in NY or would this have happened due to just normal rainfall/damp conditions getting between the ladder mounting bracket and the rear door body? I ask b/c I just installed a new voyager ladder on my LR4 this past weekend and had concerns over the forced "gap" left between the body door panel and the liftgate exterior component when I put it back together. Although the ladder mounting flange is relatively thin, it definitely doesn't allow the liftgate exterior component to seat as tight to the body panel as originally, and i'm concerned water will remain trapped between the surfaces.
Davidinseattle
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I'd run a bead of high grade silicone on top that that and not let any water get behind it. Those gaps will just fill with direct and road crap and be worthless in short order. The designers of this stuff always forget the basic molecular principals of water.
cperez
Full Access Member
This is a total and absolute dealbreaker for me. I was liking @Davidinseattle's idea to gasket the part that rests against the paint. However that would just make the gap even worse. In addition to allowing water/crap ingress, the appearance of that gap would make me hate it bad.
I have the curved style ladder on the opposite side of the tailgate. The parts that hook around body panels all have protective foam where they touch paint. Granted I need to keep an eye on that as well as rust in different places but at least I can see all the potential trouble spots.
Davidinseattle
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Your other option is to make a bracket out of aluminum and paint it black. Panel is aluminum and bracket it aluminum. Of course you would have to bolt it on to the ladder.
I like fabricating stuff and have a bunch of metal work tools in my shop. I realize most don't but I am guessing there's a pretty easy hack for this for a local fabricator
All these manufactures seem to think powder coating is the cat’s meow and it’s horrible for this type of application. When you get a nick in the finish, the steel starts to rust underneath the powder coat. The powder coat itself is so hard it retains its shape and you don’t know what’s happening until it comes off in huge sheets, or layers in the the case of the OP. Several years ago it was all the rage to powder coat the frame of the Piper Super Cub aircraft. After a few years these frames started to rust through and no one knew because the powder coat held the shape and hid the rust during annual inspection.
Michael Gain
Full Access Member
I guess it allows him to climb onto his roof rack if he wanted---maybe to help organize whatever is organized above the sunroof, or just to hang out. I think loading a roof rack is easier (and safer) when standing on the lowered tail gate.
I don't have a roof rack. So, I'm not sure of the particulars though lol
