Voyager Rack Ladder Nightmare

[LR Tony]

Wow. That rust is disappointing to see. On mine the voyager letters that are cut out on the bottom step are rusted in between (less than 2 years) which further goes to show how ineffective the power coat is and/or their poor quality.

I actually can’t recall the last time I stepped on the ladder. Maybe first time installed and once after. I mostly use the ladder to pull myself up to stand on the bumper. I step on the rear tires and can reach more than halfway across the rack to load/adjust/strap so I’m never really on top of the rack ever. I also grab the ladder when closing the top tailgate. Replaced the rear top gate struts during the first winter as well since the additional weight the gate wouldn’t stay up with the temp drop.

I plan to still keep the ladder though. It’s a place to wrap a tow strap around when you need a temp location for quick access. I wonder if mounting a small pack or sand ladder/treads to it would potentially give it more functionality

 

[Quijote]

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

I have the OEM ladder. I have to say, for me, it's mostly for looks. I find that standing on the tires works best for washing loading cargo box, etc. That said, I like having the structure. It's worked well as a grab handle on icy surfaces, additional balance, a way to secure things externally, etc.

That said, I've had mine for 7 years, and while the paint/rust protection is orders of magnitude better than Voyager's stuff, I do wonder if I should remove it and check for rust. All I can see as far as rust on the car is a small spot with slight tinge of rust color on the top of the tailgate. But it looks like discoloration than can buff out.

 

[cperez]

I do wonder if I should remove it and check for rust.

Don’t look. Just keep telling yourself “it’s fine. I’m sure it’s just fine...”

 

[Quijote]

Don’t look. Just keep telling yourself “it’s fine. I’m sure it’s just fine...”

LOL

 

[Michael Gain]

I have the OEM ladder. I have to say, for me, it's mostly for looks. I find that standing on the tires works best for washing loading cargo box, etc. That said, I like having the structure. It's worked well as a grab handle on icy surfaces, additional balance, a way to secure things externally,

That makes sense. Thank you! I'm sure I will do the same if/when I get a rack.

 

[MW3Designs]

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.

I have enough of the bracket intact to possibly make a template, and if there is enough good clean metal I can weld it to the ladder. Good thing is I do light fabrication, and have a small Powdercoating business. I see it many times, products like this are mass produced, and they cut costs by not prepping the steel properly before powder. When I ran a big powder operation, we had some tube steel items that came thru by the hundreds, and it was just a wipe with prep all, pre heat, shoot with powder. Crazy....


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[navigare]

I had a similiar (well, not quite as bad) experience with the OEM ladder. Now have PROSPEED ladder and sliders (and everything else) and so far, I'm impressed with the quality.

 

[Davidinseattle]

I have enough of the bracket intact to possibly make a template, and if there is enough good clean metal I can weld it to the ladder. Good thing is I do light fabrication, and have a small Powdercoating business. I see it many times, products like this are mass produced, and they cut costs by not prepping the steel properly before powder. When I ran a big powder operation, we had some tube steel items that came thru by the hundreds, and it was just a wipe with prep all, pre heat, shoot with powder. Crazy....


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For sure. The good ones will sandblast the crud off the steel. You see this delamination in non salt environments too. As you said, it's all about the prep when powder coating.

 

[AdventureTim]

I posted this in another thread, but felt it was just as appropriate here. I have the Voyager swing and it's not well designed or well made. Some examples of issues I've had:

• The instructions include JPG files for the mounting templates, with no indication of scale which make them largely useless.
• The swing arm is powder coated with no anti corrosion treatment on the underlying metal. Any chip in the powder coat will cause the arm to very easily rust (and continue rusting under the powder coat). See the other thread about Voyager for other examples of people having major problems with this.
• The gas strut is underpowered to hold the weight of a 31"+ tyre. The strut also has no bearings or swivels for attaching to the arm. Instead, they just have it rotate on a bolt thread - very rough.
• On mine, the three major studs used to mount the wheel weren't even welded perpendicular to the mounting face. This caused damage to my Compomotive wheels when I bolted them up. Voyager's response was to "hit the studs with a large hammer or block of wood".
• Due to the way the wheel mounting face is welded to the main arm, you cannot make use of a bunch of standard spare wheel accessories available to the Jeep market, such as Rotopax mounts or bike carriers.

If I had my time over again, there's no way I'd buy the swing arm. It's backyard engineering at best.

 

[MW3Designs]

It sad how many company’s are selling a product that’s powder coated with no prep work underneath. Thing is, the companies most likely don’t finish these, and just send the raw materials in for coating. Most of my steel gets blasted, phosphate dip, epoxy primer, and then the color coat. Regular mild steel is tricky though, one good chip or cut down to bare steel, and that’s it. With that said maybe I can redo the whole thing with stainless?


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