Sure, through in the long run I had to pull the ladder back off.
Let me start with what I did to get it on there. The ladder attaches at the top by hooking over the door with small but very strong steel tabs. Then the top plate sticks to the top of the hatch with double sided tape. This part of the mounting mostly worked on the sequoia. The top plate was contoured just little different due to the difference in shape of the 4Runner door. I hammed on the plate a bit and reshaped it and the tape mostly stuck as intended, I could’ve done better with that. Then that plate hooked to the main body of the ladder with another plate. The I sue then ends up being that on the sequoia hatch the mount plate ends up leaning a big. So I fabricated a new top plate.
The second shot is the original top plate. Mine worked but it allowed more flex that the original. If you look close you can see my metal is much thinner than the original design.
The next issue was the bottomed plate mounting. What you do is drill holes in the bottom of the hatch and bolt the plate to it. The lip on the sequoia door was bigger. I put a piece of aluminum bar stock between the door and the plate. It worked…. Kinda. I used the bolt that came with the ladder inside the door. What I should I’ve done is use a steal load spreading plate inside the door. Also I attached a shovel on quick fists to the side of the ladder and put a mount for a propane table top grill in the middle of the ladder. Then I off-roaded hard for two years, usually with the grill attached.
Before I show you what happened let me say I think Victory makes a great product. The way I mounted it allowed more flex that intended. And as I said above, I did it with a lot of extra weight on the ladder.
Here is what happened.
The bottom mounting holes tore out. It snuck up over time and we caught it before catastrophe.
I have since repaired it with steal plated epoxied inside and out with through bolts holding them together. If I had done up plates like that when I installed it then it would never have failed. Here is what my door looks like now.
I missi having the ladder because it looked awesome and was very useful. I need another place to put my shovel and grill. I am tempted to reinstall it on that plate, but what I want for the back is one of the new swing ram bumpers from Tandem.
Victory makes a great ladder. I just wish I had mounted it better. It can be done more solidly for not much more work. Especially if you don’t overload it and bomb across the desert.
