Rear door ladders.....

There seems to be quite an array of prices, fixings and material for a ladder that attaches to the rear.

Anyone got one or got any thoughts? (4th Gen primarily).

There are some on ebay claiming to be aluminium for £100-130 delivered.

The APIO ones are steel and need a mortgage to buy, but look largely the same fitting style as the ebay ones.

There is also an IPF EXP one, aluminium and looks like a nice design, although still very very pricey and same basic mounting style.

Then there is the Front Runner one, steel again, but bolts to the spare wheel and door hinge rather than hanging from the door. But £140....

Forgive me for asking but why? Aesthetics I get but practically,why would you need that much access to the roof? I have a double tow bar step that is more than adequate for loading the top box.

If going for steel, check the weight, not sure if it will be very heavy. Probably not a good idea to have too much extra weight on the door.

wrote:

Forgive me for asking but why? Aesthetics I get but practically,why would you need that much access to the roof? I have a double tow bar step that is more than adequate for loading the top box.

No probs asking, all valid questions. 

I'm thinking of a roof rack (I know you have to watch total payload). And I'm not very tall, so it would probably help in that regard.

I don't have any other form of steps on the car, I do have a tow bar, but a detachable one.

However I was primarily thinking of ways to carry some additional fuel, a bit like this:



And of course having the benefits of being a ladder also. Although that particular ladder is £400, plus the mounts, plus the can... But I think you could fit the mount to most of the ladders with a little work.

It would also be hanging the load near the hinges, so I'd assume ok, the door and hinges look pretty beefy and have the spare hanging off of it already.

The ladders mostly seem to just hang on the top of the door and clamp up from the bottom, squeezing the door and having to put rubber slips under the brackets to protect the paintwork.

Not sure I like that. But I have no direct experience.

Obviously the 4 is still relatively new but on the 3 just mounting a heavier oversized spare wheel causes noticeably more wear in the door hinge so I would be a bit wary of too much extra weight on the back door.

Ladder first - my reaction the first time I saw one on line was WHY? Admittedly, I'm on the tall side, but, my method of reaching the roof on my admittedly taller Grand Vitara is to open the rear door and then step up into the boot area.

The GV rear bumper has a substantial reinforcement (which the Jimny lacks) and I've been known to stand on that and then step onto the spare on the rare occasion I need to actually get on the roof, which by the way cannot support my weight.

Moving on to the oversized spare - most rear door mounted spares cause problems over time with sealing, going up on tire size aggravates the issue, adding fuel etc., on the door does the same. If you're on relatively smooth surfaces you might get away with it, corrugations will shred the door skins.