New GOBI ladder mount, not so good

[brockeverly]

So I waited to get home to install the ladder, and I am glad I did. The fit and finish is not at all what I was expecting for a $200+ item. Most of the issue is in the top mount. It does not fit no matter where it is moved along the hatch. Since it did not fit correctly anywhere, I took the instructions at their face value and mounted it at 3 3/8" thinking maybe when all was tightened down it would pull into place. I was wrong. The whole right side of the mount will not touch the top of the hatch, so it will not clear my rack. There is a large (1/8" or so) gap on the whole right side. I will contact TrailDuty and hopefully something can be done about this as it is worthless if my hatch will not fully open. Aside from the fitment issues, I really love the ladder. Hopefully it can be corrected.

Gap when closed:

Contact with rack when opened:

Notice that the ladder would easily clear if the damn mount would attach to the roof.

Fully open to contact:

--UPDATE--

So I reinstalled my ladder today with the new mount. I gave GOBI the benefit of the doubt and decided not to cut off the bevel. My old mount was in fact bad. The new mount is flat on the surface. The old mount only had one of the three double sided tape pieces touching the surface, now all three are. The ladder still does not clear the BajaRack, but that is fine, I did not expect it to fully clear. I can now easily get access to the cargo area, it is lifting around 3-5" higher than with the previous mount. The previous mount rubbed a 2" area inside the hatch down to the metal, but it appears it is no longer touching. All is fixed in my book.

 

[limamike]

I'm not entirely clear on what you mean here. The curved portion won't "fit" anywhere perfectly? Or the lip that hooks into the front portion of the tailgate won't fit?

If you remember from my thread on the new plate, there is most definitely contact with the low-profile Utility Rack that we have on my install as well. I don't think my plate fits any better or worse than what I see in your photos.

 

[brockeverly]

I'm not entirely clear on what you mean here. The curved portion won't "fit" anywhere perfectly? Or the lip that hooks into the front portion of the tailgate won't fit?

If you remember from my thread on the new plate, there is most definitely contact with the low-profile Utility Rack that we have on my install as well. I don't think my plate fits any better or worse than what I see in your photos.

The curved portion to the back holds the mount from making contact anywhere. The drivers side of the mount contacts just fine, passenger side will not make contact no matter what is done. The position with this mount will easily clear the Baja rack, if it would sit flat on the hatch.

 

[harper7]

So I waited to get home to install the ladder, and I am glad I did. The fit and finish is not at all what I was expecting for a $200+ item. Most of the issue is in the top mount. It does not fit no matter where it is moved along the hatch. Since it did not fit correctly anywhere, I took the instructions at their face value and mounted it at 3 3/8" thinking maybe when all was tightened down it would pull into place. I was wrong. The whole right side of the mount will not touch the top of the hatch, so it will not clear my rack. There is a large (1/8" or so) gap on the whole right side. I will contact TrailDuty and hopefully something can be done about this as it is worthless if my hatch will not fully open. Aside from the fitment issues, I really love the ladder. Hopefully it can be corrected.

Looks like it barely hits.Doesn't your Bajarack have some slotted mount holes? Mine has and can be positioned fwd or aft . Try loosening them all up and moving it forward just a little.

 

[brockeverly]

Looks like it barely hits.Doesn't your Bajarack have some slotted mount holes? Mine has and can be positioned fwd or aft . Try loosening them all up and moving it forward just a little.

The rack is already fully forward. It does barely hit, just enough to piss me off that I cannot do anything about it.

 

[limamike]

I remember hooking the front of the plate in first and pulling back firmly to try to get it seated properly. I will try to take a look at it tomorrow to see how it fits on mine, but I distinctly remember looking at it and thinking that the rear of the plate should extend further for a better fit.

 

[brockeverly]

I remember hooking the front of the plate in first and pulling back firmly to try to get it seated properly. I will try to take a look at it tomorrow to see how it fits on mine, but I distinctly remember looking at it and thinking that the rear of the plate should extend further for a better fit.

I have stood on the damn thing to try to get it seated. It seats in the back for a second then pops right back up. I am curious why it is necessary to have that bend at all. If it lays flat, then it would fit just fine and have more than enough reinforcement to hold weight.

 

[Mick1]

A rear bumper like this Slee with the ladder attached would be nice.

http://sleeoffroad.com/products/images/bumper/sof1149-1.jpg[img]

[url=http://sleeoffroad.com/products/bumpers/rear_bumpers_80series.htm]Slee - Toyota 80 Series Land Cruiser Rear Bumper[/url]

 

[deanyuan]

I did the same thing today and have the same problem with the beveled edge. I've moved it back and forth and couldn't get it to fit anywhere either. Currently theres a gap on the right hand side.
I'm thinking of either cutting off the curved (beveled) portion, or taking the old plate, and cutting it to match the new plate where it was rubbing before.

 

[brockeverly]

So the previous plate did not have a beveled edge? They fixed one issue and created another :redbrick: Wish I was closer to them so they could just take my truck a few days to work this out for everyone.

 

[Antman]

Brock- since I just barely hits, could you slot the top mount holes in the ladder itself- pull it back a hair, and tighten it back up on the mount? Might be worth a try...

I had to trim my bracket under the hatch because the hinge would pop it out of place. Good luck!

 

[brockeverly]

Brock- since I just barely hits, could you slot the top mount holes in the ladder itself- pull it back a hair, and tighten it back up on the mount? Might be worth a try...

I had to trim my bracket under the hatch because the hinge would pop it out of place. Good luck!

I do not think that would give me quite enough clearance. I think I am going to take the top mount off and cut the beveled section off. Only part that sucks is that it will ruin the powdercoating, and I will have to find more of this ridiculously strong 3M tape. I really think that without that edge this mount would be perfect. I emailed TrailDuty and linked them here to keep from having to explain and send photos that are already readily available. Maybe they can get GOBI to make a mount without that bevel and fix this for everyone. I am curious as to why they added it, and how it was fitting on their test truck.

Love the look of the ladder, and it works great to get on and off the roof. A little more awkward than using the whole hatch with the window rolled down, but I cannot imagine doing it that way was good long term so all in all I will be happy once I get this thing figured out.

 

[jirehn]

Thanks for this photos, I really appreciate you share something.

 

[TOPDECK]

I don't own this ladder, however I am very interested in a ladder. It seems like it would make much more sense to have the ladder attach to the rack for support, and use a hinge to let the ladder go up with the rear hatch.

I am no engineer, but I could see how that would also spread the load of a person climbing on it over the hatch and the roof of the car (rack).

I dunno, seems like it would work.


This just looks like poor design all around.

 

[jnance50]

I'm not sure I'd say poor design all around. Bear in mind what we're doing here is using a Gobi brand ladder with a Baja brand rack. As I understand, Gobi ladders do not have an issue with Gobi racks.

Also, I could see using a hinge to connect the ladder to the rack itself as you suggested but then you really force people to use a Gobi rack (I think a universal hinge of the quality required to take the abuse these racks do would probably be out of the question).

I think Gobi was probably trying to make a ladder that you could use regardless of the rack you have on your vehicle and, if that is the case, there's no way they could foresee or test every other manufacturer's products.

I don't own this ladder, however I am very interested in a ladder. It seems like it would make much more sense to have the ladder attach to the rack for support, and use a hinge to let the ladder go up with the rear hatch.

I am no engineer, but I could see how that would also spread the load of a person climbing on it over the hatch and the roof of the car (rack).

I dunno, seems like it would work.


This just looks like poor design all around.

 

[Antman]

You can't have the ladder attached to the rack and mounted to the hatch without a complex pivot on one end. They will swing in different planes from each other and bind. Mounting to the hatch itself is the best way...

 

[joneseyyy]

A little dremel work on the ladder top would fix it. Mine hits my Bajarack as well, but I'm a short guy, so I don't risk hitting my head on the hatch.

 

[brockeverly]

The issue is not the Baja Rack, the mount should sit flush regardless of what rack is being used. I do not expect GOBI to bend over backwards to make it work with someone else's rack, only to make it work as it should.

 

[brockeverly]

A little dremel work on the ladder top would fix it. Mine hits my Bajarack as well, but I'm a short guy, so I don't risk hitting my head on the hatch.

I would cut the mount before the ladder. Those pics are hard to see, I could stick my finger into that gap.

 

[Antman]

Just looked at the pics again- looks like the top edge of the upper mount is closer to the spoiler lip when closed. Is it moving- IE - hitting the inner hinge when you open it? If it is, it's pulling the bracket towards the gap between the roof/hatch causing it to have less clearance.

Am I talking outta my arse, or is that the case?