Late as this reply may be, I’m going to try to allay your fears or apprehensions about using the Strongman 6815 struts. I’m going to also use this space to expand on it a bit, because there’s some arbitrary rule about not being able to start a thread until I reach some mystic number of replies. I’m sure there’s a great reason for this rule.
Just yesterday, I installed the 6815’s on my ‘98 SR5, and the difference is remarkable. I haven’t measured the “poundage” or resistance force it takes to stop the hatch from rising, but it is substantial. I’m 178 lbs, and blessed with “old man strength” (as my son-in-law once said, out loud, right in front of me, which he immediately regretted, but I digress), and it takes considerable effort to stop the hatch and close it. I can put my 20 lb grandson on the tailgate mid stream and it still continues to rise.
Since your ladder’s weight is distributed along the entire height of the liftgate/hatch, it will have no problem lifting it, as long as you are using the 6815’s and NOT the 4286’s. The 4286’s are similar in resistance force to the $200/side (!) OEM struts. Don’t know why anyone would opt for this.
On another note (and this is where I take a slight tangent), I was very surprised to see what great condition my 20+ year-old spacers/washers/grommets were in. I could find no recorded evidence that these nor the struts had ever been replaced. I’ve seen many videos and blogs that showed almost complete disintegration of these pieces. Mine were only slightly shrunken in width, which created a tiny bit more space between the strut hinge and the hardware than I liked. But they were completely intact. No rot, no cracks.
I did end up supplementing them with a Hillman nylon grommet (3/4” X 1/2”, part #: 039008706508, or .505” X 3/4” X 1/8”, part #: 038902003331) on each side, just to tighten things up. Check your local Lowe’s or equivalent for stock. No new replacement spacer needed for me, but you can also get these at Lowe’s (Hillman nylon spacer, 1/2” X .328” X 1”, part #: 008236708325).
I’d love to show you a couple images of the original grommets in place, but, apparently, I’m not allowed to do that too. Or maybe it’s my brand new iPad Air 4. Open to correction.
