Finally a week without travel. I got to spend a bit of time fitting items I had, but since I was 6 weeks in Africa, then two in even more backwards California. Well not backwards, but traffic may as well be, backing up everywhere. I had wanted to check out the fit of the bike rack on the D90X. I had purchased an open box Yakima Backswing to move the Yakima Holdup I had out a bit and swings the rack out of the way. It fits nicely. It is just the combined weight is like 50 lbs. I had to do a task on the airplane and was out at the hanger and found the adaptor I made for my wife’s old Disco 1. It works nicely as well, extending and lowering the rack a bit. Best of all, weighs like 4 lbs. If you use the tilt on the rack’s function, it allows you to open the rear door almost all the way.

One of my other little projects was how to mount the ladder and shovel on the rack. I tried a couple of different methods. None was satisfactory. The permanently mounted ladders are basically decorations. The really expensive rear mounted ones are frankly dangerous. I tried one mounted on a Defender 110 in Namibia. You need freaking goat hooves to use it and it gets so small and has so little depth at the top, you barely have your toes on the rungs, especially if your wearing boots! OSHA would condemn it. The Land Rover one is only slightly more useful, but it mounts right where I can bump my head on the roof top tent, clever. Besides, I like to set my ladder on the side of road cuts to do my geologist thing on the exposed bedding.

I tried one of the Front Runner traction board mounts, modified to hold the telescoping ladder on the rack edge. I’m not short, being an inch shy of 6’, but it was not practicable. I tend to pull well off the road to do my geologist thing, set some traffic cones and a warning sign. If you notice, the dirt shoulder slopes away from the vehicle, making it even effectively even higher. I would have to be taller than an NBA player, since I went through that shrinking burst in college, I was cut from the team. While I was in South Africa, I spotted a telescoping ladder mounted on the spare tire. That vehicle had space to mount it behind the spare between the rear gate and the tire. It got me thinking.

I figured I could get one of the inexpensive Thule Spare Me racks. Not terribly expensive used. It uses a plate between he spare rim and the mount. The early version was all metal. I just need to make the adaptor plate to hold the ladder and shovel. I have a bunch of Starboard, a dense ˝” thick plastic marine application material. With some bits I had lying around, I made a adaptor to hold the ladder, used some bolts and Adel clams to hold the board to the bike mount. Rather than overthink the mount, I just used a spare ratchet clamp to secure it, and the lower parts keeps it positioned. I need to go source a couple of longer brackets to hold the shovel mount clear of the ladder. I just want to avoid doing around town, as it is inundated with Nimrods for the Memorial Day weekend. It can still revert it to a bike mount, but I loath hanging mounts, the beat the holy living begeezsus out of your bikes off road. That and the 50 mph winds outside at the moment.

 

Nice report. I’ve thought about a telescoping ladder as a cheaper solution to the LR ladder, and more flexible. Just strap it to the spare wheel. I’m curious why you don’t like the LR side ladder? It looks pretty good to me. Is it height off the ground or stability? Also, where did you get that cool spare wheel cover?

 

The Land Rover ladder is not so useful, as it is only on one side, which may or may not be a good option from the access in the wild standpoint. It kind of comes right where you may or may not have a roff top tent. Rather overpriced and stuck to your car all the time. I just like to access what part of the roof I need to at the time. The D90 is kind of short on top, so you may want access further forward the the ladder offers. As I mentioned, I use the ladder for access to things not necessarily on the truck. I also use it to fuel the plane when on floats. It is kind of tall. I had the cover made, you provide artwork and $129 they make you a cover. Kind of weary of the usual rhino and such. I think the triceratops much cooler. I realize I didn't post a pic of the mount on the wheel, oops, have to fix that. I am trying not to over-engineer the shovel mount. It is a shovel after all, kind of miss my "lady's shovel" I had in South Africa. It was oh so useful in digging small test holes, it had a flatter profile for easier mounting.