Tested: Rhino Rack ladder

There’s one problem with most roof racks: they're designed for use by younger travellers.

Carrying an extra mounted spare wheel or two for your 4WD, its caravan, or camper on a remote area trip is a good idea, but the only place they can go is on a roof rack. The challenge for many older travellers is to get up to 45kg per wheel and chunky tyre onto a rack above shoulder height, you need a ladder and help.

Carrying a regular step ladder poses another challenge; most roof racks have a carrying capacity of 100kg or less, so a folding domestic ladder takes up valuable room and reduces other things you can carry.

Finally, hoisting a heavy spare wheel up a ladder is inviting trouble, either for yourself, or damage for your vehicle.

Then, if you leave it at home after loading, how do you get that heavy spare wheel down again and its punctured replacement back up in its place?

Folding ladder solution

The solution is a dedicated folding ladder specifically designed to clip onto your roof rack, which is why Rhino Rack offers a lightweight folding one for its ever-expanding range of roof racks, carry bars and accessories.

The Aluminium Folding Ladder connects to the edge of the Pioneer Systems using a specific mounting bracket fixed with bolts for added stability. The bracket can be installed on either side and the ladder unfolds at an angle to prevent contact with your vehicle.

As weight and durability are key factors here, the ladder is made from aluminium with a black powder coat finish and folds down to 1060mm tall by 70mm wide for easy storage on the rack, or in the load area of your tow vehicle.

A locking pin with a flexible cable is fitted to the ladder to ensure it doesn’t fold unexpectedly, while feet adjustable to 325mm ensure the ladder is angled to correctly and ensure stability on uneven ground.

The ladder’s maximum load rating is 125kg which allows an 85kg person to load a 40kg mounted spare wheel and tyre.

Additional brackets are sold separately if you want mounting points on each side of your rack.

The RRP of the ladder and its fittings is $356.

In practice, the ladder works well and certainly provided a steady platform from which to lift a spare wheel, a storage box and other items onto our Rhino Pioneer platform rack and this task was further helped by fitting a pair of Pioneer Grab Handles (RRP $49), which attached to the longitudinal flat bars of the rack.

As well as providing a firm grip when loading, the 120kg capacity Grab Handles can be used as intermediatory tie-down points for items that only span a proportion of the rack and like the Pioneer Rack itself are made from diecast aluminium that is powder coated to prevent rust and corrosion,

They are ideal for securing items like a tool box and are easily fitted with the rack removed using the mounting slots that house the Pioneer system’s captive nuts. They can then be loosened easily once fitted and slid along the bar to suit different length loads.