For years, we’ve written about the humble cargo van and how a design that remained virtually unchanged for fifty years has finally gotten the respect and attention it deserves. The new high roof cargo and work vans like the Mercedes Sprinter, the Ford Transit, and the Ram Promaster are great designs that maximize headroom and can provide tons of storage, but until now, installing and using a ladder rack on one – especially for an extension ladder – was an exercise in frustration.
Sure, you could always figure out how to lever it up on the roof, but you needed height to gain that leverage. Once you got it up there, you also have to worry about how to make sure it is secured (and make sure you can loosen those tie downs at the next job!). Finally, many of the racks designed for these vans today are simply “scaled up” racks that are nearly useless as high as they sit.
Plenty of companies have designed solutions for these high rooflines, but our friends at Ranger Design sharpened their pencils at the drawing board and created one of the most elegant and functional solutions we’ve ever seen.
It’s called the Access Stow rack, and the idea is simple: provide a series of ladder rack options for high-roof vans that don’t require you to take your feet off the ground for loading and unloading.
In fact, the best part of the entire design is the simplicity – you don’t need loads of leverage, you don’t need to be eight feet tall, and you don’t have to worry about securing a ladder to a rack once you’ve gotten it up on the roof.
Literally, you or your team can operate the Access Stow rack with one hand – safely, efficiently, and securely – while keeping both feet on the ground. No more climbing up on bumpers or even using a ladder to unload a ladder.
One of the most important things about the Access Stow rack series is that the ladder is loaded from the back of the van. Many designs today for high-roof work vans require users to load and unload from the side, placing them in traffic, or on uneven terrain beside the road or parking lot. Imagine trying to load from the side of the van on a snow-covered slope! You can almost hear that ankle snap!
With the Access Stow system, a military-grade load locking system is used, but this ingenious system is accessed and unlocked from the ground, so while your ladder isn’t going anywhere, you don’t have to fight with it to access it. In fact, it takes only seconds to unlock and unload any extension ladder from the Access Stow rack!
All the webbing that secures the ladder to the rack is a high-strength polyester material that will last for years. Even better? These are adjustable to ensure a tight fit, no matter what type of ladder you’re using, or the rung spacing. Just as importantly, because these are manually locked by the user, there’s never any doubt about how well the ladder is secured – you’ll know.
The Access Stow racks are available in single or double ladder setups, and they are designed to keep things simple and safe on the roof. Just as importantly, because the overall design is simple and well-designed, installation is easy, too. The Access Stow racks offer a robust solution to a very big problem, but their design is intuitive. The end result is a rack than can be installed quickly and save you and your team a lot of time and headaches trying to simply access the tools they need to do the job.
If you’re ready to quit fighting the ladders on your cargo van, give our team a call at 1-888-435-6466 or simply click right here. The Access-Stow is only one of many great racks we offer for vans and trucks, so we’ve got your solution.
