Patent ID: 7913885

Claim:
An apparatus for securing and carrying a ladder having channel shaped rail members and tubular connecting rungs secured within openings in the web of each of said rails on a pickup truck having a cab and a tailgate that is pivotable between a generally horizontal open position and a generally vertical closed position, said ladder being secured and carried in a longitudinal orientation and supported by an upper rear edge of the cab and an upper edge of the tailgate, said apparatus comprising: a ladder retention bracket that is not rigidly secured to the truck, said ladder retention bracket having a generally L-shaped frame to which is attached a padded stop plate and at least one ladder indexing arm, a rear-facing surface of a ladder rung pressing against said at least one ladder indexing arm, and said stop plate pressing against a forward-facing surface of the raised tailgate in response to a tendency of a carried ladder to slide rearward under the influence of vibration and gravity, said ladder retention bracket thereby counteracting the force of gravity acting on a carried ladder; a first pad set secured to lower edges of a forward portion of the ladder's rail members, said first pad set preventing direct contact between the ladder and the upper rear edge of the cab; a second pad set secured to lower edges of a rear portion of the ladder's rail members, said second pad set preventing direct contact between the ladder and the upper edge of the tailgate; and a plurality of binding members for securing the ladder to at least a pair of forward anchoring points and to a pair of rearward anchoring points, forward and rearward anchoring points being located on opposite sides of the pickup truck.