Cheap Ramps


Author: Dave
Date: 04.13.14 - 3:04pm



Ramps are a pretty basic thing. When you are younger you will use pretty much anything, hop up and down on a bit and figure that should be good, praying that it doesn't fail.

I finally got to the age where i decided to buy a decent set of ramps and stop always have to forage and pray with whatever i could find when I needed them.

I looked around a bit and decided to go with TMS RP-TRIFOLD-ALR6945B 69-Inch by 45-Inch Super-Wide Tri-Fold ATV Loading Ramp, Aluminum

My main use was to cart dolly's full of stuff into a cargo trailer, along with the occasional lawn mower or lite motorcycle.

These ramps did kind of ok, but they are actually quite light duty. I weight 205, and if you are standing on just one panel, it flexes more than I am comfortable with. Since the trailer is pretty low, i have dealt with it but, still always been nagging me in the back of my mind to upgrade them.

Off the bat, I drilled out the rivets to disconnect one panel from the rest. 3 wide swiveling about was a pain to move around. I also put 1/4" plywood across the remaining two with some stair tred for traction so I could use it with the dolly.

This year i bought a little bit heavier motorcycle (600lbs) so it was time to beef up the ramps. The idea of a panel dropping on me while I was holding up a bike is not something I want to risk anymore. Each panel is rated at 500lbs, but the fingers they use to rest on the trailer are a pretty poor design.

Basically it looks like they engineered it to an absolute minimum, each finger is only held in by two rivets, with the tail end bent down to pry against the inside bottom of the tubing. The tubing itself is extremely thin.

So, to fix it up, i cut some 2x4 to slide down inside the tubing with a nice smooth fit, the original fingers were removed, the bent down end cut off, and re-welded straight to give me a wider spacing between bolts.


On the bottom front edge of the ramp, a piece of angle iron was bolted which will catch a matching piece of angle welded to the trailer so it cant slide off. This lip will also bear weight along with the top fingers now.

A 3/4" piece of plywood was bolted to the top of the ramp panel, and on the bottom, some 1" aluminum angle backs it up to stiffen it even more. It was rigid enough with just the plywood, but I had the angle laying around so figured I would use it just to be thorough.

In the picture below, note the brace at an angle on the ends. This leaves the end of the angle iron open so I can easily clear debris, and makes sure there is no sharp corner to catch you leg on. The two center supports help absorb the weight on the angle, and transmit it back into the trailer so all of that stress is not on the edge weld alone. They also carry up the back side and butt right against the flooring so if it starts to torque, it will drive itself into the decking as well. They look a little rough, but I couldnt see taking the time to cut them out from a nice piece of steel so just welded them up from scrap.



So now I have 3 separate panels, which are easier to move. The mounting system REALLY needed the upgrade to be safe. and I feel much better with the whole thing upgraded. The one very heavy duty section will be used for the motorcycle, and the two lighter ones, which also got wood cores and upgraded end mounts will be good for general loading like carts and mowers.

The old adage is true..you get what you pay for. I didn't want to spend more than 100 bucks for ramps, and I still ended up paying way more in the form of a days labor monkeying around. Next time I will just buy good ramps to start with!

Bottom line is, loading large, expensive, heavy items which you are in close proximity to, you gain nothing by risking it with cheap ramps. Especially considering that you use the ramps over and over again for years. One medical bill, plus the pain and swearing is completely worth the extra 100 bucks.

Also I guess in all fairness, there is also a very real balance you want to strike between weight, and majority of use. Why break your back with a welded up steel ramp if you dont need it. Stock these ramps are 30lbs for all 3 sections. My heavy section is now 30lbs all by itself.

btw if you are wondering why I didnt mount the fingers to the top of the plywood, originally i did, until I realized that the offset between the fingers and the lower lip had to be constant for all three panels if I wanted the weight to bear on both the lower angle and the fingers for all three. The other two panels are only decked with 1/4".






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