OT: What's wrong with how this ramp is built?

Geo-TH,In · Apr 4, 2012

What's wrong with how this ramp is built?

IaGary · Apr 4, 2012

Unable to fold all the way flat if wanted.

I would have mounted the legs straight up and down instead of leaning.

Unable to slide the ramps much closer to center if wanted.

Eldon (WA) · Apr 4, 2012

(quoted from post at 17:11:03 04/04/12) What's wrong with how this ramp is built?

The legs shouldn't touch the ground...you won't get it up once the trailer is loaded. Also the support leg should be under the pivot point...it will try to push the trailer forward when loading.

kevinj54 · Apr 4, 2012

You should post a full length pic. Cannot tell if rig is level etc. How do ramps secure for travel???

caseman-d · Apr 4, 2012

I don't like the way it sets on the ground. Would think it would gouge into the ground loading and be hard to fold back up.
caseman-d

jrh009 · Apr 4, 2012

(quoted from post at 21:11:03 04/04/12) What's wrong with how this ramp is built?

Not sure what your point is, I am not heavy equip guy, but I am a P. Eng. Without a base plate on the stand, and you load a heavy piece on the ramp when in soft soil the reaction will not be supported by the stand as it will be driven into the soil. Thus the reaction will pass thru the hinge , load the axle and create a negative reaction at the hitch.

This means you would need a fairly heavy vehicle with a pintle type hitch to prevent the float from flying off the hitch.

Hope I am getting at what you are after.

Morgan Flowers · Apr 4, 2012

Do they flip up if a lot of weight is pushing on the back of the trailer?

IaGary · Apr 4, 2012

Legs may be to ong as well.

JoeM(GA) · Apr 4, 2012

you'll NEVER fold them back up with a load on the trailer!

Ray · Apr 4, 2012

I had a trailer like that.Besides what the others have said if you drive a tractor up them, about the time the tractor weight goes from the ramp to the trailer the rams come up and the rear of the trailer goes down. I've had mine pick the back of my pickup off the ground.

twopop · Apr 4, 2012

you need a shoe on the bottom of the stand

Ultradog MN · Apr 4, 2012

I agree.

johndeereman · Apr 4, 2012

Looks a lot like the ramps that are on my hurst built trailer I bought 2 years ago on the bottom of the stands there"s another piece of channel flat side down so it doesn"t dig in works for me

johndeereman · Apr 4, 2012

Looks a lot like the ramps that are on my hurst built trailer I bought 2 years ago on the bottom of the stands there"s another piece of channel flat side down so it doesn"t dig in works for me

rustcollector · Apr 4, 2012

I have a GPI made trailer with ramps almost identical. Have had no problems with lifting and I don't have the lift springs. If the ramp is holding weight on the leg, just drive forward a few feet.

Wheat Farmer · Apr 4, 2012

Legs are a bit to long. Cut them off. They should only touch when there is a heavy load just above them, and them come back off the ground as the wight centers over the front scackle pin, or at lease over the trailer axles.

Geo-TH,In · Apr 4, 2012

The ramps will fold up when under load. The knees should be all the way forward. Can you say caught between the dovetail and the ramps? My lawn roller weights over 4600 pounds and that's before I add 250 gallons of water.

This has happened to me for the last time.
I'm in the process of modifing the ramps so they can't fold up under a load.

Bill Brackemyer · Apr 4, 2012

The ramp legs need to be welded directly under the pin mounting the ramps to the trailer. In other words, they are about 3 inches too far back. And yes, they should be shorter so they don't dig in when folding them up or down.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 4, 2012

YES!

Glenn

JDseller · Apr 4, 2012

I would leave the ramps alone. They are not made to hold the trailer up. I would put a jack leg under the trailer. I have them on both of my heavy trailers. They just swing straight down and are about three inches off the ground. So when you drive on the back of the trailer they hold the weight. The best thing is that if the trailer is loaded heavy and they don't clear the ground you can just put a ahead just a little and they will swing back and you can then latch them up.

Even simpler is just carry two 6x6 blocks. I have a skid steer trailer that we just put two blocks on top of each other in the middle of the back of the trailer. Works great and cost me nothing as the blocks where scraps left over from a building project.

JMS/.MN · Apr 4, 2012

The bottom of the leg needs to be FORWARD of the pivot point that the ramp mounts on. Bought a trailer like yours, did the whoop-di-do a few times with tractor and skidloader. Not shabby if the trailer is hooked to the truck- truck just goes up and down. But, loading an unhooked trailer? Not a pretty sight! Just redo the legs, angle them more....problem solved. Really just basic geometry- can"t put a load behind the pivot shaft. I sure wouldn"t waste time with extra legs or blocks....I"d build it right the first time.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 4, 2012

The legs should have a piece of channel, the width of the ramp, that sits flat on the ground when the ramps are down. The legs should be at 90 deg's. when the ends of the ramp are on the ground. It doesn't matter if the legs are a little too long. It makes it harder to put them down or lift them up but when hooked to a vehicle, it's real simple to move them, just move the tow vehicle back or forth a little.

The legs on my skid steer trailer sometimes need a little encouragement but's it's never been a problem. It's always better to load and unload with the trailer attached because the trailer only has to move a little bit for the ramps to go up. Block the wheels on the trailer and see if that makes a difference. 4600 lbs. could easily cause the trailer to roll a little and fold the ramps up. Putting upward pull on the coupler is hard on them, that's why horse trailers use bulldog couplers.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 4, 2012

They may need to be closer to the pivot. I don't like the big hole through the channel for the pivot. It looks like it would lower the strength of the ramps but I guess the ramps are supposed to help that. Even still those holes are going to get wallowed out from just driving down the road. I welded a 2" pipe right across my ramps and used a heavy wall pipe that fit inside it for the pins.

Eldon (WA) · Apr 4, 2012

Google a PJ trailer....they know how to make ramps. I have had two of their trailers and love the way the ramps work. I load and unload up to 10 times a day and rarely have a problem unless I am on uneven ground. I remove the lift springs so I can move them when they are down. Helps build muscles that way!

JMS/.MN · Apr 4, 2012

Just a funny here- I was loading the skidloader, with my youngest son watching....before I fixed the ramps. Drove it up, the ramps flipped up behind me............and Mikey says...."how did you do that?"

keh · Apr 5, 2012

It may be just the camera angle, but I would want more side to side adjustment for the ramps, in addition to other issues raisd.

KEH

Texasmark1 · Apr 5, 2012

Looks good to me. Heavy duty loading ramps, straight on, brackets to keep rear of trailer from squatting as you are loading.

Mark

Texasmark1 · Apr 5, 2012

2 things sir. One is that you have a mighty heavy concentrated load, second, you are on soft ground. I don't see that as an even call. I realize that you bought for the reason in the pic, but I wouldn't blame the designer all that much.

Mark

730d se · Apr 5, 2012

Designers can sometimes be "too smart". That design would work OK if the trailer was only used on a very hard surface such as concrete. They skimped on the amount of metal used to save money.

Geo-TH,In · Apr 5, 2012

If you check below I posted the answer. Yes they will flip up. A really big pain in the @**. A friend has a trailer just like mine and his ramp flipped up and hit the rear bumper on the car he was loading. Mine won't flip up any more. Made new supports and moved them forward of the hinge. This is a very poor design. If you notice, the scratches on the concrete, you will see only the back edge of the knee is in contact with the ground, creating a greater upward force on the ramp and making them flip up and launching the trailer forward.

Texasmark1 · Apr 5, 2012

Well sir, metal is weight and you do have to haul it and the load down the road. I realize that a horizontal support at the bottom of the verticals would help in softer environments, but not what this guy is doing......no tow vehicle attached (counterweight) in soft ground, ramp footings useless, extremely large single point load........whine, whine, whine.

Glad I am not a dealer.
Mark

OT: What's wrong with how this ramp is built?

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads