[Cousin Jack]

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Hey, all you old Wingnuts..... any of you ever built a pickup truck/motorcycle ramp that works? Out of wood? (I don't have a welder.......).

My kid has moved to Seattle and wants his bike over there (warm winter in the Pacific Northwest), mainlybecause it will convert his pm commute from 1.5 hours to 25 minutes (he'll get to ride in the HOV lanes). Neither of us wanna ride the damn thing over Snoqualmie Pass in the winter, however.... although right now it's probably possible......

I could take my camper off and use my 89' Dodge 4X4 pickup, but I don't have a ramp and I don't want to buy one..... his Suzuki SV650 probably tips the scales at 400# or less.... not like a Wing....... 2 X 8 x 8 feet....? Side runners of 2 X 4's? Any of you done did this? How?

 

[Wingnumberone]

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I have a steep hill on my property, that I can drop my gate, and back up to for loading/unloading. Can you find something similar on your, or a neighbor's spread ??

. . . . . . and at the other end ??

Single ramps are creepy, especially if you try to put a foot down. :shock:

 

[mikef]

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I have. Works great, but it takes two men and a small boy to use. Used 4 - 2 X 10's, 6' long and the ramp edgers you can get at Fleet Farm, Farm and fleet, or any other auto supply store. Strapped them together using flat stock.

Might be a pain, but it works great and my feet don't leave the ground, when I'm backing down.

 

[William_86]

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IF you hand over the plane tickets i would drive it!!

 

[Cousin Jack]

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mikef wrote:

I have. Works great, but it takes two men and a small boy to use. Used 4 - 2 X 10's, 6' long and the ramp edgers you can get at Fleet Farm, Farm and fleet, or any other auto supply store. Strapped them together using flat stock.

Might be a pain, but it works great and my feet don't leave the ground, when I'm backing down.

Jeez, thanks, Mike....... trying to picture it..... are two of the 2 X 10's strapped edge to edge, or, wait a minute.....is the whole thing strapped edge to edge...? Wowser, that's a helluva ramp! I think I see it....... gonna build me one, and then look for another man and a small boy.... or a large girl..... got quite a few of them here in Kittitas County, large girls, that is....... hay and dairy country here!

Thanks, Mike, and I mean that........

 

[mikef]

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I stand corrected. I used 2" X 12". That's what makes it so heavy. All 4 are strapped together, edge to edge, so I have a rectangular surface of 6' long by about 44" wide. You could probably go with smaller sizes. I wanted the extra width. Haven't had a problem yet. One person can handle it. I just tip it on edge when I'm done and slide it upright along the side of the trailer and strap it to the wall.

 

[Cousin Jack]

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Crud.... can't find me any of those edgers.... not in this podunk town, anyway....

make my own.......

maybe hinge another short piece or two pieces of 2 X 10 or something to the ramp, so it'd bend over and lay flat in the bed....drill a hole through it and the bed (it's a beater truck) and drop in a big bolt just to hold it there while I goose the bike up in there....... should work......

let's go see!

(*******'s Last Words: "Hey, y'all.... watch this!")

 

[MDKramer]

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Back in my younger day, and when people still grew their own gardens in their back yards, my father used to make good extra spending cash tilling people's gardens with his 14 horse Bolens tractor.

He had a '72 Chevy 1/2 ton to haul it around with, and built a set of ramps for loading and unloading from wood.

What he did was took two 2x12's and covered them with a layer of roofing shingles (for traction), he then cut 12" pieces of 4x4 so that when lag screwed to one end of the 2x12's, they would bring the level of the ramp up even with the bed of the truck once set on the bumper of the truck.

With some 2x6 he had in the garage, he built some "braces". These were a box type construction that were made to sit on the ground, the 2 uprights were different lengths (to accomodate the angle of the ramp) with the upper bar being the same angle as the ramp so that it would "wedge" under the center of the ramp and provide the necessary support.

They looked something like this.

Since I see you're talking about it being a beater truck and drilling holes, what dad did to hold them in place was to drill a 3/8" hole down through the center of the top of each ramp, through the 4x4, and through the top surface of the bumper...then dropped a 8"x3/8" carriage bolt down through all the holes.

They were light enough that I could load them myself at age 8, and I can never recall one ever even coming close to breaking over the years he used them. Perhaps a couple of them snugged together with a hook and eye setup on the bottom would give you a stable enough platform to load a bike with?

Of course this was all based upon the fact that the tailgate had to be removed from the truck in order for any of it to work.

 

[Cousin Jack]

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That's it! That's it! I've even got the 4X4's already! The tailgate's already off so's my dumb camper can fit on......

You guys are great!

My kid's gonna think I'm a hero!

 

[MDKramer]

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The only hitch I can think of here CJ the centering over the license plate notch. I would overcome that by making the 4x4 the length of the total width of the ramps, then attaching it to 1 ramp, and using the hold in place bolt to hold the other ramp to it.

That would allow you to bridge the gap over the license plate cutout and still have the center supported.

Not having a full sized truck handy to measure, you might need to make the 4x4 bridge longer than the width of the ramps, then peg the ramps to it?

 

[mikef]

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May be a bit late, but here is mine......

Here are the bolt on angled pieces I used.

And here's the side view. I just use an old blanket to slide it in and out, making it a one man operation.

Not pretty but it works great. Not worried about falling off.

 

[Cousin Jack]

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That's a freakin' herkin' ramp, MikeF..........! Beats what I've seen offered commercially..... gonna make one just like it, except that I'm gonna incorporate MDKramer's dad's design with the 4 X 4........ I need one anyway in case I break down somewhere.... as if Honda's ever break down!

 

[DavidinKY]

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You have a 4x4 pickup and he's loading into a trailer, thats a lot lower to the ground. You may want a longer ramp to avoid it being too steep. Also beware of the ramp sliding rearward as to go up, I have had atv spin the ramp out with the front wheels in the pickup bed. Not much fun...

 

[Rudy]

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Man, you guys like busting your backs don't you?

Just get one of these and lay a narrow strip of plywood up the center section for additional strength.

Light and folds up nicely.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90018

Place for your feet and chains to hold it on the vehicle.

$89 when they put it on sale, which is often.

 

[Cousin Jack]

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Damn, just when I've got my mind all made up, the Super-Ferret strikes again!

The wood in the others would probably cost 1/2 of that.......

Off hunting me a ramp........

 

[tricky]

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On my trailer I used a center ramp made up of 1 2x12 bolted to 2 pieces of 2x2x1/8" angle, I found it to be too slippery for cooler weather and I replaced the 2x12 with expanded metal.
The ramp is 6' long.
On each side I have a 1/2" ply with a drop down hinged section to prevent them from buckling if I put too much weight on them and the rest on small angle welded to the center ramp.
The ramp also has two drop down pipes that rest on the ground and that take a lot of weight and prevent the ramp from bending too much.
The sections rest on the trailer but have a pin that drops into the trailer crossmember, I also have seen these things spin out while loading.
The trailer height is only 14" if I was loading a truck I would make the ramp 8' at least. that is if you want to load it on your own.

Sure you can buy stuff but I like to fab stuff up and get most of my matarials from a local wrecker quite cheaply.

The bed of the trailer was made out of cedar planks that were cut from trees on my property..

 

[Kit Carson]

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The original question was for a ramp for a pickup? A pickup is up in the air. No matter what kind of ramp you settle on, it is still up in the air. Better not try to ride it up there. :cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1: Takes three men and a boy to push it up there.

If forced to use a pickup, and as I am always by myself no help, I just use a half sheet of 3/4 plywood, I simply back up to a ditch or drive that has a dirt bank and lay the plywood level into the pick up and ride the bike in.

Might have to hunt for someplace when you get to where you are going, but there will be somewhere close you can use.

What you are looking for is a dirt bank you can back up to.

Not so wise to put the rear wheels down in a ditch :action:


As high as a ramp has to be to get into a pickup, that is a situation I would not tackle on level ground, not unless I had lots of help and if the ramp is short, many times the bike will high center on the edge of the ramp and truck. So you have to pick it up.

Good Luck.

Kit

 

[Cousin Jack]

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Ramp up! Ramp up! Ramp up!

Okay, for better or worse, this is what I came up with (have to drive 200 miles to do the HF option)

- 3 ea 2X10X8' pressure treated

- 1 ea 2X4 X 8' (cut in four pieces, flat stock for the bottom) pressure treated

- handful of galv. nails, handful of deck screws..... on hand

- two eye bolts, still looking.....

-two chunks of chain (came off camper!)

- won't be as steep as it looks, my driveway slopes! MD, won't need your father's option, will wrap the chain through the eyebolts and around bumper......

(ain't that truck beautiful! 200,000 miles)

(quit laughing, a finish carpenter I ain't!)

(total cost so far..... $54........thanks all.....)

 

[Cousin Jack]

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another

 

[Cousin Jack]

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another....