Where can I hang my ramps?

[J_J]

J_J. I will be hauling our Hinomoto E232 with a FEL and a shredder on the back
and it's a 16ft trailer so I don't think I can have the fold up ramps

I do like the leg on the ramps you have but that would be too heavy for me and my bad back unless I attached them permanantly.

It will have to be a bracket or rack of some kind.

I thought about laying across the tongue but that puts me carring them back to the rear each cycle.

How much overhang do you have fulled loaded? I think it is better to lift one end of a ramp than to lift the ramp off and carry it somewhere. It doesn't have to fold up vertical. It can lay back probably at around 45 degrees.with a good chain. Mine also slide left or right to line up tire width. I also have a 16 ft landscape trailer that I haul a Kubota with bush hog, and it has full width fold up ramp with spring assist. It is a garage door spring with cable.

 

[8NLUGNUT]

How much overhang do you have fulled loaded? I think it is better to lift one end of a ramp than to lift the ramp off and carry it somewhere. It doesn't have to fold up vertical. It can lay back probably at around 45 degrees.with a good chain. Mine also slide left or right to line up tire width. I also have a 16 ft landscape trailer that I haul a Kubota with bush hog, and it has full width fold up ramp with spring assist. It is a garage door spring with cable.

I just had my coffee and I'm about to go out and crawl into the deerstand. I'll try to remember to measure the total length of the tractor and shredder.

We have a 12ft with the full fold up ramp but it's not spring assist. I can get the tractor with FEL on it but the ramp doesn't come all the way up.

I'm starting to think I need to sell this trailer and find another one.

I like it because I got it cheap, repainted it, rewired it puts some new boards and it really tows nice but by the time I've got it set up the right way I may be better off money wise finding one that has been set up more in line with what you has described.

I'll ponder all this while waiting on a big buck!

Thanks for the great input guys.

 

[J_J]

I just thught of something that you could do. Add a small beaver tail and some small ramps, which would lesson the load you have to pick up. Something like this. This was an 18 ft trailer and someone added a beaver tail and fold up ramps.

 

[dynasim]

I have the same issue. Has anyone ever used them as a "tailgate". I am picturing a hinged fixture that they could slide into, with the hinge flopping down to load.

It might be difficult to not make them look messy, though.

Chris

 

[farmboy12]

If you can weld, maybe putting some square tubing on the side of each ramp. Then, if your trailer has stake pockets, slide the tubing in there. If you can, put holes in the stake pocket and the tubing, or just strap it tight with some light duty straps.


Kyle

 

[Diamondpilot]

I made a rack for mine on the tongue between the jack leg and the deck. Works great and keep 100% of the deck space free.

Chris

 

[2manyrocks]

Not the right trailer the first time? Been there myself.

Another option besides garage door springs is to winch up the ramps with a boat type winch.

Keep in mind that when you use hinged ramps, the pivot point means you aren't lifting the entire weight of the ramp. But if you have back issues, the initial part of the lift might not be what you want without assistance from springs or a winch. I have seen the springs enclosed in a steel tube to protect them and for safety I suppose.

 

[kebo]

My ex father-in-law has a 16ft trailer that had ramps which were detachable from the trailer. There were two brackets welded underneath the trailer that each ramp slide into. In other words, each ramp had it's on slot to slide into. These two slots were on the side of the trailer, not the back or the front. Once you slid them in, they were pinned in to lock them in place. That was a pretty slick setup I thought.

My 16ft trailer has a drive on ramp the full width of the trailer that's permanently attached to it with spring loaded assist to raise/lower it. I like this setup better because it just makes for a quicker load/unload. Jmho.

 

[Eagleview]

If your back is bad , you really should think about buying a Tilt Deck trailer . With the flick of a drawbar catch the tractor is ready to unload , the weight of the reversing tractor will allow the rear of the trailer to touch the ground . When driven back on the trailer comes back down and locks in place .

 

[mojoinco]

I have a 16' bed trailer. No dove tail (the next one will).


The ramps are ~5' long and slide under the trailer. The frame for the slide is simply two pieces of angle iron attached back to back (picture a straight Z) per side of the ramp. The ramp stringers C channel (look very much like yours).

Works ok until you have a low clearance vehicle, as the approach and departure angles are steep. I just purchased some used angle iron and 16' 2 x 8's. They will end up being ~12' long for my wifes skid steer and for my Miata (I hope they are long enough for the Miata). My bed height is ~24".

They will have some sort of 2x framed stand to go ~midway up the ramps to support them with a load (both are in the low 2000# range).

You will want to keep a block of wood handy to place under the trailer tail (a couple of inches short of how it sets when it is empty). I have learned this after loading my TN55. I got it part way on the trailer and noticed that the ground was moving regardless of how hard I pushed on the brakes! After I collected my wits I moved forward pretty quick to get some weight on the tongue. I keep an unsplit log around now.

I like the tilt idea, but I would worry about other items in the load (using the tilt pretty much means it is a one item load) moving off as well. I have seen dovetailed trailers with a raisable center section (making it a fully useable flatbed as well). I will be monitoring these as well as more conventional dove tails. Dovetails lower the approach/departure angle and allow for shorter ramps (I will also be considering the pivoting ramps).

I use my trailer for hauling wood and hay, so it still has to be a flatbed. The toughest part is that I want it to be a bumper pull -- and at least 20 foot bed (including dovetail). And cheap. As the saying goes, pick 2! Nothing wrong with using what you have and watching out for the right thing. You can only think these through so far until you have to use it and figure out what you really needed.

Oh, when/if you install lighting, add in a set of Wallyworld $20 clear fog lights as back up lights on the trailer. Man they make it easy!