Be careful of car ramps!

[newbury]

Bought a pair of RhinoGear 11912 RhinoRamps MAX Vehicle Ramps (Pair, 16,000lb. GVW Capacity) about 5 years ago. Note that although they are named Pair, 16,000 lbs GVW that's only when you use 4. Used them with my Ford F350 maybe a dozen times at most. Stored inside when not used.

Crumpled when I went to use them last week. Luckily they crumpled just after I drove up, before I got underneath.

Now my trucks TOTAL WEIGHT is about 8,000 lbs so I figure maybe I put 6,000 lbs on the pair, well below the rated capacity of 8,000 lbs for the pair.

They don't age well.

If they had crumpled when I was underneath I wouldn't age well.

 

[444Powerstroke]

No Pics?
Did they both fail at same time?
I've been using a similar pair for years with my F350. Stored outside!

 

[bigdeano]

Glad you weren't hurt. I wouldn't trust my life to plastic. I made mine from angle iron many years ago.

 

[square1]

Glad you weren't hurt. I wouldn't trust my life to plastic. I made mine from angle iron many years ago.

Thanks, material of construction was going to be my question.

 

[rgr33]

I have never trusted those darn things, so many years ago I made some ramps out of left over 2x10s. Even with those, I still put a big chunk of unsplit firewood underneath as an added precaution. That would be a bad way to go.
Sometimes I think the higher powers give us a warning shot, just to remind us to slow down and think about what could happen if we don't pay attention.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Geez thx for posting. I have a similar set, older. I never felt too good using them. Glad you are ok!

 

[Bird]

Thanks, material of construction was going to be my question.

Mine were pretty heavy to move around, but I bought 2 x 10 lumber and made solid ramps. The bottom board was cut 4' long, cut on a 45 degree angle on one end. Each succeeding board was 6" shorter, so it was 4', 3.5', 3', 2.5', 2', 1.5", all with the 45 degree angle, and each attached to the one below with four 3" countersunk wood screws. On the square end, I attached an upright board as a stop.

The first time I made a set like that was to park a little motorhome on a sloped driveway so it would be level when parked. Years later, I made a set to use in my shop building to get under the car and pickup for such things as oil & filter changes.

 

[Qapla]

We used to have a couple "guard rails" the road department replaced and left laying along side the road. We would prop one end up on blocks about 2 feet from the end and then drive up the grooves. When the back tires hit the ends of the rails, we stopped. They worked quite well for many years with light and heavy vehicles.

My nephew has a pair of metal ramps he bought. Only thing is, he has almost driver right off of them while driving up since the "stop" only consists of a small "dip".

 

[JFoy]

I bought something similar to work on the tractor but my gut told me to buy 6 ton jack stands as well. Get it up with the ramps and then brace with the jack stands.

 

[civilian]

Mine were pretty heavy to move around, but I bought 2 x 10 lumber and made solid ramps. The bottom board was cut 4' long, cut on a 45 degree angle on one end. Each succeeding board was 6" shorter, so it was 4', 3.5', 3', 2.5', 2', 1.5", all with the 45 degree angle, and each attached to the one below with four 3" countersunk wood screws. On the square end, I attached an upright board as a stop.

The first time I made a set like that was to park a little motorhome on a sloped driveway so it would be level when parked. Years later, I made a set to use in my shop building to get under the car and pickup for such things as oil & filter changes.

I made something similar to this. But 3/4"PT on the bottom, and the stacked 2' x material on top. Only 3 layers high. Four of them for oil changes on my car and van. Then I built a longer pair and taller to add under my ramps up to a deck over trailer. But they are heavy. Quit using that trailer and bought a landscape trailer for hauling the BX2230. Jon