Suggestions To Lighten Rear Ramp.....

[Utopia Texas]

I have had a '18 and '20 foot trailer for years and have recently purchased a small 8 x 10 unit for collecting brush/small limbs on the place and to also trailer my riding lawn mower to our weekend place. It has a 4x8 mesh ramp on the rear that folds in the middle when stowed in the up position the rear unit is only 2x8 feet. The good news is that this hinged rear ramp is very well made. The bad news is that it is very, very heavy and folding it out once and then letting the whole unit to the ground is a huge pain. I am no weakling but it is a chore. I never tried to manually open the ramp at the dealership because it never dawned on me that a metal mesh ramp would be so heavy. I am at a loss as what I might do to make it easier to open and close. Any ideas?

 

[kebo]

Have you looked at the Gorilla-Lift ramp-gate assist's?? If not, look at some of their video's on their website, I think there are some on youtube as well.

https://www.gorilla-lift.com/

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have had a '18 and '20 foot trailer for years and have recently purchased a small 8 x 10 unit for collecting brush/small limbs on the place and to also trailer my riding lawn mower to our weekend place. It has a 4x8 mesh ramp on the rear that folds in the middle when stowed in the up position the rear unit is only 2x8 feet. The good news is that this hinged rear ramp is very well made. The bad news is that it is very, very heavy and folding it out once and then letting the whole unit to the ground is a huge pain. I am no weakling but it is a chore. I never tried to manually open the ramp at the dealership because it never dawned on me that a metal mesh ramp would be so heavy. I am at a loss as what I might do to make it easier to open and close. Any ideas?

We make trailer gate aids out of PVC pipe and a set of garage door springs.

There is a commercial product called Gorilla Lift.

Chris

 

[284 International]

An option may be to copy one of the old U-haul leaf-spring assisted tailgate setups. It's a little bit cleaner above the top rail of the trailer, but would require fabrication. If more lift were needed a pair of springs could be used, or a stiffer leaf. These pictures are of a homebuilt version, taken from Self Lifting Trailer Tailgate | DIY METAL FABRICATION .com . Numerous other similar designs abound:

 

[mjonesnh]

Have the Gorilla Lift system on my tailgate. Heavy Duty gate with 2x2 square tubing that has to handle 4500 pound tractor. Gorilla Lift makes 200 pounds feel more like 40.

 

[Utopia Texas]

All the ideas in posts above are great but this gate is not a one piece unit as in everyone's pictures. This is two pieces hinged in the middle horizontally. I"ll post pictures tomorrow morning. It is a very awkward set up.

 

[284 International]

I had your description in mind when I suggested the leaf spring style; remember that if you are able to "over spring" the lower hinged portion, it will be lifting one side of the upper portion of the ramp for you. I'm not saying it's ideal, but I have used spring assisted gates like what I think you're describing before, and the assist on the lower half was sufficient. If you still need more, a spring on the hinge like this would help: Left Hand Torsion Ramp Spring, 6.3 in-lbs. #08-608-L

 

[JerryK]

I just finished cutting off my homemade around 300+ pound, 20 year old, extremely over built, rear ramp/gate off my 16' trailer. Getting too old to use it in the future. Bought a set of 5k/axle aluminum ramps and redid the rear of the trailer to accept them. Left the two bars on the railing that used to hold the gate closed for a future light removable rear gate...

 

[Utopia Texas]

I had your description in mind when I suggested the leaf spring style; remember that if you are able to "over spring" the lower hinged portion, it will be lifting one side of the upper portion of the ramp for you. I'm not saying it's ideal, but I have used spring assisted gates like what I think you're describing before, and the assist on the lower half was sufficient. If you still need more, a spring on the hinge like this would help: Left Hand Torsion Ramp Spring, 6.3 in-lbs. #08-608-L

The leaf spring system might work but in your picture it protrudes out behind the gate when the gate is up. The rear half of my gate folds down behind the front half and they must pancake together and touch to secure them to the trailer. In other words when folded up in the vertical position there is no space between the two halves and the end of the spring would prevent securing them to the frame of the trailer for driving down the road. Tomorrow I will go out and look again to see if the leaf spring idea could be modified to work on this set up. Monday I"ll phone the manufacturer to see what they say on the subject. I doubt I am the first that thinks this set up is too heavy to open and close. If the rear ramp was one piece it would be a bit easier but having to bend over and fold the two halves open and closed while lifting is another story.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Why not just fix both halves together or better yet get rid of the gate and go to ramps?

Chris

 

[Utopia Texas]

Why not just fix both halves together or better yet get rid of the gate and go to ramps?

Chris

I am considering welding the front and rear sections of the ramp together to make them one piece and then attach some sort of assist to the unit. At this time all options are on the table. My back and knees say something has to be done....

 

[newbury]

All the ideas in posts above are great but this gate is not a one piece unit as in everyone's pictures. This is two pieces hinged in the middle horizontally. I"ll post pictures tomorrow morning. It is a very awkward set up.

We need the pics.

 

[Utopia Texas]

We need the pics.

Patience my friend! I've had 19" of rain on my place in the last 10 days and I'm waiting for things to drain in front of the shed where the trailer is stored. I have to pull it out in the open to manipulate the gate out for pictures. At this point a row boat is a better option than a tractor.....

 

[Utopia Texas]

As you can see from the pictures one has to support the total weight of both ramp panels from the time you start folding them out until they are totally extended. same goes for closing the unit. If I knew this was going to be so much hassle and weighed so much I would have never bought this type of set up. Bending all the way over to the ground and trying to fold the unit as you lift is a pain and the total gate weighs more than it looks.

 

[bigtiller]

That looks like a good way to pinch a finger or smash a toe. I hope you get something figured out.

 

[Utopia Texas]

That looks like a good way to pinch a finger or smash a toe. I hope you get something figured out.

Now I know why some folks buy the one piece gate/ramp.

 

[kebo]

I vote to weld it up so it is non functioning hinge joint on the folding ramp, and then add the Gorilla Lift. Life (and your back) will be much better then. Really, that hinge joint doesn't gain you anything other than slightly improved visibility when you are looking through your rear view mirror. My ramp gate is about 4 ft longer overall, and my gate standing up like that has never been a problem for me (visibility wire, that is).

 

[newbury]

Seems like if you attached something like the Gorilla lift at the hinge point in the middle of the rack it would work.
I'd also put a a pair of heavy duty casters/small tires on the end of the ramp corners.

 

[Al 2]

Any chance you can go back to the dealer and exchange it for a one piece ramp?

 

[Diamondpilot]

Personally I would ditch the gate all together and opt for ramps.

But it may be worth a try to just install a Gorilla Lift first and give it a try before welding anything up.
Like I said before I have made quite a few out of some 2" PVC, some caps, some scrap steel, and a set of garage door springs and cables.

Chris