Car ramp material.

[ibrooks]

Looking for an opinion on the thickness of steel I should be using for a little project.

I'm looking to make a restoration ramp style thing - basically two long ramps supported at one end that you drive the car onto and there's a beam between them at the bottom end that you stick a trolley jack under and lift so that the whole lot is level with the car a foot or so off the ground on it's wheels.

You can buy these things but they ain't cheep and you see I can stick metal together myself........ I reckon I can do it for half the price in material (possibly somewhat less).

I'm thinking 50x50x5mm angle iron down the edges of the ramps and I'm thinking a minimum of 300mm wide for the ramps. So how thick will the steel need to be for the "floor" of the ramps? I think 3mm might be a bit lightweight so was wondering about 5mm, I have priced 6mm but suspect that might be overkill (and getting pricey).

I'm looking at 3500mm length though that may come down to 3000mm.

And I'd like to occasionally lift my Discovery with it. Usually it would be much smaller stuff but if it's beefy enough to safely hold a Disco then a MINI is going to be simple.

 

[Ruffian]

Do you have a link to the style you are looking at??

 

[ibrooks]

https://carlift-ramp-mr1.com/

Thirteen hundred quid for the heavy.

Just under £30 per length for the angle iron and a 10'x5' sheet of 6mm is £245 so £365 plus some time, box section (which I have kicking around) and consumables will see the job done but if I could get away with thinner tread plate it would be cheaper (and easier to shift as that sheet weighs about 250kg and I don't have a trailer that big).

 

[pedrobedro]

I have two sets of car ramps and if I want the car up level I drive it up the first set then l lift the rear with my trolley Jack and put the other set under the rear wheels. Get a good height trolley Jack and you can put the ramps back to front and have more working space.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

What about having diamond / "chequer" steel plate folded into 300mm wide channel ? Others might be able to suggest thickness of plate and height of sides.

 

[T0rnado69]

could go for something like this.
i would make some sort of folding legs that lock.
once the car is up on the ramps.

 

[JohnH]

How do you take the wheels off?

 

[T0rnado69]

How do you take the wheels off?

are you referring to the link i posted ?

i think a thick ish plate cut to right size to slot in.
and bottle jack will lift it up to take wheel off..

 

[pedrobedro]

you stick a trolley jack under and lift so that the whole lot is level with the car a foot or so off the ground on it's wheels.

How do you take the wheels off?

You need to read the first post John. If you want to take the wheels off you need a different thing altogether, like a car hoist.

 

[gaz_moose]

id do away with the solid top bits and just make it like a ladder, like the old drive up car repair ramps people have kicking around at home in the shed.

 

[gaz1]

try these 3mm had everything on them

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/adding-some-meat-to-a-wheel-ramp.68857/#post-910759

 

[bigegg]

I used to make these.
thread here:
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/car-repair-pit-ramps.35211/

I used 25x25x3mm angle for the infill.

I would measure the width of your tyres: 300mm is *huge*
I made them 9" (225mm) wide, with a 2in/50mm gap for a Nissan navara.(2.5T)

they are *heavy*, and difficult to store. probably 50-80kgs each. if you infill with solid 6mm plate, you'll need a forklift to move them.

 

[Rig Pig]

id do away with the solid top bits and just make it like a ladder, like the old drive up car repair ramps people have kicking around at home in the shed.

I think that would damage the cars tyres if you left it sitting on it for any length of time, but with 4 bits of plate for the wheels the middle bit could be ladder frame.

 

[gaz_moose]

I think that would damage the cars tyres if you left it sitting on it for any length of time, but with 4 bits of plate for the wheels the middle bit could be ladder frame.

maybe your right. could just make some removable sections. just bend a return on either side so it slots between each 'rung'..

Ive works on cars on a few 4-post ramps and sometimes found the ramps get in the way so my chain of thoughts with the ladder design gave your handy access points. not to mention less weight.

 

[ibrooks]

I've got several sets of the domestic type ramps and never been happy using them as intended. I've occasionally lifted a car and shoved them under one, two or four wheels but it's a faff and takes ages even with a big 3 ton trolley jack.

The idea with making the tops solid and fairly beefy is that I could put a jack on them and lift the car to pull a wheel off. I've also thought of a beam to go between the two sides that a jack can go on and support the chassis/body.

Access to the sills isn't usually a problem but I was wondering about making some parts of the top removeable. If I'm going to be doing something major on the sills then I'll use a different lifting method.

As for storage - they can live on the ground flat with a car parked on them or dragged to one side of the workshop and stood on their long edge.

 

[gaz1]

as quoted earlier

 

[ibrooks]

I saw those and don't like the steep initial slope for my purposes as some of the cars I'll want to put on them don't have the ground clearance. They'll also take up more room. My proposed single ramp would drop to two flatish pieces that could live under the car.

 

[gaz1]

those have a further add on for low cars which just hook over the ramp slope

 

[Farside]

Near where I lived, when the steelworks shut down, the old forktruck and plant yard belonging to it was gutted, but left open. I used to nip down there to do oil changes on something like these. Saved a lot of farfing around.

 

[Rig Pig]

those have a further add on for low cars which just hook over the ramp slope

I'm tempted, my garage is just a normal flat roof one so a traditional ramp won't fit & my toy lives in there too but something like this would be ideal.