Deadly spiky Machine Mart drive on ramps...

[secretsmoker]

Caved in and bought some of the mass produced ramps and not being funny but most of the ones on display aren't finished to my mind. In a rush as I have an exhaust blow and some sheared bolts to fix so I won't take pics but needless to say I now have to finish off all the sharp edges and deadly corners on the ramps before I can get started!

 

[awemawson]

Long critical thread running on the uk-diy newsgroup regarding Machine Mart. Co policy is apparently to only give time limited credit notes to 90% of goods cost for returns. This seems contrary to sale of goods act.

The gist of peoples comments is that it is a definite, but illegal, policy. If you google for Machine Mart product reviews they a certainly awful. Virtually all say that their after sales service is dreadful.

 

[the snooper]

buy on line from them, then rules for distance selling applies, they have to accept returns, only downside is that the buyer would be responsible for return costs

 

[waldershelf]

Long critical thread running on the uk-diy newsgroup regarding Machine Mart. Co policy is apparently to only give time limited credit notes to 90% of goods cost for returns. This seems contrary to sale of goods act.

The gist of peoples comments is that it is a definite, but illegal, policy. If you google for Machine Mart product reviews they a certainly awful. Virtually all say that their after sales service is dreadful.

If you take them back because the goods are "faulty" or "not as described" then the sale of goods act says you should get "a repair, replacement or refund" at the sellers discretion, if they fail to rectify the problem quickly and satisfactorily then you may reject the goods and demand a refund.

There are however all sorts of get out of jail free cards in the act like the word "reasonable" which pretty much means you can be down to the goodwill of the seller in too many cases.

If Machine Mart are prepared to give you a credit note to 90% of the value of goods when there is nothing wrong with them, then that is a good will gesture on their part, they don't have to do anything by law.

If you think Machine Mart are bad try dealing with DSG (Currys).

The sale of goods act places no liability on the seller to do anything if the customer doesn't like, doesn't fit or thinks the goods are poor quality, "caveat emptor" applies.

In some ways this makes the distance selling rules better for the consumer because you have the right to return goods, for whatever reason within 7 days but at the customers return cost, it does however let you examine the goods close up before deciding.

Buying ramps in Machine Mart should be easy. Go in, have a look at them, buy them or walk away. The only recourse the sale of goods act would give you is if they actually broke in normal use.

 

[Bede]

I make car ramps and I'm yet to see a pair that Id be happy to get under a car with, other than my own.

Halfords, Machine Mart, any independant motor factors - I have no idea how any of them are legal.

 

[BrokenBiker]

if they are anything like the Halfords ones id avoid at all costs. my grand father made a set of ramps when he was an apprentice just before joining the army.

my father still has them somewhere and we once tested them on a 15 ton press. we got to 8 ton and agreed they were strong enough to hold a mk2 fiesta up.

tried the same test with a pair of Halfords folded steel ones and they got to 1.6 ton and folded like a pack of cards...

 

[toddy]

a few years ago i borrowed a mates pair of ramps to sort some stuff out on my 4x4... and i only gave back one... since the other was flatterened by my 4x4.... and was lucky i wasnt under it at the time.

 

[secretsmoker]

Crikey! Didn't realise these things can be that bad! Thankfully for supporting the back end of an already stripped MX5 they are more than adequate it would seem. Bit annoyed at the sharp edges but a couple of minutes on the flap wheel (although should not be necessary) sorted them out.

 

[dannyp]

tryed to drive my truck up on some once they were rated for 3.5 ton and thats what the truck weighs,

truck drove over them not up them, got out to see why it hadn't gone up to see them both flatpacked

 

[MrFluffy]

I got cracked ribs when my shop bought "3.5" ton ramps collapsed while I was under my camper van doing some work on the gearbox. Fortunately apart from a mild squashing because of the ground clearance under it, thats the extent of my injuries but could have been much much worse.
I'm going to buy a four post 4t rated lift in lieu of them and put new nuts on it. Failing that I'm going to dig a pit.

 

[awemawson]

When working on my old 'series' Landrover on ramps I always put a wooden crate under the chassis 'just in case'

 

[MattF]

In all honesty though, when you look at half the ramps out there, common sense tells you not to drive certain vehicles onto them. I've got a pair merrily rusting away in the back garden because of the simple fact that looking at them, they obviously weren't going to cope with a 4x4, in any combination. I never even gave them the opportunity to collapse/fold etc.

End of the day, there's shedloads of methods for getting the vehicle higher without using those things. If the ground ain't safe enough for axle stands, (not in all honesty a real fan of those things either), jack it up and pop a length of railway sleeper under the wheels. It sure as hell won't shift from those unless one does something stupid, and they definitely won't bend.

 

[dannyp]

ones i had looked quite chunky and i din't really over look at them.


the ramps i made for myself look lighter built and are lighter but i've had a lt more weight on them

 

[MattF]

and i din't really over look at them.

There was your mistake. Personally, (call me paranoid if you will), I like to make damned sure something is sturdy before trusting it with a couple of tonne above my head or body. Granted, I've often been called a girls knickers/blouse, wuss etc. due to my insistence on doing things safely, but I'm still alive with all limbs intact, and not just through pure luck.

 

[MrFluffy]

I normally put oak rounds underneath, especially on axle stands/working on the landrover/jcb etc where loading is a issue and I'm used to working on big heavy things. I pick the jcb up on its hydraulics then block it up with oak rounds in case a seal or tyre lets go while your underneath as there'll be no second chances there. I'd checked over the ramps and they were in good order and of heavy construction in appearance too. I think it all went wrong when a weld failed bracing part of them while I swung on a breaker bar and once the brace had failed all bets were off. They literally looked like they'd been stood on by an elephant or something after.

I had blocked the camper van up that day but I'd moved the round that was backing up the ramps for clearance as I needed to get the halfshaft out it was in the way of, and being a coachbuilt I thought there was sufficient crawl space between the chassis and ground if something went wrong, and as it turns out there was, almost. If I had of been lying under anywhere but directly under a chassis rail, I'd have been ok. I'm still ok. Except now I know personally the ratings on commercially made kit is a joke and I wont work on a car sat on drive on car ramps ever again.

How do you test shop bought 3.5t ramps can take 3t + a bit for safety factor vehicles? you can't. You can overload them and see if they fail but then you have overloaded them and weakened them and they might fail anyway, or you can expect that whoever rated them has factored in that in the real world they'll be glued together by pidgeon blob welding and slopped together on a production line and allowed enough safety factor in the design for this weakness not to affect them. Being you know, professional design engineers. I'd expect 3.5 ton ramps to safely hold a 6t vehicle at minimum. That would give a marginal safety factor of 2:1 and normally in automotive design you shoot for a safety factor of 3, so those 3.5 ton ramps should be capable of taking a 9 ton load without failing. The camper van weighed 3.1 ton fully laden with fuel and water tanks on the weighbridge, and that day we didnt have water etc onboard, and only the front wheels were on the ramps so maybe a ton of loading. Saying "oh just inspect the ramps" is a get out for shoddy design and poor engineering, and people are paying them to do a professional job.

 

[wookie]

my father still has them somewhere and we once tested them on a 15 ton press. we got to 8 ton and agreed they were strong enough to hold a mk2 fiesta up

I must test mine someday

I used to work at a commercial bodybuilders, so I used a couple of Lorry chassis off cuts, pressed channel 90 by 300 that is 10 mm thick, the uprights are 50x50x5 box, the press at work goes to 50ton, I bet I get to that before they fail.