Poverty / Ghetto Car Ramp ideas?

[ibrooks]

I built my own version of the Sealey MR1 pictured above. It's fine but a bit of a paint to store as the two long ramps a 'kin heavy (I went heavier on the steel as I can't form the ribs they use). Doing it over again I'd make the platform in Gaz1s post above, I'm assuming the platform is in sections (if not I would). That would make it relatively easy to stack it in a corner and also leave the wheels supported whilst pulling the sections under the sills away to get in and out. I'd also look at some way of bracing a winch at the front end to pull the vehicle up onto it as driving cars up on to stuff like this just gives me the willies every time.

I also have some platforms that are just wide enough and tall enough to span (bridge) a low entry 3 ton trolley jack. Jack car up, shove platform under wheel, let car down. If you now want it higher you jack the platform up and shove a couple of short lengths of sleeper under the sides. I keep meaning to make another pair so that I can get a car high and level rather than just lifting one side or end.

As for speculation - I've wondered in the past about re-purposing the mast of a forklift into a single post lift.................

 

[gaz1]

the hammer is in part sections and can be stored away but like many all you would do is build it and leave it built up and just use it when needed even if you park it on it on a temporary basis

you would also do the same with the other 4 posters as well

 

[GRW]

I was up at my folks place earlier so had a mooch about with a tape measure.
The old "silage pit" has 3 concrete walls but alas not a concrete base.
It is 3.6M wide.
Looking at the Dutch barn (part of which needs to come down) - it's not rail track but 4" RSJ capital i profile steel (I'll be removing 2 of those).
If I stacked the 2 & welded them together in a few places.... I'd have an 8" thick steel beam I could span the 3.6M wall with.... how much weight would that hold I wonder....

Mind you... yesterday the Vevor 3-tonne Air Jack (long handle version) arrived. I put it together, tightened every fixing I could find (yup, none done up tight), whipped the top plate off and made sure there was plenty of grease on the 6 steel "Russian doll" telescoping steel sections inside, reassembled, bunged an air fitting on, and tested it on a corner of my camper. It really does make jacking up quick and practically labour-free, what a gizmo!
Used in conjunction with some wood pads to stack under wheels or similar (axle stands) with my decent heavy car roll-up ramps you could get reasonable access for regular jobs.

(It's the idea of cleaning / treating / protective coating / welding the underneath of potentially 5 or 6 vehicles if I include daughter, her OH & thr ole man's lying on the floor I don't fancy much..... hence the musing about getting the vehicle underside 1.5 to 2 metres off the ground appeals. Even if I just did half the vehicle at a time would be ok)

 

[gaz1]

the bradburys are only 4" i beams with 3mm plating on top of them which are grided down its length

 

[GRW]

the bradburys are only 4" i beams with 3mm plating on top of them which are grided down its length

I was thinking as an "end" crossmember..... so that some other ramp(s) would rest one end on the end wall (which is sunk into the ground of a sloping field, providing drive-on access).... with the other ends resting on the RSJ's.
I'm just chucking ideas around for now really - a way to make tackling the underside works rather less of an ordeal. I expect it's not that great an idea in reality but I might suss something out

 

[AVI_8]

My 2 post has spreader bars on the uprights but when you modern units it's scary. My local MOT place has 6t two posts that lift big vans and campers and they have a footprint of probably 40cmx40cm.

I’ve had my 2 post lift for a couple of years now, still doesn’t seem natural that it will lift a car and not tip over and it’s rated to 4.2 tonnes, way more than I’ll ever have on it, it’s all psychological though, nearly every car workshop in the country have several, when I first fitted it I had my X5 up to maximum height for 24 hours just to make sure it wasn’t going to tip over before I got under it.
The longitudinal spread on mine is 53cm no spreader bars, held down with very long bolts into 8” fibre reinforced C40 concrete.

 

[gaz1]

I was thinking as an "end" crossmember..... so that some other ramp(s) would rest one end on the end wall (which is sunk into the ground of a sloping field, providing drive-on access).... with the other ends resting on the RSJ's.
I'm just chucking ideas around for now really - a way to make tackling the underside works rather less of an ordeal. I expect it's not that great an idea in reality but I might suss something out

search bradbury on the forums

all there cross members and post lifts beams are all 4" i beams

the front and rear lift beams are fastened to the the full length i beams whilst the wheel areas are 3mm steel

even the suspension rails are the same

 

[GRW]

I’ve had my 2 post lift for a couple of years now, still doesn’t seem natural that it will lift a car and not tip over and it’s rated to 4.2 tonnes, way more than I’ll ever have on it, it’s all psychological though, nearly every car workshop in the country have several, when I first fitted it I had my X5 up to maximum height for 24 hours just to make sure it wasn’t going to tip over before I got under it.
The longitudinal spread on mine is 53cm no spreader bars, held down with very long bolts into 8” fibre reinforced C40 concrete.

Even though they are designed to.... I just don't like lifting any vehicle by the monocoque body. (Maybe it's a lifetime spent driving older cars in soggy Wales that does it ).
I'll always jack off suspension, axles, suspension mounting points etc if I possibly can..... so 2-posters I'm naturally averse to (while the whole "Swede on a Knitting Needle" configuration I just can't reconcile with either.

I have similar perhaps seemingly irrational attitudes to food. Rules to live by:
1. Don't eat things that scuttle (i.e. has more than 4-legs).
2. Don't eat things that are anatomically incorrect (e.g. shellfish have only 1 foot... & no legs at all! Exoskeletons, antennae, goo etc. You're just not meant to eat that!)

 

[AVI_8]

Even though they are designed to.... I just don't like lifting any vehicle by the monocoque body. (Maybe it's a lifetime spent driving older cars in soggy Wales that does it ).
I'll always jack off suspension, axles, suspension mounting points etc if I possibly can..... so 2-posters I'm naturally averse to (while the whole "Swede on a Knitting Needle" configuration I just can't reconcile with either.

I have similar perhaps seemingly irrational attitudes to food. Rules to live by:
1. Don't eat things that scuttle (i.e. has more than 4-legs).
2. Don't eat things that are anatomically incorrect (e.g. shellfish have only 1 foot... & no legs at all! Exoskeletons, antennae, goo etc. You're just not meant to eat that!)

Not sure what you’re driving but there’s nothing to worry about by jacking a car up on its body as long as you use the jacking points, they won’t break and there’s no twisting especially if you’re using all four of them, maybe you have monocoque and seafood phobia?

 

[GRW]

Not sure what you’re driving but there’s nothing to worry about by jacking a car up on its body as long as you use the jacking points, they won’t break and there’s no twisting especially if you’re using all four of them, maybe you have monocoque and seafood phobia?

Probably just had too many old cars with corroded jacking points
The seafood (& insects!) Thing is just good sense

 

[AVI_8]

Well I’m with you on insects, you have to draw the line somewhere!

 

[gaz1]

i like the hammer 4 post lift but i dont like the tall jacks

is it possible to make another type, yes one that uses no power but still an easy lift at the same time

from the hammer videos and i have them ( there not available anymore ) it looks like 3mm folded steel to form the drive on platforms it takes 2 people to carry them into place, infact the one shown on this thread is about the same and thats the portable 4 post lift

bradburys are i beams and plated and there heavy

 

[chrismac]

This is local to me and just came up on facebook.

Not sure everyone would be comfortable under it, maybe with some modification it would be okay.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

These are the ones I have from CJautos...maybe useful for ideas.

They lift hydraulically and the there's a physical lock...x4 would get all wheels off the ground.

Down sides are cost + weight!

 

[Erie Fred]

Probably just had too many old cars with corroded jacking points
The seafood (& insects!) Thing is just good sense

 

[JOEPRO]

This is an idea too



(Not mine, from you tube)

 

[GRW]

This is an idea too

View attachment 494970

(Not mine, from you tube)

Yes, I've seen a few variants on this theme. Not sold on the stability (& you'd need an immaculate flat hard surface) of driving up a pair of see-saw's tbh.... plus you're gaining very little in elevation over a pair of sturdy short ramps & jacking the the other end up on axle stands.... so I considered the idea but rejected it.
I've thought quite a bit on it - & think that you really need a solution with a raise of say 1-metre for decent access & working - or might as well stick with ramps & Jack's & axle stands etc if you're still working on your back.

 

[gaz1]

you have a pm grw

i did say i had a viable way of doing it

 

[GRW]

you have a pm grw

i did say i had a viable way of doing it

I just read it just now. Very inventive and using basic, common manual equipment.
The common factor in all the various solutions is of course a flat, even, smooth(ish) base floor for safe operation & stability.... & this is what I don't have atm (& needing that solid base to be where necessary access, power, light etc can also be Marshall together).

Really, it's a reality that I need to address that issue, & I'm putting the cart before the horse (apart from learning & seeing what clever folk have come up with already).

The old barn/silage pit thing I've been idly trundling around in my head.... was in part a possibility that (while far from ideal) might be a way to get a quick (less slow) & cheerful solution for cleaning & doing underbody protection of my vehicles somewhere where a bit of mess & noise wasn't a big deal, and without me needing the many hours and monies to sort a more elegant and tidy solution.

(As it is, I have before I could do that sort of work at my folks place to suit what I want.... is to try and get the drainage & damp groundworks on the house pine end sorted, get the large pine end wall cleaned up, pointed and weather-treated, and try to mitigate the extensive damage inflicted by Storm Darragh to the outbuildings. With work etc & life, I cannot see a "nice" solution happening for quite some time.... but the one crunchy jack point on my Master with MoT October I think - & the fact that rust never sleeps on any vehicle means Iwas trying to figure a way to push a Quart into a Pint Pot )

 

[gaz1]

my advice would be sort the building out as thats the important part

cars are scrap compared to buildings which hold the most value