Poverty / Ghetto Car Ramp ideas?

[GRW]

In a perfect world, I'd be able to seek out a cheap 4-post 3-tonne vehicle lift and be happy.
Reality is I don't have a suitable building, and the one I might use has a very small single phase supply, a dirt floor & not much height (ok for cars, but my HiTop Renault Master Camper would be a problem.

I could probably however snaffle some outside hardstanding at my parents place where I might cobble something together.
While working at ideal heights would be lovely - I accept that I'm probably limited to getting a vehicle off the ground enough to lie under.... but it'd be nice to have a "drive on" to easily get the whole vehicle raised instead of just one end with ramps or jacking up & axle stands.

I'm trying with the idea of perhaps buying a couple of packs of concrete blocks & perhaps some scaffold boards and do it that way...... but does anyone have some clever ideas?

 

[Wildefalcon]

Yes. Don't. Concrete blocks crack, scaff boards slip, heavy things fall and bad things happen to whatever is underneath.

 

[Wildefalcon]

Buy car ramps, decent quality, you might get them second hand quite cheap.

 

[sako243]

Railway sleepers. Offset stagger them, side by side and screw them all together. Timber has the massive advantage that it creaks rather than just gives way like concrete.

Unless you fancy funding the concrete for the lift at mine and then have lifetime access to it in exchange?

 

[RWD3M]

@W.olly came up with a good solution. Hang on, I'll find a link to it.

 

[bricol]

If you are imply stacking the blocks, then no.



If you are actually building with them, mortar gluing them together on a decent sort of foundation, to create a drive on ramp – an above ground inspection pit between them sort of thing, then other than the risk of falling off as you drive on, I can’t see problem. As a kid, I used to ride a bike past a local coach company that had exactly that – a block built access ramp. It was there years.



I have limited head room in my garage – I have a scissor lift bought 20 plus years ago one side, and an inspection pit the other. Pit gets much more use.

 

[Misterg]

(This is a welding forum, after all)

 

[RWD3M]

@W.olly came up with a good solution. Hang on, I'll find a link to it.

Here it is:

Thread 'After 6 month wait, Project number 2 is coming home :)'

Jun 2, 2024

At long long last i am collecting it this weekend .

In January this year i jsut asked around what i could get for £10k in a C3 Corvette. My for ever dream car. The looks and style is amazing to me. Not a speed wagon with 190hp standard for a 5.7l chevy but then thats not what i am bothered about. Although this is thought to have 300hp plus
A chap messaged me about hs Vette that he .doessnt have up for sale but happy you let it go due a health problem he has and unable to carry with his engine mods. So ................ when tnhis is half my budget what can i say but hellll...

• W.olly
• Replies: 176
• forum: Automotive, Bike & Trailer Build discussions

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[gaz1]

i like this one simple

 

[GRW]

Railway sleepers. Offset stagger them, side by side and screw them all together. Timber has the massive advantage that it creaks rather than just gives way like concrete.

Unless you fancy funding the concrete for the lift at mine and then have lifetime access to it in exchange?

I'm thinking that concrete might come in at rather more than my budget !

Ref the concrete blocks idea - I had considered possible cracking & scaffold planks moving (I'd thought to perhaps drill & pin the boards with offcuts of Rebar or similar.... but for sure timber much more "meaty" like Sleepers would be much better (though not at all easily handled / transported / positioned etc)

 

[tom2207]

dig a pit , and buy a bucket to bail it out ,,,, cheap and ramp are two words that dont belong together ,,, unless its
dont buy cheap ramps.

 

[premmington]

dig a pit , and buy a bucket to bail it out ,,,, cheap and ramp are two words that dont belong together ,,, unless its
dont buy cheap ramps.

+1 for pit

 

[GRW]

i like this one simple

Nice... but I think that guy was only 30 years-old when he started jacking up, and 75 by the time he got the car back on thr floor
Call me impatient, but something a little faster would be more my speed
(Where I live the weather changes faster than that).

 

[sako243]

I'm thinking that concrete might come in at rather more than my budget !

The spec for a 4 post lift is surprisingly little. Not quite a full load but near enough it doesn't make economical sense not to buy a lorry load.

I wouldn't be surprised at how much alternative methods would add up unless you can source materials for free.

 

[reb78]

If you have a pad, second hand lifts can sometimes be found at fairly reasonable prices. I think I paid 350 for my 4 post. It's a proper old Bradbury. I then paid 750 for someone to fit it though but it made its money back on the first gearbox I changed on it and has learnt its keep a lot more since then.

(I probably could have fitted it myself amd saved that cost but I wanted a pro to check it over, I disnt have much soare time and since I bought it in bits I hadn't taken it apart so didn't know how it went back together!)

 

[GRW]

+1 for pit

There is an old disused silage pit at my folks place (which had a Dutch barn roof over it as well till Storm Darragh, dammit).
It's recessed into a slope in the field (so the silage could be tipped in from above, and can be driven into from below to fork the silage out by front-end loader to use).

It'd cost a chunk for an RSJ to bridge the 9" walls (or a sleepers across with a centre support perhaps?) And a couple more to drive on.... but that would certainly enable a good 60% of even the big van to be accessed at a good working height.
Sound feasible? After all - it's already a huge hole ready made, right

 

[GRW]

The spec for a 4 post lift is surprisingly little. Not quite a full load but near enough it doesn't make economical sense not to buy a lorry load.

I wouldn't be surprised at how much alternative methods would add up unless you can source materials for free.

What is the going rate for a load of concrete these days? I've no idea, but I imagine it's quite a lot!

(I might need to buy some anyway - as my folks place needs a path/pad reinstating as part of a plan to keep water runoff away from the pine end to help sort damp issues).

 

[qwakers]

If you're on a budget buy a trailer and a mixer, get some material from the quarry yourself and get mixing

 

[Beanwood]

Railway sleepers. Offset stagger them, side by side and screw them all together. Timber has the massive advantage that it creaks rather than just gives way like concrete.

Unless you fancy funding the concrete for the lift at mine and then have lifetime access to it in exchange?

I use short (2 foot) sleepers (Not stacked) for just two wheels as I don't have a set of ramps lying around - good enough for oil changes etc, but it really depends how far off the ground you wnat it.
For a gearbox change, when I was younger, I just needed enough room to slide it out from under the car (My weekend hobby was caving - so space was for me to move was OK ) Nowadays I think I'd need a LOT more than that...

 

[DanZac]

It'd cost a chunk for an RSJ to bridge the 9" walls (or a sleepers across with a centre support perhaps?) And a couple more to drive on.... but that would certainly enable a good 60% of even the big van to be accessed at a good working height.

As others have already highlighted. By the time you've messed about buying stuff for an alternative solution you could probably buy a second hand 4 poster and have a proper and safe solution.

It sounds like theres plenty of space, so there's no reason why it can't live outside, just make sure the Ropes and controls etc are well protected from the elements and it'll probably out last us.