These ramps are about a year old now and are working just fine. The only thing that has happened is that one of them has developed a slight warp. That can be expected as the wood dries out - which is why I used deck screws not nails :)
Those are some massive timbers under that plywood. You could have made those ramps considerably wider if you had wanted to do so. Are you also planning to use them with a truck or motorhome? You certainly won't have to worry about them collapsing or racking while you're underneath. If you have one available, a mirror ahead of your car will help you avoid problems when going up the ramp. 👍
Thanks Ron. No plans for truck or motorhome and with a motorhome I would probably need to do some calcs on the compressive stress in the wood and see what sort of safety factor there was. Could have made them wider but I don't see putting vehicles on with tires that wide and the wider you make the ramps, the less room you get under the car (if you drive it up the middle). For driving up, I find that having the steering wheel straight and lining up the ramps to the car using the straight edge works great. Have not run off the ramps yet. I have hit the tire stops gently and it makes a horrible screeching noise as the plywood end piece get drug edgewise across the floor. It's like the ultimate "nails on a chalkboard" noise. Wood does dry out here in Arizona, so I coated them with varnish, just to slow that process down a bit.
@@richbinaz Cool. My steel ramps not only have an end stop, but there's a little bump at the top at the end of the incline. I can feel the tires drop down after rolling over that, so I know to be careful of the end coming up and let off the gas a little. My steel ramps were cheap and are steep, so I have to get a bit of a running start to use them. I like your ramps better, but my son uses them too. His pickup's tires hang off both sides. Makes me cringe.
Each ramp is 12 inches wide (30cm) and gives a 10" lift (25cm). Heaviest car I have put on is a Mazda CX5 3300lbs (1500Kg). For more info see text under video and links to how I made them.
Thank you for the comment. It is a comment I had heard of when looking at various wooden ramps The ramps have not moved on me yet... but I thought I would do a little experiment anyway!!! I laid one of these 60 lb ramps down on the concrete floor. Got out my bathroom scales and placed it at the tall end and then gradually pushed until the ramp started to move. The force required to do that was 30 - 35 lbs That indicates a coefficient of friction of 0.5 to 0.6. With a slope of 1 in 5 on the ramps, the C of F would need to be about 0.2 or less for the car to provide a large enough forward force to move the ramp as it was going up the slope. So with a safety factor of about 2.5 minimum, I think it is OK - providing I'm not doing that on Ice, a wet floor or an oil covered floor. With the car at the top of the ramp on the flat, it would take quite a force to move the car... i.e. about 1/2 the weight of the car X the C of F (1500 x .5 = 750 lbs - I can't test that) On the slope part, the force would be reduced as there is an additional force component of 300 lbs pushing forward, so down to 450 lbs additional force to move the ramps. I can't test that either. Looking at it from another perspective, If I had made the ramp slope 1 in 2 (26 degrees) or higher, I would be in trouble. As it is, the slope of 1 in 5 (11.3 degrees) works out fine. I see a lot of stepped ramps and don't know how to apply the math to that situation, but measure the slope and coefficient of friction for your ramps to see if the math works for you. Of course, put the hand brake on to stop the car moving anyway.
RichB InAZ Actually my floor has lower friction capacity than yours. When it happened to me the car did not move, just spitted the ramps forward. Probably there was a component of the force in horiz direction not balanced by the friction. After that time I put a rubber pad under the ramps
@@richbinaz do you use the ramp and a jack to lift the car up as much as you can? If so can you do a tutorial cause I need to be under my hood. For filter change. I dont want to go to the mechanic.
Even though you set a parking brake, i'd still recommend using wheel chocks as added security. Never can be too safe under a car.
and a pair of axle stands slid under as added security
....and wear an iron suit in case all of the above should fail and it lands on you.
lambo
@@jjenson2006 Or someone you love dearly decides to collect on your life insurance policy.
This is my favorite DIY car ramp design on RUclips. Super easy, not a ton of wood and I like the little rollies!
Thanks, I do appreciate the comments, even if I don't reply to them all.
These ramps are about a year old now and are working just fine. The only thing that has happened is that one of them has developed a slight warp. That can be expected as the wood dries out - which is why I used deck screws not nails :)
Those are some massive timbers under that plywood. You could have made those ramps considerably wider if you had wanted to do so. Are you also planning to use them with a truck or motorhome? You certainly won't have to worry about them collapsing or racking while you're underneath. If you have one available, a mirror ahead of your car will help you avoid problems when going up the ramp. 👍
Thanks Ron. No plans for truck or motorhome and with a motorhome I would probably need to do some calcs on the compressive stress in the wood and see what sort of safety factor there was. Could have made them wider but I don't see putting vehicles on with tires that wide and the wider you make the ramps, the less room you get under the car (if you drive it up the middle).
For driving up, I find that having the steering wheel straight and lining up the ramps to the car using the straight edge works great. Have not run off the ramps yet. I have hit the tire stops gently and it makes a horrible screeching noise as the plywood end piece get drug edgewise across the floor. It's like the ultimate "nails on a chalkboard" noise.
Wood does dry out here in Arizona, so I coated them with varnish, just to slow that process down a bit.
@@richbinaz Cool. My steel ramps not only have an end stop, but there's a little bump at the top at the end of the incline. I can feel the tires drop down after rolling over that, so I know to be careful of the end coming up and let off the gas a little. My steel ramps were cheap and are steep, so I have to get a bit of a running start to use them. I like your ramps better, but my son uses them too. His pickup's tires hang off both sides. Makes me cringe.
Thanks for sharing
Excellent build.
Great job. Very professional
nice design
What's the size?
Each ramp is 12 inches wide (30cm) and gives a 10" lift (25cm). Heaviest car I have put on is a Mazda CX5 3300lbs (1500Kg).
For more info see text under video and links to how I made them.
put something under the ramps to avoid they shift forward while the car is above them. It happened to me and I've been lucky I was not underneath yet
Thank you for the comment. It is a comment I had heard of when looking at various wooden ramps
The ramps have not moved on me yet... but I thought I would do a little experiment anyway!!!
I laid one of these 60 lb ramps down on the concrete floor.
Got out my bathroom scales and placed it at the tall end and then gradually pushed until the ramp started to move.
The force required to do that was 30 - 35 lbs
That indicates a coefficient of friction of 0.5 to 0.6.
With a slope of 1 in 5 on the ramps, the C of F would need to be about 0.2 or less for the car to provide a large enough forward force to move the ramp as it was going up the slope. So with a safety factor of about 2.5 minimum, I think it is OK - providing I'm not doing that on Ice, a wet floor or an oil covered floor.
With the car at the top of the ramp on the flat, it would take quite a force to move the car... i.e. about 1/2 the weight of the car X the C of F (1500 x .5 = 750 lbs - I can't test that)
On the slope part, the force would be reduced as there is an additional force component of 300 lbs pushing forward, so down to 450 lbs additional force to move the ramps. I can't test that either.
Looking at it from another perspective, If I had made the ramp slope 1 in 2 (26 degrees) or higher, I would be in trouble. As it is, the slope of 1 in 5 (11.3 degrees) works out fine.
I see a lot of stepped ramps and don't know how to apply the math to that situation, but measure the slope and coefficient of friction for your ramps to see if the math works for you.
Of course, put the hand brake on to stop the car moving anyway.
RichB InAZ Actually my floor has lower friction capacity than yours. When it happened to me the car did not move, just spitted the ramps forward. Probably there was a component of the force in horiz direction not balanced by the friction. After that time I put a rubber pad under the ramps
@@richbinaz do you use the ramp and a jack to lift the car up as much as you can? If so can you do a tutorial cause I need to be under my hood. For filter change. I dont want to go to the mechanic.
@@richbinaz thanks
@@richbinaz and I dont want to die
I ❤you ya know