The installation drawings are very clear and show that the end plates should be installed from underneath the ramp. However the image on the Harbor Freight website shows just the opposite. No wonder people are confused and assembling them wrong.
@@stuffaguycanuse5607, longer bolts, and, cut the angle sides at the top to 45 degrees, then with the plates beneath the ramps, the bend is at a much stronger pressure point…
I like these a lot. I use them all the time but here is a tip. The slots in the ramp are sharp as all hell. I saw this when I first got them but set them in the garage and forgot about them. They actually cut through a pair of mechanix gloves at the time and I didn't correct it when I should have.. A few weeks later I needed them to help my Sister move out of her house in a emergency due to flooding. I damn near cut two fingers down to the bone picking them up to put them into the truck. Had to Stupid glue the fingers shut to try and be able to get her out of the house. I ended up using a drum sander on my dremel and deburred them all later on and just spray clear coated the sanded area's. Something I should have done right off the bat. So learn from my Stupidity and pain..... The ramps are great but they are made on a big ass punch press and they give 2 craps about deburring them. Be careful.
Wow. Glad I read this. I have small kids and would hate to find out how sharp they were after I set them in the garage and have them run on it barefeet. Thank you for this comment. I was planning to buy these and will deburr/grind them as soon as I get them.
I see people with ramps, but few of them ever get the needed tailgate supports that can withstand the added weight, when loading into a pickup. I've told people on more than one occasion that it's dangerous, because those cables are not designed for heavy use like that; they WILL fail. Years ago, I saw it happen to a neighbor as he was climbing up the ramp and they snapped. The truck's bumper broke the fall of his mower, but the sudden jolt caused him to fall off and break a collar bone... I hate for anyone to get hurt like that.
Good point! You definitely need to make sure that you have all the needed safety equipment. I saw some ramps that come with the safety chains, cables or rods that keep the ramps from sliding away from each other, but I didn't see any that came with the sturdier tailgate supports. Get all the necessary safety equipment!
I've been wondering about this all this time, that's why I came to Yt. to find knowledge on loading the mower onto the back of my pickup. But I remain skeptical about the tailgate being able to support all that weight, so I won't do it until I find the right combination of equipment to do all this. Just common sense. You look at that flap (because, really, that's all a tailgate is, a detached flap) and you look at the monstrosity of the lawn tractor (in comparison) + my ever so dainty 185lbs statuesque bod sitting on it, and how do you not say to yourself..."ah-uh...this ain't jivin'...something's gonna give." The mower needs a tune up, the closest best place is an hour away. They WILL charge a modest fee of $200 to come pick it up though, soo.................🤨
I have a set of these. They don't instill a great deal of confidence moving large side-by-side refrigerators in and out of the pickup truck bed. As pointed out in the review, it's the ramp tongue which is the first place to start reinforcing. I just got done cutting up some 1/4" plate steel to fabricate new tongues. The shape of the piece of steel I had left would not allow me to cut two whole one-piece tongues. So, I have two pieces per tongue. Basically, I'll be welding them together at the bend. I would have preferred to one-piece it and form the bend in the SWAG Off-Road bending brake. But, you gotta work with the materials on-hand. FYI, I will cut the bend off the OEM tongue and use the section with holes for bolting sandwich-style to the underside of the ramp. This should stiffen thing up considerably.
Please read the various responses to other comment threads about mounting the tongues on the underside of the ramp. That would make more sense and add some rigidity to the assembly. However, as of 08/13/2019, even Harbor Freight's own marketing photo of the ramps in action show the tongues mounted on top of the ramp face. Funny, Harbor Freight's PDF manual on ramp assemble states the tongue should go "inside" the ramp.
Thanks for the comments! I have since bought longer bolts and mounted the plates underneath. It makes for a sharper angle and my mower deck catches on it now.
Are you thinking of using them as a stand for the aquarium? I may be misunderstanding what you're intending with blocks at each end. But no I wouldn't trust them for that, it's at right at the weight limit and they will flex and you wouldn't have consistent/even support for the aquarium to sit on. If you just want to use them to load the aquarium into a truck or building or something, you might be ok, but that is at the weight limit, I personally like overkill on tolerances. Thanks for the comment!
Great question! Harbor Freight lists them at 39 lbs. Seems like a high estimate to me, they aren't heavy enough to be cumbersome for my purposes. I wouldn't mind throwing them in the truck on rare occasion. I looked at all the ramps they had and these made the most sense for me based on price and I don't need them to be super portable since they will primarily be used for my shed. Thanks for the question!
I had to disassemble one to remember why I put them on top, the bolts included with mine are only about an inch long and don't leave room for the nut, much less the the 2 washers, as bottom mounting leaves a gap between the plate and bolt hole surface. I'm only loading these to less than half capacity so this setup will probably work, however I may just buy longer bolts and mount them underneath. I suppose they should lose a few points for not including the correct hardware. Thanks for commenting! I'm lazy and would much rather do it right and only once. I'm always open to better ideas! Thanks again!
A lot of people bolt the end plates on top instead of underneath like they should be. I don’t mean to sound condescending but put more thought into it. The plates are bending because all the weight is on the screws and not on the plates. If you mount them underneath the plates will be sandwiched between the screws and the ramp and will not flex at all. Same thing on other videos. Jeez, common sense brother.
You didn't read my response to the other comment did you? A little more thought.... The bolts included are not long enough given the shape of the ramps, plate on top was the only way to mount them with the hardware they gave me 😉
The installation drawings are very clear and show that the end plates should be installed from underneath the ramp. However the image on the Harbor Freight website shows just the opposite. No wonder people are confused and assembling them wrong.
And the bolts included with mine, weren't long enough to put the plates on the bottom, I have since bought longer bolts to fix the problem.
@@stuffaguycanuse5607, longer bolts, and, cut the angle sides at the top to 45 degrees, then with the plates beneath the ramps, the bend is at a much stronger pressure point…
I like these a lot. I use them all the time but here is a tip. The slots in the ramp are sharp as all hell. I saw this when I first got them but set them in the garage and forgot about them. They actually cut through a pair of mechanix gloves at the time and I didn't correct it when I should have.. A few weeks later I needed them to help my Sister move out of her house in a emergency due to flooding. I damn near cut two fingers down to the bone picking them up to put them into the truck. Had to Stupid glue the fingers shut to try and be able to get her out of the house. I ended up using a drum sander on my dremel and deburred them all later on and just spray clear coated the sanded area's. Something I should have done right off the bat. So learn from my Stupidity and pain..... The ramps are great but they are made on a big ass punch press and they give 2 craps about deburring them. Be careful.
Good suggestion! Thanks!
Wow. Glad I read this. I have small kids and would hate to find out how sharp they were after I set them in the garage and have them run on it barefeet. Thank you for this comment. I was planning to buy these and will deburr/grind them as soon as I get them.
4 years ago 50 bucks wow now they doubled in price
Maybe it's been said, but have you tried attaching the ramp part inside instead of on top the railing. I believe that's the way to go
I see people with ramps, but few of them ever get the needed tailgate supports that can withstand the added weight, when loading into a pickup. I've told people on more than one occasion that it's dangerous, because those cables are not designed for heavy use like that; they WILL fail. Years ago, I saw it happen to a neighbor as he was climbing up the ramp and they snapped. The truck's bumper broke the fall of his mower, but the sudden jolt caused him to fall off and break a collar bone... I hate for anyone to get hurt like that.
Good point! You definitely need to make sure that you have all the needed safety equipment. I saw some ramps that come with the safety chains, cables or rods that keep the ramps from sliding away from each other, but I didn't see any that came with the sturdier tailgate supports. Get all the necessary safety equipment!
I've been wondering about this all this time, that's why I came to Yt. to find knowledge on loading the mower onto the back of my pickup. But I remain skeptical about the tailgate being able to support all that weight, so I won't do it until I find the right combination of equipment to do all this. Just common sense. You look at that flap (because, really, that's all a tailgate is, a detached flap) and you look at the monstrosity of the lawn tractor (in comparison) + my ever so dainty 185lbs statuesque bod sitting on it, and how do you not say to yourself..."ah-uh...this ain't jivin'...something's gonna give." The mower needs a tune up, the closest best place is an hour away. They WILL charge a modest fee of $200 to come pick it up though, soo.................🤨
I have a set of these. They don't instill a great deal of confidence moving large side-by-side refrigerators in and out of the pickup truck bed. As pointed out in the review, it's the ramp tongue which is the first place to start reinforcing.
I just got done cutting up some 1/4" plate steel to fabricate new tongues. The shape of the piece of steel I had left would not allow me to cut two whole one-piece tongues. So, I have two pieces per tongue. Basically, I'll be welding them together at the bend. I would have preferred to one-piece it and form the bend in the SWAG Off-Road bending brake. But, you gotta work with the materials on-hand.
FYI, I will cut the bend off the OEM tongue and use the section with holes for bolting sandwich-style to the underside of the ramp. This should stiffen thing up considerably.
Please read the various responses to other comment threads about mounting the tongues on the underside of the ramp. That would make more sense and add some rigidity to the assembly. However, as of 08/13/2019, even Harbor Freight's own marketing photo of the ramps in action show the tongues mounted on top of the ramp face.
Funny, Harbor Freight's PDF manual on ramp assemble states the tongue should go "inside" the ramp.
Thanks for the comments! I have since bought longer bolts and mounted the plates underneath. It makes for a sharper angle and my mower deck catches on it now.
Dude your channel name is brilliant lol
Thank you Sir!
New subscriber here great reviews thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
$50 in 2018. $80 in 2022. Inflation is killing me!
Still$80
Great video! They're $70 now.
Thanks for the update and for watching!
Would you trust them holding up a 1,000 lb aquarium ?
Cement blocks at each end.
Are you thinking of using them as a stand for the aquarium? I may be misunderstanding what you're intending with blocks at each end. But no I wouldn't trust them for that, it's at right at the weight limit and they will flex and you wouldn't have consistent/even support for the aquarium to sit on. If you just want to use them to load the aquarium into a truck or building or something, you might be ok, but that is at the weight limit, I personally like overkill on tolerances. Thanks for the comment!
I would replace those bolts with grade 8 bolts. They will definitely not brake.
Not a bad idea, I may do that! Thanks for commenting!
I love uuu
Thanks for watching!
How heavy are they and did you look into aluminum ramps? Thanks!
Great question! Harbor Freight lists them at 39 lbs. Seems like a high estimate to me, they aren't heavy enough to be cumbersome for my purposes. I wouldn't mind throwing them in the truck on rare occasion. I looked at all the ramps they had and these made the most sense for me based on price and I don't need them to be super portable since they will primarily be used for my shed. Thanks for the question!
Trust them for loading a 450r onto a pickup?
Personally I wouldn't want to push the weight limit, check the weight of your atv combined with your weight if you intend to drive it into the truck.
Harbor Freight is perfect for the average homeowner I wouldn't recommend them for construction
Your bracket on top installed wrong put the plates under the ramp not on top will make it much stronger.
Wow! They are $80 in 2024 haha. Damn that inflation!
Mount the plates under the ramp instead of on top per the instructions. You will find there is almost no flex.
I had to disassemble one to remember why I put them on top, the bolts included with mine are only about an inch long and don't leave room for the nut, much less the the 2 washers, as bottom mounting leaves a gap between the plate and bolt hole surface. I'm only loading these to less than half capacity so this setup will probably work, however I may just buy longer bolts and mount them underneath. I suppose they should lose a few points for not including the correct hardware. Thanks for commenting! I'm lazy and would much rather do it right and only once. I'm always open to better ideas! Thanks again!
A lot of people bolt the end plates on top instead of underneath like they should be. I don’t mean to sound condescending but put more thought into it. The plates are bending because all the weight is on the screws and not on the plates. If you mount them underneath the plates will be sandwiched between the screws and the ramp and will not flex at all. Same thing on other videos. Jeez, common sense brother.
You didn't read my response to the other comment did you? A little more thought.... The bolts included are not long enough given the shape of the ramps, plate on top was the only way to mount them with the hardware they gave me 😉
Install the plates from the bottom and then delete this video and make a new one🙉
Please see similar comments below and replies. Thanks for commenting!
@@stuffaguycanuse5607 ok thanks
You are like watching paint dry