I’ve been looking around for loading ramps to get a bobcat sized vehicle into the back of my F450 flatbed. Because the beds pretty darn high I need 10′ ramps to make the angle workable(i think).
I’ve looked around a bit online and I’m seeing prices at around $500 before shipping….which is a bit higher than I wanted to do. Where do people get their ramps from to do this kind of thing and or is that just the going rate?
Thanks,
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
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Replies
Here in small town VA there are several small welding shops that can make up that sort of thing for a fair price. I'm not sure how you folks in CA can deal with that type of thing.
wow... an F450 at best is still TALL in the bed dept... so i'm guess'n around 36" bed height.... that will take 2 things in the ramp dept.... long & strong... I think my 753 has to weigh in at over 5k... even with a foot in the middle of the ramp you'll need to really think about this... bobcats don't love steep grades... not that roll'n over backwards is a huge deal... just not something you want to encounter everytime you go to load up... with a pretty well designed trussed ramp I'd think they'd still be heavy... and long
I think I'd be looking for a low trailer... I built one just for my bobcat and for haul'n a forklift out of 5" channel(floor/deck is at the bottom of the channel) and a 18" dovetail and a full 5ft lift up ramp... and thats only to get up to about a 14"deck...
you could alway make your f450 into a rollback :)
p
The F450 is beefier than I require I was looking for a F350 flatbed but I came across this one at a price I couldn't refuse.
Yea that's what I am worried about, the ramps being too steep. These are the guys that I found online and they have a 10' ramp and a 14' ramp. http://www.discountramps.com/auto_ramps.htm
They are about 2/3rds of the way down the page.
The trailer is a good idea except that I have no where to store it. That and I'd rather be able to load everything into the back of the truck and go without the hassle of having to hook up a trailer.Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
checked out the web site... thats not a bad price... I'd get em as long as i could afford
p
U-Haul rents trailers dirt cheap. check if they have ones that are right for you
first of all let me say that i have experenced a ramp folding in half while loading a 743 bobcat,a little scary. so i had a set of 5' heavy duty made cost 125.a welding shop made them up. they are all a guy can lift,every time i have to pick them up i grumble a little. something to keep in mind is if you are in a city with curbs you can back up to the curb and save 8-10".i always back mine onto the trailer while keeping the bucket as low as possible so if it tips forward bucket will catch.good luck
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
What's funny is, is that I'm my own welding shop....but I don't feel comfortable welding up something that needs to be able to handle 2000+ pounds safely.
If I was going to do it myself I would make a long, wide hinged ramp that folded in the middle. I would attach one end of the ramp semi-permanantly to the back of the flat bed then have it fold up and latch vertical against the end of the lumber rack like a giant tailgate for the flatbed. Mount a gas strut on each side to ease in the folding-unfolding.
Problem is, that the steel alone for this might cost more than what there commercial aluminum ramps are going for. Dang $500 does not buy you very much steel now-a-days.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
my ramps are made out of 3" channel on both sides with 2 " angle for treads.if you do welding it's time to hit the scrap pile! larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Daniel,
There's a guy in Richmond - Neat Hauling, advertises in the Penny Saver - who hauls his Bobcat in the back of his dumping flatbed. It's got to be at least as high as that F450.
It's been 3 years since he did some work for me, so my memory of his setup is a bit sketchy, but it seemed like his ramps weren't any more than 10'. You might give him a call and see what he has (and how he loads/unloads to avoid tipover). The guy is an artist with a Bobcat, and a nice guy. Portuguese (or Brazilian?), his English isn't great but his wife is fluent and often helps with the translation. My 2¢.
Wayne
There's a guy in Richmond - Neat Hauling, advertises in the Penny Saver - who hauls his Bobcat in the back of his dumping flatbed. It's got to be at least as high as that F450.
It's been 3 years since he did some work for me, so my memory of his setup is a bit sketchy, but it seemed like his ramps weren't any more than 10'. You might give him a call and see what he has (and how he loads/unloads to avoid tipover). The guy is an artist with a Bobcat, and a nice guy. Portuguese (or Brazilian?), his English isn't great but his wife is fluent and often helps with the translation. My 2¢.
Wayne
I know the guy actually how funny is that. It seems like all the guys that do the hauling, demo in this area are Brazilian. I'll look into it.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
If you're not in a hurry... aluminum diving boards do wear out, and are replace regularly. Better yet, most of the wear is at the tip of the board, where most of the flexing occurs.
I would drop a note to, and visit, every school, park, and pool supply dealer in town, expressing your interest in 'recycling' a pair of them. Might even be worth a note to the scrap yards as well.
Daniel, Is your vehicle bobcat "sized" in terms of dimensions or weight. It sounds like everyone is referring to the requirements for a ramp that can handle a five thousand pound vehicle. You say a 2000 pound plus vehicle.
I made some temporary ramps to drive my old jeep onto my flatbed. I took some 2x8 and glued and screwed 2x4's on both sides to make a wooden channel. I welded up some steel lips that I bolted to the ends of the channels and also drilled holes in the lip and bed to bolt the ramps down while loading and unloading.
It works like a charm. A bone stock 48 willys jeep doesn't weigh much but it didn't seem to put much strain on the ramps.
If I were loading and unloading it daily I would spend some money but I might put the jeep on the back of the truck once or twice a year.
When I put my toyota 4x4 in the back of a rental truck to move it from oregon to ca I found a loading dock behind a shopping center and used it to get the pickup in the truck. I had a hard time finding a dock to unload the pickup at the end of my trip. I get the impression you are going to be loading and unloading at burning man as well so the loading dock might be hard to find there.
How did you get the "vehicle" into your old truck?
I was searching craigs list the other day for a stock tank and pulled up all the ads with reference to a "tank". I think I saw your old truck on there which came up on my search because you mention an uninstalled auxiliary tank. Did you have any luck selling it?
Karl
Hi Karl,
I didn't think that the little bobcats weigh 5000+ pounds. To be honest with you I would only be loading a vehicle that weigh ~3000 pounds tops and the off-roader that I will be loading most of the time only weighs around 1000 pounds. I would like one easy to load solution that will work for both cases.
Yea no loading docks where we are going unfortunately.
We have nice 7' long arched aluminum loading ramps that we used to put the trike into the back of our old truck. But the tailgate height on a 73 Chevy is a bit lower than the F450 unfortunately. We are going to try to load it with the shorter ramps this weekend (after I get the new wich installed) and see if it'll work I just working on a back-up plane now.
Selling the old truck was stange. The two 'serious' adds I posted didn't get any serious replies but once I posted that goofy burning man add I got a ton of calls and sold it the next day with no hassle at my price. Selling cars cheaply on craigs list can really bring out the wackos.Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
When I first read the thread title, I thought - wow - here is a guy I can GIVE my ramps to. They are so darn heavy that I hate picking them up... They aren't long enough though for your purposes. Like somone above said - in order to weld up something strong enough and long enough, they will be too heavy.
Get a trailer.
I have a one ton Chevy, and I've had my tractor in it. All I did was back the truck in a ditch for loading and unloading.
No way would I load and unload on portable ramps like you're talking about. Seems to me that would be a good way to end up dead.
I have a one ton Chevy, and I've had my tractor in it. All I did was back the truck in a ditch for loading and unloading.
No way would I load and unload on portable ramps like you're talking about. Seems to me that would be a good way to end up dead.
We've had good luck with it so far but we have'nt loaded anything as heavy as a bobcat. That website shows a hummer being loaded with them.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
Using Wood
I know this is years later - but this thread shows up in search a fair bit.
I'm going to build a wood ramp to get a 4000 lb Bobcat over a 4' retaining wall. The ramp will look like a roof truss, with supports throughout to handle load.
You'd be surprised by how strong dimensional lumber is. 4x4 and 4x6 beams have very strong axial compression load characteristics. See them here: http://www2.wwpa.org/Portals/9/docs/PDF/TN9.pdf
Even a standard 4x6 can carry 20,000 lbs of load (pushing down vertically from the top) at a height of 5 feet.
I'm going to get the design looked over by a structural engineer friend of mine, so make sure you do the same.
This is a one time thing for me though, so I will be able to deconstruct and reuse the wood (hopefully). In liue of steel or aluminum ramps available in my area, wood will do just fine.