Custom made long low ramps!

[mikeydude]

Yo Dudes!....

Daddy dude is going to weld me up some ramps similar to the ones in the pics that sold on ebay for £160!!

I cannot find anything like it online so thought we could make some.

I was wondering if anyone else was interested? If so we cold make a few!


Just noticed this a similar previous post, should have added it to it...

[rip]

Even they look a little too steep for my liking.
Every ramp I have seen lifts the car much higher than I would like too..

I may be interested. What dimensions did you have in mind?

[mikeydude]

Well, this is what we need to find out,
You see, I would assume that you would want the car as high up as is safe, We were looking at min 9 inches lift to upto a foot, But give us an idea as to what you would want, and the pro's and con's

[mikeydude]

The ones i the pic have been tested on an MX5....
They will have to be as steep as possible so that they can be stored relatively easily...they will be designed to just clear the lip...so anyone with lowered cars will have to be consdered separately

[RayD]

I extended my standard ones with detchable pieces of wood. These are the finished sizes. Hope it helps.
Ray

[mikeydude]

Many thanks ray...this looks pretty much the same sort of sizes as we were thinking, the 9 inch list seems about right, but we may be looking for more lift...do you find this ok for general work (remember so of us are northern Pie eater)

[RayD]

With mine being standard ramps I was stuck with standard height – I suppose starting from scratch you could consider going up a bit, but you would need to make them longer to suit. My wife was watching the front lip clearance, and said it was nowhere near – but that could mean anything!

I haven’t had to do any general work – I just had a lie down, and a look round, then put the kettle on.

Ray

[ailwyn]

Mike,

Dependant on cost, I'd be interested.

Ideally I would like the ramps to raise the car 12", that would give a clearance of ~17" under the car.

There are two factors to consider when deciding on max height:
1. Does the exhaust tip/bumper get too close to the floor when raising the front
2. Does the front lip scrape the floor when raising the rear

Ailwyn

[RayD]

12" high seems acceptable in relation to the front lip catching.

[GeoffSmith]

Attach some webbing or similar at the front of the ramp. When you drive the rear wheels onto it, it stops the ramps slipping when you drive up, although it probably won't be such a problem with a shallow rise.

[chris.t]

I have standard Halfrauds ramps. Would it possible to have some form of conversion kit so that they could be safely used with the Elan? With space being at a premium in my garage a longer set of ramps might be difficult to accomodate.

For instance if you raise the leading edge of the standard ramp you reduce the lift angle. with the addition of a new leading edge and support for the standard ramp and suitably linked together it may just be possible. Don't know if i've explained myself, probably needs a sketch

[paulwatkins]

I have standard Halfrauds ramps. Would it possible to have some form of conversion kit so that they could be safely used with the Elan? With space being at a premium in my garage a longer set of ramps might be difficult to accomodate.

For instance if you raise the leading edge of the standard ramp you reduce the lift angle. with the addition of a new leading edge and support for the standard ramp and suitably linked together it may just be possible. Don't know if i've explained myself, probably needs a sketch

Chris,
I think you mean something like the 1st picture in this thread But in metal as opposed to timber.
Ramp extensions

btw, thanks to monty for the pic

[mikeydude]

We might be able to do some conversion stuff, but in the mean time, here is the prototype hot from daddydudes garage, comments please.....Oh, the lift turned out to be nine inches..not easy to get it higher without very long ramps.

ANyone reading this the lift is 10 inches on the production versions

[M100 TWO]

Mikey I have seen ramps in two parts, the ramp section and then the flat part which is bolted together that way when the car is upon the ramp the other part is removed to make access that much easier. I would like a pair like that if possible, I know it is project creep
john

[ailwyn]

Mikey,

Looks good, any idea on cost?

Cheers

Ailwyn

[Doug]

looks good Mikey, but since you asked for comments and just to be a nit-picker, I'd vote for changing th side supports to be UNDER the top rail instead or welded to the sides. I think this is more structurally sound -- though I am no engineer or metallurgist. If those welds rust I'd not want the top tray to fall downwards!

[Monty]

Hey Mikey,

They look pritty good

But i do agree with Doug on the side supports, another idea would be to make the top flat section (were the wheel sits) a bit longer

[Doug]

what I am reminded of is the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco area.

The freeway was made with side supports of the roadway (structurally like your ramp) and you can see how structurally sound it was. If you don't know, this was a two level deck roadway and the top deck all fell on the bottom deck, okay if you were on the top deck but bad news if you were on the bottom one!

They don't make roadways like that anymore!!

[mikeydude]

The design is based on readily available, tried and tested, bespoke ramps. And the majority of these have the side supports welded like this.

If it is thought to be of concern then we can head towards altering the side support design, but it will make the lateral strength less as it would possibly result in the use of “butt” joint underneath with no overlap so it would have less weld to fix it in place.

At the moment, I consider it to be adequate for the job in hand.

Doug...

Many thanks for taking the time to comment.

However, I am finding the fact that American engineers neglected to design freeways adequately enough to endure an earthquake difficult to associate with the design of the ramps.

Although I appreciate you drawing a parallel between the side welded design of the ramps and the similar appearance of the freeway design I most sincerely doubt that it can be used as an effective comparison in this application.


As a matter of interest it appears that the design of the supports was not a major contributing factor to the cause of the collapse..

This is an abstact from the official report...
Built in the late 1950s, the Cypress Viaduct (a small stretch of the I-880 Nimitz Freeway) was a double-decker freeway system that was relatively innovative when it was first constructed.


The Cypress Viaduct in Oakland was extensively damaged in the 1989 earthquake because little attention had been paid to strengthening it in case of a major earthquake, the freeway was changed very little from when it was built. Like the Marina District, the land the Cypress Viaduct was built on was simply filled marshland. When the earthquake hit, the shaking was amplified in those areas, causing more damage than would have normally occurred if the land were bedrock. With the combination of outdated earthquake standards and unstable ground, the freeway buckled and twisted to the limits before the support columns failed and sent the upper deck crashing to the bottom deck.


So we can learn from this then..
For safety reasons, the Elan should never be elevated on marshland using only a poorly designed US freeway for support … Oh, of course only that is, if there is a major earthquake occurring here in the UK....all useful information then!!

[Doug]

no worries -- didn't mean to rub you the wrong way

I just like to see metal resting on metal more than I trust pure welds--it's my own preference though I know a proper weld should be as strong as solid metal!