Ramps

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Joined
Oct 2, 2012
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257
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Location
Arkansas
My Car
1972 Ford Mustang Convertible
I am starting to do the underside part of my project. I wish I had a lift but will have to make do with my heavy duty floor jack and purchasing ramps. I would like advice on the best ramps to buy. Metal or plastic??? Low approach ones? Brands and where to get them would be great!!!!

 
I was able to use a good floor jack and 4 jack stands to do the underside of the car. Not sure if ramps are really needed here. I would get heavy gauge steel vice plastic if I were going to use ramps.

 
A while back i saw a thread outlining how someone made a homemade set of ramps. I did a search but couldn't find it. I'm sure someone will chime in that can find that thread. I've used a floor jack and 4 jack stands with a creeper. Not as good as having a lift, but it will work. Be safe...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 
If you do Google search for "homemade car lift" it shows many ideas on how to accomplish the task. Some may be expensive, like buying new wood. But sometimes guys have house builders for buds and scraps from a new house are just right.

 
ramps.... you want the truth? don't even buy them. I have a ton of ramps in my garage people would trade them to me with parts they wanted to get rid of as a bonus. I used to take them thinking oh cool a set of ramps.

Ramps are the biggest non-use gimmick ever. you will get more function from 4 heavy duty jack stands and a good floor jack then anything else besides a real lift.

ramps require you to have the tires on the car for use. 90% of the time when the car is up in the air you will have a tire off for some reason either increasing access or brake service. The ramps will also block off large ares of side access to the car when in use.

most modern cars are low and cannot even get up most ramps as the angle is too steep and the front bumper will hit on the way up and down.

you want free ramps? come over i'll give you 4 sets of them to curse the next victim LOL.

seriously get jack stands, a good jack and then learn the strong jack points on your car and do not fall in the ramps curse trap.

:)

 
I don't like ramps for several reasons. First, they always slide away from under the tires when I drive up onto them. Then you never know when you're all the way up and when it's time to stop.

The next issue is that with my car I cannot even get on the ramps because now it's sitting too low and the front spoiler will hit the ramp while the wheel is still about 8 inches away from the ramp.

It has been said that they block access and you need the wheels on the car.

If you don't wanna drive the car up but jack it up and put ramps under it they suck too because your suspension will travel up until the car sits. So lets say you need to jack the car up 25 inches so you can slide the ramps under it you'll have only 19 inches of clearance left after the car sits.

If you use jack stands you can keep those 25 inches underneath the car.

This being said, I built the wooden ones that "Q" posted. They are great for just lifting the car up for a quick job that needs little ground clearance but most if all I need them because my floor jack won't go under the car because it sits too low. So I do that thing they do with race cars, I drive on the ramps the jack the car up mine are only about 6.5 inches high.


Oh, and I forgot: Ramps take up a lot of space to store while not in use.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
ramps.... you want the truth? don't even buy them. I have a ton of ramps in my garage people would trade them to me with parts they wanted to get rid of as a bonus. I used to take them thinking oh cool a set of ramps.

Ramps are the biggest non-use gimmick ever. you will get more function from 4 heavy duty jack stands and a good floor jack then anything else besides a real lift.

ramps require you to have the tires on the car for use. 90% of the time when the car is up in the air you will have a tire off for some reason either increasing access or brake service. The ramps will also block off large ares of side access to the car when in use.

most modern cars are low and cannot even get up most ramps as the angle is too steep and the front bumper will hit on the way up and down.

you want free ramps? come over i'll give you 4 sets of them to curse the next victim LOL.

seriously get jack stands, a good jack and then learn the strong jack points on your car and do not fall in the ramps curse trap.

:)
+1 One of my sons brought home a set of steel ramps someone gave him, I have a floor jack and 4 stands. I have yet to use them for anything and they keep getting in the way. I have threatened several times to put them in the steel pile.

 
I have a heavy duty plastic Ramps I use, I used to have metal ones, but they rusted after a while.

now I have also used 2"x12" cut to different lengths then screwed together, and at the top edge I put a 2"x4" so I cant drive over the edge.

it worked great for a while, then I lended them out, and never got them back :(

 
A while back i saw a thread outlining how someone made a homemade set of ramps. I did a search but couldn't find it. I'm sure someone will chime in that can find that thread. I've used a floor jack and 4 jack stands with a creeper. Not as good as having a lift, but it will work. Be safe...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
That was "Q's" post. Here ya go:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-how-to-make-a-safe-set-of-car-ramps?highlight=ramp
I guess that is why you're a super mod... I did a search for "ramps" and "how to" and didn't find it... crazy. Thanks...

 
ramps.... you want the truth? don't even buy them. I have a ton of ramps in my garage people would trade them to me with parts they wanted to get rid of as a bonus. I used to take them thinking oh cool a set of ramps.

Ramps are the biggest non-use gimmick ever. you will get more function from 4 heavy duty jack stands and a good floor jack then anything else besides a real lift.

ramps require you to have the tires on the car for use. 90% of the time when the car is up in the air you will have a tire off for some reason either increasing access or brake service. The ramps will also block off large ares of side access to the car when in use.

most modern cars are low and cannot even get up most ramps as the angle is too steep and the front bumper will hit on the way up and down.

you want free ramps? come over i'll give you 4 sets of them to curse the next victim LOL.

seriously get jack stands, a good jack and then learn the strong jack points on your car and do not fall in the ramps curse trap.

:)
+1 stands are the way to go

 
Not the wood ones I made...I use them all the time in conjunction with these Much much safer than jack stands ALONE

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-give-your-car-a-lift
True.

Like I said, I built those and use them to get the car high enough to slide the floor jack underneath the car.

The sliding part was about the usual ramps that you can buy.

 
These ramps were given to me by my Dad back in 1969 when I first started driving. I have not seen this kind for sale lately.

DSC05073.JPG

DSC05071.JPG

 
A while back i saw a thread outlining how someone made a homemade set of ramps. I did a search but couldn't find it. I'm sure someone will chime in that can find that thread. I've used a floor jack and 4 jack stands with a creeper. Not as good as having a lift, but it will work. Be safe...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
That was "Q's" post. Here ya go:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-how-to-make-a-safe-set-of-car-ramps?highlight=ramp
I guess that is why you're a super mod... I did a search for "ramps" and "how to" and didn't find it... crazy. Thanks...
Thanks, I happened to remember QCode351Mach posted the thread on how to build them, so I searched for ramps posted by Q.

 
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