Loading ramp for pick-up?
- Thread starter xcsp
- Start date
cuzzinolaf
Well-known member
I bought a cheap steel ramp off of Ebay and threw on some ski-guides with rivets. I leave it in the back of the truck so it is there if I ever need it.
snowdance
Member
It was a good video but why go through all that just to put your sled on the truck? What ever happened to the days where 2 to 3 men lift it up there and be gone? Now we have 2x4's, 2x6's, pressed board elaborate setup oh did he take into consideration what's gonna rofl happen to the pressed board after it gets wet a few times? Comon guys lets get real and stop thinking up hair brained ideas to get ourselves on youtube. Let the kamakazi sled heads show ya "how to" crash and burn your sleds.
Works fine if you always have 2 or 3 guys available, but what do you do when it's only one person to load up a sled into a truck bed?
Grant Hoar
New member
I used 2x8's for the ski guides, screwed 1x2's on both sides to guide the skis, and used a 1 7/8 x12 LVL for the track ramp. Screwed 1x2's across the LVL to match the track spacing for traction. Bought extruded aluminum ramp supports at Sears.
Total cost about $100, about an hour and a half work to assemble. Have been using them for 9 years now, a few times a year, still in brand new condition
One tip, use a ratchet tie to hold the center ramp to the trailer hitch, otherwise your track will spin it out from under you and you will be left with the skis on the tailgate and the back end of the sled on the ground
Never had a single problem them (other that dealer giving me a hard time when taking in for maintenance, because he wanted to sell me a trailer)
I don't use the ramps when unloading, just pull the sled back and drop into the snow
Total cost about $100, about an hour and a half work to assemble. Have been using them for 9 years now, a few times a year, still in brand new condition
One tip, use a ratchet tie to hold the center ramp to the trailer hitch, otherwise your track will spin it out from under you and you will be left with the skis on the tailgate and the back end of the sled on the ground
Never had a single problem them (other that dealer giving me a hard time when taking in for maintenance, because he wanted to sell me a trailer)
I don't use the ramps when unloading, just pull the sled back and drop into the snow
skiroule
Well-known member
xcsp:
These are photos of a setup I built about three years ago. There are many variations of this style and this was just the way I chose to build mine. Overall, it's worked well - no more sniffing the snowbanks for the perfect fit (which are sometimes not to be found) and a 5 MPG increase over pulling my trailer.
Every year I tweak it a little because I find ways to improve it. Setting up the ramp is pretty quick (about 5 minutes) and tear down is even faster.
The straps are really more for making sure the bed doesn't lift when loading. There are "wings" in front of the wheel wheels to keep it from sliding backward. Also, I used a slotted tie-down because I could use my Bear Track trailer bar.
I don't know how well it would work on a Dakota but it's an option. If time and money were no object, I would have used aluminum framing and eliminated half the weight and framing.
These are photos of a setup I built about three years ago. There are many variations of this style and this was just the way I chose to build mine. Overall, it's worked well - no more sniffing the snowbanks for the perfect fit (which are sometimes not to be found) and a 5 MPG increase over pulling my trailer.
Every year I tweak it a little because I find ways to improve it. Setting up the ramp is pretty quick (about 5 minutes) and tear down is even faster.
The straps are really more for making sure the bed doesn't lift when loading. There are "wings" in front of the wheel wheels to keep it from sliding backward. Also, I used a slotted tie-down because I could use my Bear Track trailer bar.
I don't know how well it would work on a Dakota but it's an option. If time and money were no object, I would have used aluminum framing and eliminated half the weight and framing.
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skiroule
Well-known member
Pretty funny!
Favoritos, if you look at the photos with the ramps down you'll see a "T" bar made out of 3/4" galvanized pipe. This just slides through holes drilled in the frames and the ramp. This is easily the most time consuming part of the setup but when tearing it down, you just pull the pin and everything detaches.
I did put PVC tubes in the ramps to help guide the pin through the ramps and it helped tremendously.
poprivetus
New member
Made my ramps out of three 8' 2x6's with an aluminum ramp kit (Lowes - $ 29.00). I used a 4" x 8' length of plastic cut off of an old bedliner and screwed it to two 8' 2x6's for the ski guides. Cut the bedliner in 6" widths and screwed it to another 2x6 crosswise for the track ramp. An eyebolt lagged in about 18" down from the top on each 2x6 that is used to cinch the ramp to the bumper with a ratchet strap. Have about $65.00 in to them and work great. Load/unload the machine with one person. To save the bed (and prevent the carbides from catching on the edge of the ramp) I place a 3' length of bedliner in the bed so the ski's land on it when loading.
skiroule
Well-known member
I also have a folding aluminum that I previously used for loading sleds and I planned to use for the deck but with the length, the loading angle was just too extreme. Besides, I needed a project to keep me out of trouble.
In one of my older pickups I built a rack over a wheel well to hold the folding ramp (kind of like a ladder rack) and thinking about it now, that might be a good option. Just load the sled, slide the ramp in the rack and hit the road.