Hydraulic Ramps!
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 2:55 pm
I just bought a set of THESE!
Very well made and extremely robust (and damn heavy!). The box was on a pallet and listed as 100KG when it arrived so it needed a small fork lift to get it from the road to the workshop door. The ramps come as a kit, which I was thankful for as they each one weighs nearly as much as my wife, so taking the components one by one and assembling it in situ within the workshop was preferable to attempting to carry them in fully assembled!
The build is easy, each ramp has to be fitted with it's folding guard rail (2 bolts), carrying (!) handle (2 bolts), removable lead-on ramp (pivot bar) and hooked up to the hydraulic foot pump. They are very low profile when lowered, around 4" high, so driving the car on is no problem even for cars with deep spoilers. As long as you can clear an average UK speed hump you can get on these. They also fold up for storage and can be tucked away agains the garage wall, only taking up a small amount of space.
Once the car is on the platform and against the front guard, you remove the lead-on ramp and replace it with a slide in rear guard so now the car cannot roll off either end. Pumping the lever to raise the ramps is easy but there are a lot of pumps until you hit the top. However, there are 4 different lock off heights so you don't need to go all the way. The lock-off is achieved by inserting a metal bar, after which you can lower the ramp to sit on the bar and remove the finger screws so the pump and pipes can be moved out of the way.
With a lift height of 430mm (under the wheels) the boot floor is now roughly a meter above the workshop floor! I can actually sit under the rear of the car whilst working! As these are a scissor lift there is no significant forward / backward movement when raising the car (unlike trolley jacks) so it is possible to have the front on axel stands whilst lifting / lowering so I bought a set of THESE whilst I was at it. Of course another set of the hydraulic ramps would be best but I need to get saving...
Very well made and extremely robust (and damn heavy!). The box was on a pallet and listed as 100KG when it arrived so it needed a small fork lift to get it from the road to the workshop door. The ramps come as a kit, which I was thankful for as they each one weighs nearly as much as my wife, so taking the components one by one and assembling it in situ within the workshop was preferable to attempting to carry them in fully assembled!
The build is easy, each ramp has to be fitted with it's folding guard rail (2 bolts), carrying (!) handle (2 bolts), removable lead-on ramp (pivot bar) and hooked up to the hydraulic foot pump. They are very low profile when lowered, around 4" high, so driving the car on is no problem even for cars with deep spoilers. As long as you can clear an average UK speed hump you can get on these. They also fold up for storage and can be tucked away agains the garage wall, only taking up a small amount of space.
Once the car is on the platform and against the front guard, you remove the lead-on ramp and replace it with a slide in rear guard so now the car cannot roll off either end. Pumping the lever to raise the ramps is easy but there are a lot of pumps until you hit the top. However, there are 4 different lock off heights so you don't need to go all the way. The lock-off is achieved by inserting a metal bar, after which you can lower the ramp to sit on the bar and remove the finger screws so the pump and pipes can be moved out of the way.
With a lift height of 430mm (under the wheels) the boot floor is now roughly a meter above the workshop floor! I can actually sit under the rear of the car whilst working! As these are a scissor lift there is no significant forward / backward movement when raising the car (unlike trolley jacks) so it is possible to have the front on axel stands whilst lifting / lowering so I bought a set of THESE whilst I was at it. Of course another set of the hydraulic ramps would be best but I need to get saving...