Load capacity of wood ramps

I need to build/buy a couple ramps to load a F500 onto a trailer. Car is roughly 600lbs give or take. I'm debating wood ramps vs steel ramps vs whatever. With an 80" wheelbase, only one axle at a time would be on the ramps if they were six feet long. HF has some nice steel ramps for like $60, but wood ones could be wider I suppose. Does a 2 x 8 or 2 x 10 have the capacity to hold a few hundred pounds on a six-foot span. Should I not even mess with wood and just go for the steel ramps and not worry about them being narrow?

I'm asking for a friend.

I load my RX7 onto the trailer using 8' 2x10s. No issue whatsoever.

My ms3 went onto a trailer with 2x10s no problem

Full sized truck loaded many times with 6' 2x12's.

If your local steel place sells 24' sticks (vice 20') a single stick of square 2" quartered gives you a brace on either side of the 6' HF steel ramps and bolsters them enough for car use.

As long as we're on the subject, the other thing I'm concerned with is rollover angle. Since the thing has like zero ride height, the angle between the ramps and the trailer will need to be conquered at some point, lest the car get high-centered. Better to raise the rear of the tow vehicle, like on a couple of service ramps, or put those same ramps under the ends of the loading ramps?

I'm thinking the smart money for one-man loading is a hand crank winch like this http://www.harborfreight.com/1200-lb-capacity-strap-winch-65115.html with a tow-strap around the top roll hoop.

I mean my friend.

JG,

to fix load angle i use the tongue jack of the trailer to crank the front of the trailer/back of the truck up, in turn dropping the back of the trailer. i rarely have little more than the $29 tractor supply jack, and it works great.

i also use wood 2x8's off my steel ramps to get more angle for low cars. i toss a brick under the center of the wood so it can only deflect a little. we actually used a couple 2x4's for the lowered wrx and with the brick under the middle it worked fine.

I just bought a pair of these from Tractor Supply. The photo is misleading, the price is for a PAIR. Capacity of EACH ramp is 750#, so for $100 you get two nicely made, lightweight, 90 inch curved aluminum ramps that can support 1500 pounds.

They are a bargain.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/farm--ranch-pair-of-arched-aluminum-loading-ramps-20-in-w-x-90-in-l

I pull dead cars onto my trailer with the cheap Harbor Freight winch, that I bolted to a receiver mounted vise plate. I bring a fully charged battery with me and hook it up with marine battery terminals.

I also have a pair of 2x12x72 wood ramps that I use to move a commercial walk-behind mower in and out of my barn. They are berkeleying heavy. I actually mounted a pair of small casters to the end of each one so that I can slide them in and out of the barn easier.

Get aluminum ones.

Also, we need photos of the F500.

Now.

For a friend.

I use Race Ramps to help with the angle. Found them on Amazon and used credit card points to decrease the cost. Kinda like in this pic:

amg_rx7 wrote: I use Race Ramps to help with the angle. Found them on Amazon and used credit card points to decrease the cost. Kinda like in this pic:

Race ramps are a nice idea, but they're frighteningly expensive for what they are.

We've loaded the VW bus, Vega Kammback, Austin A35, Hillman Husky, and Mustang GT on and off the trailer repeatedly with 2X10 wooden ramps.

Easy Peasy, no trouble at all.

I'm using some sort of 6x2 or something for my ramps right now with some sort of aluminium bracket that interfaces with the trailer. I think I'm overloading them a bit with the Neon which is about 775 pounds per wheel in the front, and I'm watching the boards flex a lot, but so far so good.

I used to correct the load angle by cranking the trailer jack way up, but the last time I unloaded, I put my oil change ramps behind the rear wheels of the van and then backed up onto them. I don't know how well that will work for unloading on soft surfaces, but if I'm on pavement I will never screw with that trailer jack again to adjust load angle.

A trick if you are using longer wooden board to load is to place an appropriately thick piece of wood perpendicular to the ramps. Like a 4X4 or 4X6, 4X8, depending on the height of the ramps midway along their length. We used this setup for an AI Mustang (not mine) for a couple years.

In the situation you describe, a 2x4 would probably hold up.

I wouldn't do a 2x4. I've snapped many of them with no more than 50 lbs or so.

But a 2x8 or 2x10 will do fine.

The bigger issue is them sliding off at an inopportune moment. A piece of angle screwed to them that latches on the tailgate, or trailer tail will usually solve the problem.

But the Tractor Supply aluminum ones are a much better solution.

Just to confirm, your F500 is a Formula car, right? Not a big Ford truck.

SVreX wrote: But the Tractor Supply aluminum ones are a much better solution.

They also nest onto each other very well for storage, and you can carry both with one hand.

2 X 6 or 2 X 8s, if it's a long distance to the trailer; add a 2X4 shims in the center to lessen flex.

Can we see the F-500 even if it's not yours? Always had a soft spot in my head for those....

The 6' Harbor Freight ramps happen to be on sale today, so problem solved there. I also picked up a hand crank winch (also on sale) only to find the Gee Dee crank missing when I got it home. Protip: Always open Harbor Freight boxes and check for everything if they aren't taped shut. Probably a good idea if they're taped, too.

Car is not in my—I mean my friend's—possession yet, but the deal is basically done. Just need to get my trailer in order and wait for some funds to clear into my account so I can clear them back out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94878877@N04/8639819837/in/photostream/

Those are a few years old. The car is in Florida now, but basically looks the same. It's going to take a little chop/cut/weld work to get my shoulders in, but it's just metal and plastic, so whatever.

You mean your friend's shoulders, right?

Woody wrote: You mean your friend's shoulders, right?

Yeah. He's a bit of a fireplug.