steel frame car ramps any good?

[david philips]

i use them a bit and prefer them to some of the cheap axle stands on the market at present, not much use for working on brakes but great for most other jobs.

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...ighlight=ramps

[danielv40]

Thank you all very much for the info and advice. Much appreciated.

I have another question, could be totally stupid, forgive me if it is but...

I was talking to a guy at work today and he's offered me a set of two tone ramps for £5. Sounds appealing but they are only 180mm wide. My car wheels are 195's could I still use ramps that aren't as wide as the wheel, or would this damage the tyres and/or be unstable?

If not I am going to order the extra wide ones off eBay tomorrow for £40, but obviously if the £5 ones will do me happy days.

[Marty Dolomite]

The problem with using ramps that are narrower than the tyres is that you leave no margin for error.
Other things to think about is the age of them and are they cheapies ones that could be rusted or have weakened joins, do you want to risk it for the sake of spending £40 for new ones?

[scottishvolvo]

Originally Posted by danielv40

Thank you all very much for the info and advice. Much appreciated.

I have another question, could be totally stupid, forgive me if it is but...

I was talking to a guy at work today and he's offered me a set of two tone ramps for £5. Sounds appealing but they are only 180mm wide. My car wheels are 195's could I still use ramps that aren't as wide as the wheel, or would this damage the tyres and/or be unstable?

If not I am going to order the extra wide ones off eBay tomorrow for £40, but obviously if the £5 ones will do me happy days.

I definitley would not buy your colleagues set, if you're getting ramps go the e-bay route.

[DaveNP]

Deffo go for a set wider than your wheels, even with aligning, checking, realigning .. it's hard to get the ramp exactly straight so a bit of extra width is a must.

[david philips]

tbh i had to go and check the width of mine if asked i would have said mine where about 180mm wide but after measuring them they are 345mm wide.

ask your friend to measure them it would be a same to miss out on car ramps at £5 and some of the older ones where made very strong .

[scr8pdo]

Originally Posted by Marty Dolomite

The problem with using ramps that are narrower than the tyres is that you leave no margin for error.
Other things to think about is the age of them and are they cheapies ones that could be rusted or have weakened joins, do you want to risk it for the sake of spending £40 for new ones?

Well said, if you are gonna use ramps check the weight, plus the quality, I saw a ramp collapse with an old Jag on top, these were just cheap ones but should have took the weight but they sure didnt and buckled and collapsed on one side!

[dew1911]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

Deffo go for a set wider than your wheels, even with aligning, checking, realigning .. it's hard to get the ramp exactly straight so a bit of extra width is a must.

My ramps are about 200mm wide, we used to lift the landy that was on 235/85 All Terrains.

As above it does leave you less room to play, but as long as they are not stupidly thin and you get them well centered you'll be ok.

[DaveNP]

Another thought re narrow ramps and axle stands.
If you picture the ramp end on, or the stand, consider the width of the base and height, as a triangle, then think of pushing it over, wide and low is more stable than thin and tall. Bottom line is if you are working under the car you want to be safe and then a bit safer, I recall being told that firemen test their ropes to be 6 times stronger than they need which seems a good margin of safety to me.

[craigoodwood]

i made my own out of scaffold planks, twice as high as the shop brought metal ones