Had a loading ramp collapse when loading into the back of my pick-up. Fortunately, one tire hung up on the edge of the bed and the atv didn't fall on top of me. The wheeler was almost upside down and gas started to pour out...I'm assuming out of the carb. The oil level seems to be fine but I wanted to know what I should be checking before I just get back on and ride....As a side note, mighty scary laying in a ditch on my back with a 2003 600twin hovering over the top of me barely hanging on the edge of the truck and my 14 year old daughter screaming because she thinks I'm going to die. I have been using the same 1500#ramps for 10 years and now all of a sudden the 3 main struts on 1 ramp completely tore through and dropped to the ground. I guess I'll be buying a heavy duty ramp set....

 

How did it fall and where did it take the brunt of the fall? Gas pouring out is typical as they are vented. I'd be more concerned with bent handle bars/steering stem or tweaked a-arms. Get it on a flat surface and see if everything looks straight. Re-check toe-in and see if the steering linkage is still tight (no to little movement before wheels move). I don't know the make of your machine, so can't really comment further...

 

If the oil level is fine,check the vent tubes on the front diff and gear case to see if any fluids have drained out. Major thing I'd check is the air box when accidents like this happens. Gas can flow back to the box and saturated the bottom of the air filter. A lot of people just mop out any fuel from the box and over look the filter as they can't see the bottom and wonder why they run rich and boggy when they start back riding.

 

When I rolled my on its side this summer the only thing I saw wrong was a lot of oil in the air box. I had to clean up all the oil and put a new air filter in. That's the first place I'd look and then see if the handlebars are bent.

P.S. I'm glad it didn't fall on you.

 

That's the main reason I load my quad the way I do. I never ride it up the ramps. I put it in low and 4x4 and stand to the right side with my thumb on the throttle and walk it into the bed of my truck. If a ramp were to fail, I'm already off to the side and can easily move out of the way. To unload, I put it in neutral, make sure the front wheels are pointed straight, and grab the rear rack and let gravity do the rest. Worst thing that has happened is that a few times the handlebars didn't stay straight and I've got a few dings in my ramps as the quad rolled a bit off to the side. I think unloading you'd be more likely to end up with the machine on top of you. Backing down ramps always seems more awkward to me. Many years ago, I did something similar to what you did while unloading and I thought I was going to end up on my back with the quad on top of me. The ramps caught it but I realized I had to find a safer way. I used to use shorter ramps, I bought a 7.5 ft long set about 5 years ago. The old 6 ft set just made too steep an angle on my other truck, would have been even worse on the truck I have now which sits a little higher. I still have the old set, I use them sometimes to get my lawnmower into my shed. They are a very sturdy solid steel, very heavy but just not long enough for a 4x4 truck. Would be great for a trailer though if it didn't have ramps. I don't think I could bend them if I wanted to, at least not with the weight of a quad. But the much lighter aluminum ramps I have now are just easier to handle. If they were steel, they would probably weigh 75 lbs each instead of about 30 lbs per ramps.

 

The ramps I have are 90 inches (7.5 ft) long and aluminum. I'm 6'1' and there is no way I could hold the throttle and "walk" my atv along the side of the ramps unless my arms were a foot longer. I have a F250. High tailgate. I have been doing this for almost 10 years and yeah it shook me up but I still think it is safer than walking behind the machine to unload it. To me that's really asking for trouble. When I order a new set of ramps, I'm getting even heavier duty that I had. The one's I'm looking at are rated for #1500 each.(#3000 per set) That should definitely hold my fat *** wheeler and my fat ***. On a side note the air cleaner was stinky with gas so being that it is a K&N, I cleaned it really well and let it dry and evaporate completely before I re-oiled it. Everything else seems to be OK and the machine runs fine.

No matter how you load your atv, just a friendly reminder to always be safe. Use heavy duty ramps and make sure to use the safety straps. I could never had guessed that 1 of the ramps would literally shear in half but it does make me realize that it is better to buy something of a higher weight rating just to be safe.