I learned an important lesson Saturday afternoon. Upon returning from Deer hunting, I was unloading my Cat from the back on my truck using 2 aluminum ramps as usual. I back my Cat into the truck so I can tie it up tight to the front of the bed. So anyway, I'm starting forward down the ramps when for some reason, I started to feel uncomfortable with something. Now maybe it was just from being tired or lack of sleep, but for whatever reason, I hit the brakes & stopped the Cat. The truck rocked back & forth a couple of times & then the ramps both fell off the tailgate & went straight down with me & the Cat along for the ride!!! For what seemed like an eternity (probably a second or so) the Cat balanced on it's front tires with the back tires straight up in the air. Fortunetly, my Dad & Brother were close by & they came running & were able to push the rear rack down & set the back tires back on the tailgate. We then had a little bit of a problem getting the Cat the rest of the way off the truck but in the end no damage was done & we were very lucky. In hindsight, I probably could have hit the gas, & the front tires would have pulled out from under me & the Cat would have landed on all fours, but I didn't think of that as I was looking at going over on my head.

What would have prevented this & what I will do every time from now on is setting the emergency brake on the truck before loading or unloading. With an automatic transmission in the truck, just putting it in park doesn't stop the truck from moving, but setting the brake will lock the tires & hopefully keep this from happening again.

Has anyone else ever had something like this happen before? I once dropped a walk behind commercial mower off the side of a set of ramps, but that was caused by trying to load it while on a slight sidehill & the ramps slid sideways off the tailgate. Now I always find the most level spot possible for loading & unloading because of that incident & now I will always set the brake every time because of this most recent incident. At least I learn from my mistakes & I hope this helps some of you guys as well.

Lance

 

CatLance:

I use either my tie down straps or heavy duty bungie cords and secure my ramps to my truck at the bumper before I load or unload. Only takes another minute to do, so not like it's alot of trouble. Never had a ramp fall yet.

Try it out...

Ron

 

Damn, sounds pretty hair-raising to me, glad to hear everything came out OK, and nobody or nothing got hurt in the process. I was worried about my ramps sliding off sideways off my trailer, so I drilled a small hole through the bit that sets on the tailgate, and into the wood/tailgate area. Then, I just put a small drop-pin in the hole, it keeps the ramp from moving anywhere, and only takes a second to put the pin in, or take out-very easy and fast, works great.

Best of luck,

Mike

 

I had something similiar to that happen to me once. This was the first time I had ever unloaded on an all concrete surface. It was at my buddys' auto repair shop and backing out of my truck and onto the ramps. Going VERY slowly and carefully, I might add. Anyway, once completely on the ramp, a car pulls up, near the end of the ramp, so I jam on the brakes. This caused the enire ramp, with me and the Cat on it, to slide backwards off the tailgate and slam onto the ground.

Scared the !#@^ out me, but that was it. No damage done, just another lesson learned. Never unloaded on concrete since that.

Mike

 

I built my loading ramps from a kit I bought at Wal-Mart consisting of two metal ramp heads and a 12-foot 2x12 I got at the lumberyard. I cut the 2x12 in half and bolted a ramp head to each half using 1/2x2 stainless grade 3 bolts.

The 2x12s are strong enough to support a small car. And while I have never dropped the ramps of the back of my truck as like happened to you, I worried about that possibility from the day I got my ATV.

Even when taking great care while loading or unloading, I still experienced some ramp movement and slippage on the tailgate. It was never enough to cause an accident, but it was very unnerving. I figured that soon or later my luck would run out.

Browsing through an auto parts store one day, I quite by accident came across the solution to my ramp movement problem. I spotted a set of self-stick soft rubber runningboard traction pads. They were about 4-inches wide and about 17-inches long. More importantly, they were covered with large soft rubber lugs. They looked just like the tread of an ATV tire laid flat. I bought them.

Arriving home with my prize, I cut them into two 12-inch sections and applied them to the underside of the flanged portion of the metal ramp head. Now when the ramps are placed on the tailgate, they rest on the rubber traction pads and they no longer move around when in use.

Whether you use a commercial set of loading ramps, or a homemade set like I do, you may want to consider adding a set of rubber traction pads to help prevent slippage. I bought mine at Pep Boys Auto parts for around $15.

Army Man

 

I watched a friend go head-over-heels with his three wheeler while he was driving it off his truck. He was using 3 boards for ramps and the middle one slipped off the tailgate sending him head first over the bars with the bike tumbling after him. Luckily there was no damage to him or the bike. Now I tie the ramps down with bungies.
I once had my throttle freeze when I was loading my ATV into my trailer in winter. I gassed it good to get up the snowy ramps and it froze wide open open. The trailer has 3 foot high sides like a cattle truck for hauling firewood, and the bike climbed up the far side till the front wheels were over the top and the back end was sitting on the rack. That Polaris wouldn't stop climbing till all four wheels were off the ground! I jumped off and killed the ignition before it came right over. Made me think though, if I had been loading it in the truck it would have gone through the back window and tried to climb into the cab! Now I put the spare tire or something in the front just in case.

 

Armyman:
I built the same type of ramps for loading my 'Cats up on our trailer, only I'm using 8' 2x10's. Did you put any rubber cross sections on the board itself? I've run up the ramps a few times now in the snow, or during a good rain in 2wd by accident, and had the back end break loose on me, through it off the bottom end. Nothing really to worry about at the time, but I'd hate to spin out a couple feet up in the air and fall off backwards. All that weight up front would surely send it upside down, with all fours in the air, possibly crushing me in the process.

Just wondered about putting a few cross sections of rubber up the ramp, kind of like a loading ramp for cattle I guess, give a little added traction. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mike

 

Please be careful loading and unloading. There was an accident at a local riding area. One of the ramps used to load an atv into a truck fell. The quad rolled over and killed him. He was wearing his helmet. When the quad fell on him it forced his head sideways and broke his neck. He was DOA.


Ride On
Randy

 

Man, I don't like to hear anything like that. Scares the hell out of me!

My partner uses the same method Cowboy does, he put a bolt thru one of the fins on his ramp which rest on his trailer & drilled a hole in the trailer. Now he just sets the bolt in the hole & his ramp is hooked to the trailer. I would like something that secure but I don't really want to drill a 3/8 inch or even bigger hole into my tailgate. We have enough problems around here with rust without going & asking for more.

I'm really considering buying a trailer big enough for 2 ATVs with a drop down tailgate. I think that has to be safer & easier than loading the big Cat into the back of my 4 X 4 truck. Plus I could bring a friend & his ATV along with me easily.

Thanks for all the advise, I'll let you guys know what I decide to do.

Lance

 

Yeah man, gotta be careful. I was loading up once in a Ford Ranger with a bed liner, making it squeeze fit for the front wheels between the fender wells. It was really late - I was in a hurry - dew had set in on the bed liner and the rubber sleeves on my ramps were really sliding on that wet liner. So I used my shirt and a towel to put between the ramps and the liner, this worked well, but like an idiot when the wheels pinned in the fender wells (because I didn't have enough momentum) I hit the gas! Of course it shot the ramps out from under my rear wheels and I flipped over out of the back of the truck. Ouch!!! Got a pretty gnarley gash on my elbow (form hitting the ramps) but more than anything I believe I nearly soiled myself. I use little cables now and attach them to those "tail-gate latching posts" on the sides of my truck. Plus, if ever there's not enough momentum to make it up the ramps with a consistant throttle setting - I back down and hit it again. I will be careful now. That sucked!