Good rampsThese are a good set.

 

Ok, I'm convinced NOT to build my own, thanks for the input and saving me a broken arm, rib and quad ;-) .

I found a nice set of aluminum folding ramps on Craigslist that are 77" and arched. do you think that's long enough to get up to a 3-4' high tailgate?

 

That is 6.4 feet and in most cases they will work fine, but the longer the better as sometimes you run into a area that you need the extra length on the ramp!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: chrisd0729

Ok, I'm convinced NOT to build my own, thanks for the input and saving me a broken arm, rib and quad ;-) .



I found a nice set of aluminum folding ramps on Craigslist that are 77" and arched. do you think that's long enough to get up to a 3-4' high tailgate?</end quote></div>

The difference between 3 and 4 feet is huge when determining ramp length. 3 ft is 36", so if you had 77" ramps your slope % is 46.75, at 4ft it is 62.34. You want to keep this % less than 50% for safety. If your tailgate is 4ft then you would need ramps that are at least 96", or you need someone on the front rack.JK The point here is safety. Arched ramps are mainly to give the ramps made of lighter material added strength, also for low clearance items like lawn mowers.

 

All u have to do to keep the home made ramps from sliding off of the tailgate is screw eyebolts into the bottoms and take tiedowns and strap to hitch and eye bolts

 

treated 2x12's and the metal brackets and ur good to go. . .plus u can get the 2x12's in pretty much whatever lenght you want.

 

I bought a 75" tri-fold ramp from Harbor Freight for 90.00 I think. It works great and has chains to lock it to the gate. Never had any issues with the angle or anything, the first couple times were interesting, but now I just roll up it at a consistant speed. Works great.

 

I bought mine at harbor freight steel with bolt on ends rated for like 1/2 ton first use they broke under my 800 lb sportsman + my 280 lb hefty self brought them back and got extra wide solid alums rated for 1400 with prob 20 uses now with no problem for I think 90 dollars

 

Buy them its not worth the risk especially with a tall truck.