Van Ramp

[pete10uk]

Afternoon all

 

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but here goes.

 

I'm looking for a light weight ramp for the back of a vivaro van. I have been using a 1.4m long 9mm piece of ply with heavy duty aluminium angle iron to the sides for the past 5 years on my old van (a fiat doblo). I now have a nice shiny new van and would like to improve on this as I can now afford to have one 20-30 cm longer.

 

I did have a few issues using just a flat ramp, as flight case wheels caused the plastic threshold to crack on my old van which made cases stick on the threshold which was a real pain with heavy loads.

I would like to stop this from happening on the new van not least because I dont want a cracked threshold and would prefer the ramp to have an angled top (either hinged or fixed) to bridge the gap across the plastic.

 

I've done a google but what I've found looked either cheep and flimsy, way too long, too expensive or a mixture of all 3

 

Has anyone got or seen a decent ramp in or around the £250 range.

 

Cheers

[J Pearce]

http://www.raalloy.co.uk/Van_Ramps/Single_Span_Van_Ramps.html is what most of the industry uses. From memory costs are around £300 ex VAT, depending on size.

[ninjadingle]

I use something similar to this - lightweight, folds in half lengthways so keeps its strength (just don't stand on the hinges in the wet...) and has a folded lip at one end as you describe. Use it daily to load all sorts of PA into Transits / Citreon Relay with no real problems... Clarke 5' ramp

[jonathanhill]

http://www.raalloy.co.uk/Van_Ramps/Single_Span_Van_Ramps.html is what most of the industry uses. From memory costs are around £300 ex VAT, depending on size.

 

Hmm, maybe a little more for their 'standard' ramps.

 

Stage Electrics had all their Sprinter* style vans fitted with a folding ramp that was a one person operation.

 

Much like this:

 

http://www.theramppeople.co.uk/truck-ramps-and-van-ramps/folding-van-ramps

 

Only in a fetching gloss red.

 

* Other makes of vans are available.

[J Pearce]

I just looked and a 1.5m x 0.8m ramp with a SWL of 750kg is £239 on their site, or a 1.8m x 0.8m is £288. Can't see why that wouldn't work for the OP?

[TomHoward]

http://www.raalloy.co.uk/Van_Ramps/Single_Span_Van_Ramps.html is what most of the industry uses. From memory costs are around £300 ex VAT, depending on size.

Off topic, but the reason Kevin needs a ramp with rollers on that page is because of the load height on those Vitos, we have one of those and you can't fit a piece of steeldeck through the doors at the edges as there's less than 4' height on the door gap. Has to go in though that raised section in the middle (you can see in the picture) and slide sideways.

[pete10uk]

Thanks for the replies.

 

The raalloy offerings look interesting, I've seen these or very simular at venues in the past and they appear to be well made and almost bomb proof. My only concern is the weight.

 

On my way home I popped in to machine mart and took a look at the Clark suggestion, this seems to be reasonably well made but the folding aspect would annoy me. It was also quite heavy but only just over half the weight of raalloy ramp which is why I have concerns over the raalloy weight.

 

I'll weigh my current wooden ramp tomorrow but expect to to be about 10-12kg max.

 

Think I may need to rethink the situation, I'll weigh up the pro's and cons tomorrow but the raalloy stuff looks like the way forward quality wise. Has any one got any hands on experiences handling a ramp of this size single handed?

 

Thanks for the help so far.

[Pete McCrea]

We've got a Ra Alloy one for our Crafter and then a cheap folding suitcase ramp from CPC for about £80 for our Transporter. It's rated to about 225 kg iirc, but has been fine in general use.

[smalljoshua]

I'm happy to shift an 6ft ramp around the yard/store/van on my own. It's no heavier than an 8x4 litedeck (to me anyway).

 

YMMV of-course.

 

Josh

[peza2010]

I would never look further than RA again after using numerous not made for the job ramps for a number of years.

 

Pay once, keep it forever.

[pete10uk]

I would never look further than RA again after using numerous not made for the job ramps for a number of years.

 

Pay once, keep it forever.

 

This is why I'm giving them a very good consideration, I'm very much of the opinion that if you buy cheep you buy twice.

 

I'll probably opt for an ra tomorrow, worst case would be it's to heavy for me and I have to sell it on. I'm sure there'll be no shortage of takers.

[smalljoshua]

The one I now use has been in use for at least 15 years now, if not 20 and asides from being very rough looking it's still spot on!

 

Josh

[Chappie]

Whilst I have never used them (we use a fold-up type), I was very impressed with these roll-up ramps the last time I used one. They are very light and can take a decent amount of weight, although they are a bit more expensive than you require.