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Ramp project, by Karl Shoemaker

Here's my first attempt for a ramp system to work with my pickup. The main idea is have the sled out of the weather and other threats, but make it easy to load and unload at the site. A while back I built a canopy. It's bolted on the pickup and normally stays there. I also have a rear (dual) door system. One way the rear door swings upward all the way up for loading large items, or even a 4'x8' sheet of plywood. with the rear door down, there is a smaller walk-through door for normal items, or to use with my "camper" slide-in insert. more on this at a later time.

My idea for a snowmobile carrier is three sections. Since one unit would be too heavy for a single person to handle I broke it into three separate sections that attach to each other:

  • The "main" section, which just lays on the pickup truck bed surface.

  • The "rear" section which bolts to the existing canopy. The canopy is already secured to the truck with bolts on the top of the bed sides. The main section also bolts onto the rear section, thus, securing it to the truck.

  • The rear door which hinges on the rear section, thus secured to the truck as well. It doubles as a ramp so you don't have to find storage for that. It's lockable as well.

    To convert for snowmobile carrier, one removes the rear door (4 bolts) and replaces it with the above sections, one at a time and bolting them together. This allows the existing canopy, plug the 4 foot extension to carry most any size snowmobile, out of the weather and other "threats" while inside eating or sleeping if doing a over nighter snowmobile trip.

    Weight is my biggest problem. here's some pictures of the prototype.

     

    Here's the main frame, before adding the wood skin, but attached to the canopy. I made it with 1" square steel tubing with .065 thickness. (That's about 1/16"). With the proper cross bracing in the important areas it produced a reasonably strong structure, while attempting to keep the weight down, since I designed this to be loaded by one person. As the right picture shows, the framework narrows in the rear so the tail lights are visible from behind. The end is 24" beyond the tailgate. As I understand the RCW (Revised code of Washington), one can be up to 36" beyond the vehicle before needing a red flag (as in hauling lumber) or in this case, tail lights. We shall see in my travels around. What concerns me is other state's interpretation and Canada's law.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Some more angles. As you might have noticed the canopy also doubles as a "contractor rack", built out of square tubing. The top sections are heavier (.120" I think) with plenty of framework outside, to allow most items to be carried on the top. It's very strong and can carry up to 500 pounds of materials. The skin is wood siding which helps keep out any condensation on the inside. The front part is angled down for two reasons, one to cut wind resistance, and to allow a bar to tie items onto easily. The extension in the front of the truck, slides into a receiver tube underneath. This allows me to carry long antennas or any pipe up to 25 foot long. Incidentally, the receiver tube is a twin system for my (home made) snow plow.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Here's what I came up with the outside "skin" for the rear section's sides and rear door/ramp.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I came up with the idea of having some of the bolts perminately mounted on the framework. I welded all eight bolt heads to the rear section. I idea was I could just slide the unit on the tailgate without having to climb in the unit to put the eight bolts on. Bad idea; it turned out a real pain to line all the bolts up. The right picture shows one eight bolts welded in the tubing.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    These show the top of the main and rear section framing with the bolts in them......








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    So I corrected the bolt situation by grinding the bolt heads, tapped them out with a hammer and cleaned up the original holes. So, going back to the original idea of removable bolts, I continue with the ramp system.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This is the main section which lays in the truck bed. The rear section bolts onto it (right picture), and also bolts onto the canopy frame. The latter part is what secures the system to the truck, since the canopy itself is bolted to the truck bed edges.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Shot of the top part of the main canopy and the rear part, again, now connected to the canopy.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    So I pulled the rear section off again and moved it inside the shop to work on. Here's a view of the rear section, with the ramp installed for testing. The sliders are not installed at this point








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Here I'm starting to mount the wood running surface. The sled I used for this project has a 38" O.C. stance, therefore, I averaged up the "slots" distance the ski will run in. I made one side (driver's) permanent, while the other side is screwed down minimally, so I can easily adjust it for the new sled with the 39" stance. The numbers are for my reference.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Pulling a sled back out of a truck is hard enough without having more resistance from a dead track. At this time most sled manufactures offer "reverse" as an option and most add weight with that feature. In a few more years I'm anticipating all of them will go the "electronic" reverse as a standard item. At present Ski-Doo and Polaris does it on limited models.

    Truck bed liners are slippery and even are dangerous to walk on when wet or even dry, but they make great sliders. Some folks wise up to this fact a discard them. Therefore, they can be picked up real cheap or nothing if you have the time to look. I cut the liner(s) into long strips, noting where the grooves go. Besides giving great ski guides, the carbides won't be taking the full weight of the sled, since the grooves are deep enough to support the bottom of the skis. For this stage, I removed the main section and lined it up with the rear to assist me to determine where the rear sliders will be mounted to the wood surfaces.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This gives me an idea, how the ramp sliders will end up........








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This is after I got some of the sliders screwed down. Now, it was necessary to make a cut, right at the (removable) bed and rear sections. I designed this unit in removable sections to make them manageable to move. One section would be far to heavy for one person.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This is a close-up where the door/ramp in the up (close) position meets the rear section's sliders. At this point the slider is not yet mounted on the wood surface. I angled the wood edge and space it up from the door frame so it just clears, but doesn't have too much of a gap, when driving up the ramp. We wouldn't want the skis to catch on anything, after being tired at the end of the day.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Time to mount the rest of the flat wood. After marking and starting the holes into the wood with an 1/8" bit I add a little cutting oil.......








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    ........and finish drilling into the steel. The oil really saves the bit. Then run the "modified wood truss" #8x 1 1/4" screw in. These were hard to find in Spokane. Only one hardware store had them, but I like the large head, so it doesn't sink way into the wood.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Now, the loading procedure..........huff, huff!.......








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I then open the ramp, and climb up inside with wrench and bolts in hand. The painted frames are now bolted together.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Having the bolts removable is much easier to line up, although it takes a little longer to secure.As mentioned before, with the ramp up, gives 144 1/2" of length for most any sled








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Besides the weight concern (sections, plus the sled) I now have a space problem in the garage !. The "normal" truck is fine, but with the additional 48", you can see the door just clears and the front has about 8" !!








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Here's it's storage "mode", sitting on a steel rack I built for a camper project that (too) ended up way to heavy for one person to load. The "bed" section of the ramp is disconnected (unbolted) and just sitting, sorta out of the weather. The only thing left to do is find some extra paint around the house to protect the wood.

    Being that it takes about 30 minutes to load the system, makes the trailer "thing" look real convenient. I don't know if I want to be running around town for other stuff, and having some parking challenges. Of course, we know the disadvantage to a trailer is that it's an "ice anchor" that hinders traction on an icy road.








     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    September 14, 2002 I tried the system out. I needed to take the sled in town anyway to check alignment and show it to a possible buyer. Here are the details of that part of the project.





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