World's best home car ramps

If you have welder, it’s not hard to make these ramps. This pic shows the ramps in the inclined position. Note the intermediate supports placed under the inclined ramps, and the flat-topped stands on which the front wheels are resting. Eight pins lock the stands and ramps together. The jacking beam and jack stands can be seen, waiting to be used, on the ground at right. The major trick is that the ramps don't stay inclined!

After using short ramps, a trolley jack and jack-stands for years, I decided that I wanted to gain better access to the complete underside of the car. I’d fabricated and fitted an exhaust with the car elevated only on jack-stands, and found it very awkward. So when I started thinking about fitting a full aerodynamic undertray for one of my cars, I decided I wanted more working height. In addition, I wanted the ramps to be useable for wheel alignments – meaning the car needed to be level, with the front wheels on flat platforms large enough to take wheel alignment turntables. For storage, the ramps had to easily disassemble into pieces that were light enough to be handled by one person, they had to fit into my working space, and it would be helpful if they had two modes – a quick inclined mode for work like oil changes, and a horizontal mode for wheel aligning and full under-car work.

Some of the inspiration for the design came from the MR1 ramps developed in the UK. The MR1 ramps are described by the inventor like this. When lowered, the system comprises two long shallow ramps supported by pivots at the upper ends. The lower ends of the ramps are connected by a rigid lifting beam. When a car has ascended the ramps, the lifting beam, ramps and car are raised together using a conventional trolley/floor jack, which slots into a central gap in the beam. The raised ends of the ramps are then supported by axle stands or blocks, and the trolley jack removed.

The MR1 ramps appear to be constructed from steel plate and angle, and the stands on which the front of the ramps pivot are made from steel angle. The MR1 ramps, however, do not have flat platforms at the front large enough to take wheel alignment turntables, and the ramps look quite heavy.

After mulling over the issues for a while, I decided to take this approach:

• Very strong and stable front stands, comprising flat-top, rectangular platforms supported on all four corners.
•  Light-weight full-length ramps comprising ladder-like assemblies made from square and rectangular steel tube, covered on their upper surface with marine plywood.
•  A jacking crossmember made from rectangular steel tube and heavily braced.
• Vertical supports (two different height ones for each ramp) that fit under and support the ramps, but only when the car is being driven up and down the ramps.
• A 4-pin connection system that locks the front stands to the ramps, initially with the ramps in the inclined position and then subsequently with the car in the horizontal position.

The ramps in the ‘up’ position. Note how this 2-tonne vehicle is supported by the front wheels resting on the strong front stands, and the rear wheels by the four jack-stands (two each ramp). The ramps themselves are taking almost no bending load. To achieve a horizontal position, a jacking beam and a normal hydraulic jack were used to lift the rear of the ramps. Wheel alignment turntables can be used on the front stands.

The key point to keep in mind is that the inclined ramps need to be strong enough to support the weight of the car only when the car is being driven on and off the ramps. Once the car is on the ramps, the front wheels are on the wheel alignment stands and the back wheels are positioned part-way along the ramps. If the jacking beam is placed under the rear wheels (or near to that point) the ramps no longer have to take the weight of the car. This means the ramps can be made much lighter, allowing them to be handled by a single person. (Don’t forget that to give the ramps the required stiffness when in inclined mode, supports are always placed underneath.) As always with these things, pictures tell the story.

An important safety aspect of the ramps is the locking pins. Initially I was going to simply use pivots to connect the inclined ramps to the front stands. However, if you were then reversing the car down the inclined ramps and you braked, the rear of the ramps could slide backwards and the front stands could over-turn rearwards. Without the pins, if you had overshot the front stands and hit the buffers, the front stands could have overturned forwards. Using four pins - and not just two pivots - keeps the structure locked together.

The jacking beam and ramps, shown before paint and the ramps’ plywood top surfaces were applied. Note the strong gusseting used both top and bottom of the jacking beam.

The pins work like this. When the ramps are in the inclined position, four pins are inserted on each of the front stands. During jacking of the rear of the ramps, the two upper pins are removed to allow the ramps to pivot on the lower pins. When the ramps are horizontal, the upper pins are inserted through new holes that again lock the assembly together.

The finished ramps are strong enough to support a 2-ton vehicle, yet can be easily disassembled and then stored by one person working alone. (The heaviest parts are the ramps, that can – just – be handled by one person, although using two people makes it easier.) As mentioned, the front stands can hold the wheel alignment turntables, or when these are not needed, wooden spacers can replace the turntables if it’s desired that the car stay perfectly level. While more expensive to build than normal short ramps, the cost is also vastly lower than buying a hoist – and the workshop space remains completely flexible. However, I do need to add that building the ramps is quite a lot of work.

The front stands. Note the basic cube-shaped framework that is strengthened by diagonals on the side and front faces, and two smaller braces on the front face.

 Safety!

Before even thinking of constructing ramps like these, you must be an experienced welder and have a good quality machine that can make consistent, strong welds. This is not a project on which to learn to weld! Another safety warning – the ramps must be used as designed, initially with the underneath supports in place and the four pins per ramp inserted to hold the structure together in the inclined position. When the car’s front wheels are on the wheel alignment stands, the upper pins should be removed and the jacking beam placed under the rear wheels. Jacking then occurs to a horizontal position, jack-stands are placed near to the jacking beam, the ramps lowered onto the jack-stands, and the upper locking pins inserted in their new holes. If you find any of this confusing, or you may get the sequence wrong, do not build these ramps!

The ramps in the inclined position, with the upper pins removed to allow the angle between the ramps and stands to change as the rear of the ramps is jacked-up. Note that the bottom pins always stay in place – these are the pins on which the ramps pivot. If you want to make it easier to remember this, you could paint these lower pins red - these are the pins you never remove!

 Materials

I am not presenting a formal plan or step-by-step instructions for making these ramps. If you have the capability to build them, then you’ll be able to work it out quickly from the pictures and the following dimensions.

The front stands are 480mm (19in) high, 490mm (19?in) wide and 405mm (16in) deep, plus another 170mm (6? in) for the front buffers that extend forwards of the vertical supports. The buffers are 100mm (4in) high.

The stands are made from square tube, 40mm x 2mm wall thickness. The supporting props (used when the ramps are inclined) are made from the same material.

The ramps are 3.7 metres (12ft) long and 400mm (15?in) wide. They are made from rectangular tubing placing on edge, 75mm x 50mm x 2mm wall thickness. The cross pieces are of the same material used for the front stands, and are spaced at 300mm (12in) centres. The top surface of the ramps is 12mm (?in) marine plywood - do not use lower grade plywoods as they are not strong enough.

The jacking beam is made from rectangular tube placed on the flat, 100mm x 50mm x 3mm wall. It is braced on top by 40mm square tube (2mm wall) and on the underside by offcuts of the 100 x 50 x 3mm tube. The jacking beam is 2050mm (81in) wide – make the centre height and width to suit your hydraulic jack. The pins are 12mm in diameter and have 16mm handles welded to them.

Four pins inserted, locking the system together in the ‘up’ position. Remember that there are always four pins in place on each of the front stands except when jacking the rear of the ramps. 

Conclusion

These ramps have worked brilliantly in use - in fact I can't think of anything I'd change if I were building them again.

This article is extracted from my book Setting up a Home Car Workshop.