Let's talk service ramps

[saigashooter]

Morning Oppo,

I spent a few minutes last night doing an oil change on the wife's Santa Fe. I have a pair of older steel service remaps, but they are so steep that the bumper strikes the ramps before the wheel does. Mu Impreza has 0 chance of climbing them.

I get around this with some admittedly sketchy wood blocking placed in front of the ramps to get the wheels up a bit higher before they get to the ramp. Does anyone have any recommendations for better service ramps, or should I just dig an inspection pit in my garage floor

[Zaphod's Heart of Gold]

I have used a set of rhino ramps for years, they have held up great and fit under most cars. The only car that doesn't get them is my MS3 which is lowered and I have a set of shallow wood ramps instead that let me get a jack to the jack point (which is behind the engine). They are shallower than the steel ramps and will never rust

[Tripper]

@saigashooter I've got plastic "Rhino Ramps" from Home depot that I haven't had any trouble with any of the cars.

[pickup_man]

@saigashooter My Cobalt does the same thing, I usually just jack the car up enough to slide them under the tire. Kinda defeats the purpose of the ramp part but there's not a lot of great areas to put jack stands and they're usually in my way for an oil change so the ramps are more convenient.

[facw]

@zaphod-s-heart-of-gold I'm a bit terrified of Rhino ramp reviews that say that the plastic cracked (See Amazon for example, where all the top reviews are 1-star: https://www.amazon.com/RhinoGear-11912-RhinoRamps-Vehicle-Ramps/dp/B0117EESNC)

Personally I just use a jack + stands. Seems just as good, but with sturdier vehicle support and no concerns about needing to stay lined up while driving up a ramp.

[Zaphod's Heart of Gold]

@facw said in Let's talk service ramps:

@zaphod-s-heart-of-gold I'm a bit terrified of Rhino ramp reviews that say that the plastic cracked (See Amazon for example, where all the top reviews are 1-star: https://www.amazon.com/RhinoGear-11912-RhinoRamps-Vehicle-Ramps/dp/B0117EESNC)

Personally I just use a jack + stands. Seems just as good, but with sturdier vehicle support and no concerns about needing to stay lined up while driving up a ramp.

Those are not the ones I have, I may have to look at my own for branding. No issues with cracking after 8 years or so, and there is no sturdier support than a car on its own 4 wheels. Lining up is easy, put the ramps on the tires and go

[saigashooter]

@facw yeah, I do have access to a jack and stands, but I can't use the jack on one side of the car when in the garage as it is too tight to the wall. Ok, it's not actually close to the wall. It's close to all our junk along the wall lol.

[onlytwowheels]

I got a set of these for Christmas. They seem well made. Worked well when I used to service Mrs Twowheels Crosstrek.

https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/ramps/13000-lb-portable-vehicle-ramp-set-63956.html

[BritsnSwedes was MINIGTI]

@saigashooter another vote for rhino ramps, both my MINI and my 4500 pound Jaguar go up them with ease. WAY better than the old steel ramps I had before.

[Albino Kangaroo]

If you have the room, I would suggest buying two 2x8's 10 ft long, then cut them down to make two wood ramps three or four levels high.

[A Former User]

My Rhino ramps are about 10 years old and in fine shape. They were about 1/2" too low for both my low Volvos, but a piece of plywood on each side solved that issue.

[VincentMalamute]

@saigashooter
@66p1800inpieces said in Let's talk service ramps:

If you have the room, I would suggest buying two 2x8's 10 ft long, then cut them down to make two wood ramps three or four levels high.

or if you have a LOT of money, RaceRamps get great reviews. They have almost a custom fit for your need.

I was just thinking about this topic because I use Rhino ramps as mentioned above. I don't know their weight rating and I'd like to get my friend's RV lifted up. That's gotta be at least 9000 lbs GVW.

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@saigashooter I have rhino ramps. They hold up the truck with no issue

[dogisbadob]

They make ramps with a lower angle, but they cost $300

I'm surprised an Impreza would have trouble getting up those ramps

[saigashooter]

@dogisbadob The bumper strikes the ramp and pushes it along. Needs some blocks of wood to climb first.

[CivicWagonEngineer]

@onlytwowheels I use the HF ones too for quick under car stuff. My Miata and Insight (both pretty low) make it up no problem, and the ramps seem sturdy

[krhodes1]

At my tiny garage in FL, I have a Quickjack 5000SLX. MUCH easier and safer than jackstands, but hangs on the wall out of the way when not using it.

Nice rig, but $pendy for what it is - it actually cost about as much as my full-sized 4-post lift in my garage in Maine. Mine will life 5K lbs, but they have smaller and larger versions. It was $1200.

For a much cheaper option, I too had Rhino ramps, and they worked OK.

[SmugAardvark]

@saigashooter I had some Takata-branded ramps many years ago. They were a much lower slope, and I never had any issues with cars catching or dragging on them.

On at least one of my cars, they were necessary because the ride height was too low to safely get my floor jack underneath.

They were these, although probably rebranded because...well...Takata.

[jayvincent]

@zaphod-s-heart-of-gold said in Let's talk service ramps:

@facw said in Let's talk service ramps:

@zaphod-s-heart-of-gold I'm a bit terrified of Rhino ramp reviews that say that the plastic cracked (See Amazon for example, where all the top reviews are 1-star: https://www.amazon.com/RhinoGear-11912-RhinoRamps-Vehicle-Ramps/dp/B0117EESNC)

Personally I just use a jack + stands. Seems just as good, but with sturdier vehicle support and no concerns about needing to stay lined up while driving up a ramp.

Those are not the ones I have, I may have to look at my own for branding. No issues with cracking after 8 years or so, and there is no sturdier support than a car on its own 4 wheels. Lining up is easy, put the ramps on the tires and go

I've got the Pittsburgh brand / Harbor Freight $45 special and they work for all my regular cars, but not my lowered Scion Tc (bumper lip hits before the tire is on the ramp). https://www.harborfreight.com/13000-lb-portable-vehicle-ramp-set-63956.html They are slightly different than the Rhino ramps in construction, but plastic is still a risk if you load them wrong.
Full disclosure, I did roll too far once, hit the bump stop at the end of the ramp and pulled the entry edge up off the ground, which was concerning. now I use a spotter to ensure I'm far enough up the ramp but not against the stops. If you are worried, its easy enough to push some jack stands under the frame rails once you have the car up on the ramps.

for double the cost, there's these trick 2-part low profile ramps from Japan: https://www.z1motorsports.com/miscellaneous/cusco/cusco-jack-assist-ramps-p-8822.html
(@dogisbadob and @VincentMalamute )

[VincentMalamute]

@jayvincent said in Let's talk service ramps:

for double the cost, there's these trick 2-part low profile ramps from Japan

That's like 1/5 the price of the RaceRamps that I've been looking at. The pricy ones with very high weight ratings don't seem to lift very high though.

[Urambo Tauro]

@jayvincent said in Let's talk service ramps:

Full disclosure, I did roll too far once, hit the bump stop at the end of the ramp and pulled the entry edge up off the ground, which was concerning...

This has been a fear of mine for as long as I've been using ramps. So far so good, but it fills me with anxiety every time.