Maybe some of you haven’t had the problem of sliding car ramps when you are trying to drive up on them, but that was always my problem. I noticed in this months copy of Handyman magazine, a guy solved this by mounting the ramps on a longer piece of plywood. Then your wheels are on the plywood as you drive up the ramp. I solved it for myself some years ago by welding a piece of slotted metal strapping to the front of my ramps. Then I have holes drilled in strategic locations in the garage floor. I just slip a bolt through the hole I want in the ramps and into the floor. I can adjust them right and left for different widths. Very steady. When not in use, I just use a plastic body fastener on a short piece of tube to cover the hole. You hardly know they are there.
I used that plywood method for years, worked great. But I got rid of the plywood at one point, didn’t think it’s be an issue because I had a ‘step’ in my garage floor that kept the ramps from sliding forward (away from the car). OK, so now I go to put the car on the ramps, give it some gas, ZOOP! The ramps slide UNDER the car! Luckily it was both sides, and they weren’t much higher than the car’s ground clearance. No damage…
My solution was even simpler; two 8 ft 2x4s on the floor (lengthwise) between the front of each of the ramps and the garage back wall. When done with my oil changes, the studs were simply parked upright in a corner of the garage, and the ramps hung on hooks in the other corner.
I solved two problems, my old metal ramps were hitting the plastic in the front of the car and they would slide. I got some 2 x 10’s and have a 5’ base with a 4’ piece nailed on it, then a 3’ piece then a 2 'piece, then a 1’ piece. It is a gradual series of steps vs a ramp, but gets the job done.
I no longer hit the plastic when I go up the ramp. I put a block of wood at the end as a stop. I store them against the wall in my shed. Pretty inexpensive. Do not have to worry about rust. I have seen some plastic ramps that I would not trust.
I had the same problem when I used ramps. You would get the car up on top and realize that one ramp had slid forward and now that tire is not rested in the center of the ramp.
I used some short 18inch pieces of chain and welded two to each ramp close to the center of the ramps lip. Set your ramp on the floor and lay the chains nicely so you drive onto the chains first. The weight of the tire on the chains will keep the ramp from moving.
I used good old Permatex yellow weatherstrip adhesive to glue some leftover 1/4" thick rubber garage door molding to the ramps on their contact points. Also mixed some sand with paint to make the top ramp surfaces non-slip.
Haven’t tried tape and thought about how rubber mats under the ramps might work. I’ve taken to placing the ramps against the front tires and kicking the back of each ramp to wedge it a little under each tire. Usually prevents movement and lets me align the tires and ramps more accurately.
You folks have some clever ideas up your sleeves! I think the plywood idea from the magazine is great too. It seems like everyone who uses ramps must have this problem. But I’ve never seen any instruction about it in the literature from ramp manufacturers. My current method is to put each ramp atop a porch-style rubber floor mat, the good quality heavy kind of mats that have horizontal ribs on top. Where I buy them, those mats cost quite a bit, close to $40 each. But that seems to work pretty good at holding the ramps in place. Sometimes other household members wonder where the mats went is all … lol …
I had the problem too of the car being too low to the ground and the air dam hitting the ramp. I just used some angle iron and welded together a couple of one foot extensions for the ramps. A couple bolts sticking through the extensions that fit into the holes on the ramp. It didn’t take much to give it a little less severe angle and worked on even the little integra. Mine get stored up on top of my cabinets in the garage so space is a little important.
Personally, I’d like to see molded plastic ramps about twice as long with a higher elevation at the end. My car’s stock clearance height is only 5-1/2", and I’d like to get it up a bit more than a standard ramp does to get under it better. I’ve looked everywhere to no avail.
I had experienced that problem with the steel ramps…but now I have a pair of the molded plastic ramps…they don’t slip at all. And they are 2-3 times stronger then the steel ramps I owned.
Personally, I'd like to see molded plastic ramps about twice as long with a higher elevation at the end.
Friend of mine has a set of ramps like that…only they are made out of wood. The problem is they are HEAVY. Made of several pieces of 4x6 glued and nailed together. The ramp also…then he just did a 3’ long taper cut. The two pieces are tied together via a hinge. I think they weight 100lbs.
Yeah, I thought of doing that, Mike, but I wouldn’t be able to lift them. Even my old truck ramps, 2x12x8’, are too heavy for me to move easily. The ol’ bod just won’t do it anymore without pain.
The other option is weld up your own to your specs. Years ago my BIL had hand made ones that were heavy but worked well before Kmart started selling them.
What I used to do with my steel ramps was to take two old heavy screwdrivers and push them into the ground between the seams of concrete slabs on my driveway. I would then place the ramps against the screwdrivers. The screwdrivers acted as stakes and kept the ramps from sliding. More recently, I solved the problem by giving the ramps away and having my independent shop change the oil. The 2011 Sienna has a low air dam that would hit the ramps. Our 2003’4Runner has enough ground clearance that I could reach the drain plug without putting the car on the ramps, and the oil filter is on top the engine. However, with 0W-20_at $8 a quart at my independent shop and 0W-20 oil for $2.79 a quart at my local Rural King store that meets Toyota specifications, it’s really tempting to start doing my own oil changes again.
Took my 35 year old steel (K-mart, I think) ramps to the scrappers years ago. They were my first “work under the car” tool before I owned jackstands. I’ve shot those buggers across the floor a few times too many when they didn’t catch on the seam in the floor. Turned me off to them a bit.
No car I’ve owned since my '83 Firebird would clear them except trucks and I don’t trust them to hold the weight. Jack stands give me more room to move around under the car and are more stable once I got a big-a$$ floor jack to lift the vehicle up.
For those who have trouble driving those cars up ramps when the cars have so little clearance.
Just cut a 3ft piece of 2x8 for each ramp. Then drill an undersized hole at one end to drive a 3inch long bolt through. You place the 2X8 halfway up the ramp with the bolt through one of the holes in the ramp to anchor it and you’ve extended the ramp by about 18inches and made the grade a little less severe. If the car is of the heavier type you can slide a piece of 4X4 under the ramp extension, so the span is a little less.
I have not used my ramps since last summer. but I know what you mean. Raising the vehicle just another 10 inches is not much extra room with many cars.
We have a scissors lift and it makes things a little better, but if we had the head room I’d go for a side post lift in a heart beat.
The scissors lift can be in the way when doing some exhaust work, so I need to place 4X6 blocks on the lift pads to give a little more room for working between the lift and the exhaust.
It is a big improvement over the ramps though because you are actually lifting the frame and body the extra 20 inches or so.
Then we still need a 2X8X14ft on each side of the lift to drive onto for some of these low profile cars to drive over the lift. Plus we still need to be careful that the lift frame does not crush the exhaust or rest on the fuel tank or some other part that could be damaged. So many times we still need 2X4 blocks on the pads.