Why not find an old railroad tie, and cut it into 2 same length pieces like at a 30 degree angle or so?
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We do not have rail roads.
Just some food for thought but not many years ago the wife of a long time friend of mine was working on her '65 Thunderbird. She had some very heavy, homemade ramps (2 X 12s) for this purpose.
One happened to collapse and she was dead before the cops got there.
As to why her husband wasnât doing the work; heâs unable to. Heâs a paraplegic in a wheelchair for 30 years due to a major car accidentâŠ
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This was the type I was referring to that I had used.
If they are laid flat and stacked, there is no way they could collapse. I suspect they made a box out of 4 planks, and the top one split in the middle. Not a good design as wood is very weak in that direction.
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There really is nothing to collapse. It is solid wood on solid wood. No spacing from top to bottom at least as illustrated in the youtube. Very similar to what I did years ago when I was broke. Just stack one on top of the other with the ends beveled. Keith has the right idea if I remember right. You want the bottom one longer so that when you drive on it the weight will hold it in place to go to the next level, then the next. A simple piece, maybe 2x2 inch at the end can serve as a stop for the tires so you can feel it when you drive up. You gotta use what youâve got available to you sometimes. Itâs called creativity and self-sufficiency. I do suggest though again getting structural lumber from the lumber yard-whatever they use in your part of the world.
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The OP seems to have a version of the Nissan Frontier pickup . Ready made ramps most likely are less money than lumber in a country ( Oman ) that may have to import it. I also doubt the OPâs skills.
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The OP said there is some lumber available, and he is in a better position to know the price. Oman is close to Africa, and the wood may well come from East Africa. Transportation canât be more than it is here moving lumber from the Northwest south and east.
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The design of the ramp is more important than what type of wood you use. Wood can be very strong, they make railroad bridges out of wood.
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I donât know what types of wood are relatively inexpense in Oman, but I suppose in the western USA weâd use Douglas Fir and CDX plywood if we had to make our own car ramps. But the cost for the wood would likely be nearly the same, maybe even more, compared to just buying manufactured ramps made from welded steel. Only if a person could get the wood for free would wooden ramps even be considered here. In fact it isnât that unusual in my area to see someone throwing away a set of ramps, posting a âfreeâ sign on them and placing them at the curb, b/c they are moving. The only kinds of middle-eastern trees I can think of are the cedars of Lebanon, myrrh, and frankincense. Of those, cedar would be my preference.
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Like I said, I made mine out of 2x8 construction lumber. I havenât checked the price lately but a stud grade 2x6 x 8 is under $5. I donât think they have many Walmarts over there but Iâm sure when I made mine maybe 40 years ago, it was a lot cheaper than buying the ramps that were available then. In fact people used to make their own out of steel and welded them, so consumer ramps were not readily available, and if steel and welding was not an option, you improvised.
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This is what I made, strong and easy to make, similar to @JoeMario
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Yep, no worry of that one collapsing.
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I never jack my pickup to change the oil. With a cheap tarp I donât even get my back dirty.
You do on the Nissan, but not very much. I have done mine on a single 2x10 under each front wheel.
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my dad made good ramps out of 2x4 plywood but he was very good at carpentry; they lasted 40 years and are still in use; however, I agree with the other posters; just buy some ramps from an online auto store or, since youâre obviously very thrifty, wait for a sale at Harbor Freight on their metal ramps; Harbor freight plastic composite ramps have a history of failing
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@Jared_Michaels , since the OP is from Oman he does not have the options we have in the US of an abundance of retail places to chose from and he said shipping is very expensive to his country. He is trying to do the best he can with locally available materials.
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Yes, We do not do a lot of DIY car maintenance, and so we do not have DIY products on sale.
Thanks
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+1
Even some of the secondary road bridges in my neck of the woods are made from wood. I hadnât been aware of this until they began a bridge replacement project, and I had a birdâs eye view. After they removed the asphalt, the structure underneath was made of timbers.
I thought that the structure of the replacement bridge would be likely be made from steel, butâsure enoughâthey again built a timber frame for the bridge, and then paved it over with asphalt. It appears that these bridges last about 30 years before needing replacement.
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When you consider what components make up these structural pieces and the loads they carry itâs somewhat certain that engineering skills makes a big difference.
The local Howard Johnsonâs was built on a frame of OSB I-beams that looked like they wouldnât support a chicken coop floor but it seems to be holding up fine.
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