Eustace - do you know what you're looking for under the car ? Crawling under modern cars is really unpleasant, unsafe and probably won't tell you what you need.
If you just want to take a look under a car you're thinking of buying then an inspection mirror is going to be a much safer and more comfortable option; just search for under vehicle mirror, or you could perhaps make one.
Good luck with finding a good car - I'm following your search as I'm likely to be on the same path soon.
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The intention was more than just for a one time inspection.
In the house I grew up in as a kid, our garage had a (for want of knowing the proper term) service pit, which was fully cemented on all sides and at the bottom. On one end, it had steps leading down.
My grandfather (who was actually quite car crazy) used to go down into the service pit, and clean the underside of the car, using a hose pipe.
I just realised that I have never actually fully washed the underside of my car. Even when I take it to car washes, they don't seem to wash the underside. So I was looking for a good solution, to get under the car and scrub of any dirt / drime / road salt, and then be able to fully wash it using a hose pipe.
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Nor do I think the local council or SWMBO would take too kindly, to me having a pit dug in the drive, over which I can park the car. :-)
Actually I couldn't if I wanted to either, as the sewage drains run under the drive.
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Nor do I think the local council or SWMBO would take too kindly, to me having a pit dug in the drive, over which I can park the car. :-)
Actually I couldn't if I wanted to either, as the sewage drains run under the drive.
I have seen people install concrete on top of drive ramps. or brick built ramps, depends on driveway really?
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I actually did discuss the idea with my wife. She is horrified at the thought of a ramp on the drive.
And I generally prefer to reverse park into the drive. Don't really fancy reversing onto the ramp, late at night, if needed. :-)
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My in-laws (many years ago) had a pit inside their timber-&-asbestos garage. The pit was usually covered with sawn-off sleepers. Never saw or heard of anyone using the pit, and I'm pretty sure it was put in pre-war.
Don't like the idea of hosing the underside of a car while in a pit - it would have to be provided with drainage? You could use a pressure washer to hose underneath without anything like a pit or a ramp - though you wouldn't see what you were aiming at ....
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We used to keep our pit covered too. In fact it had a wooden cover in sections, that would fit over the pit. The pit did have a drainage channel to let water drain out. I think, it just went out into the ground.
Wonder why car washes don't use ramps, to get cars onto it and allow a proper wash of the underside...
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Wonder why car washes don't use ramps, to get cars onto it and allow a proper wash of the underside...
(a) it would take too long and (b) it would soon lead to an accident ..
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If I needed to have such a facility these days...I'd use a railway sleeper.!...now that I WOULD trust.!
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on the usual auction site 401324725736
I have a pair of these and a smaller normal sized pair, i run the front wheels up these and the rears up the smaller set and use the air rear suspension to lift the back end up level, that way the car is raised over a foot, this is with my Landcruiser which has the height to do this.
My car sat for several days on this combination whilst i rustproofed it and changed all the transmission oils.
These are big and heavy ramps and very strong, i keep the 2 small hydraulic jacks in a box in my garage seldom is there need to raise the vehicle any higher (i don't know if you can buy the same ramps without the jacks cheaper, worth looking around) , bare in mind most cars won't have enough approach angle to get up these ramps without catching the front skirt, but this applies to most car ramps in all honesty, so some sturdy planks (or ladder within ladder) will be required to rest on one of the rungs about half way up in order to clear the front lower valance.
Why i recommend these is they are much wider than the usual flimsy things, so the plank for initial lift to clear can be appreciably wider than with the narrower small ramps.
If you can weld or have a handy chap who can, it would be easy to fit smaller ladders, pivoting from about half way up the ramp ladders, so they could fold down when in use and fold up and over and lay on/in the existing ramp for storage, or extra ladders with couple fo stays than can rest on the rungs then lift them off when not in use...if any of that makes any sense, we used to have ramps within ramps on some of the car transporter decks for this approach angle problem.
Yes possibly overkill for some, but once up on these things the car is going nowhere, with my LC up on all 4 i gave is a serious shaking side to side to see if there was any movement, nothing.
With all ramps its best to put the ramp on a piece of old carpet or something so it doesn't shoot out as you start to climb.
Edited by gordonbennet on 18/10/2017 at 19:05
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Wonder why car washes don't use ramps, to get cars onto it and allow a proper wash of the underside...
(a) it would take too long and (b) it would soon lead to an accident ..
Some used to have undercar jetwashes, but they were not used very often though some people didnt know they were there, an old Jag garage used to have one but it was never used as it cost £5 on its own (garage has since gone)
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If you only want to clean the underside and have a pressure washer something like the Karcher car chassis cleaner might be a better option.
I made my own ramp extensions from 6mm steel tread plate and a couple of lengths of angle iron as I can't get any of my cars on the ramps without them. When I rust proofed the car I put it up on two pairs of 6 ton axle stands for extra height.
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I had a similar dilemma a couple of years ago, when looking for something robust to waxoyl under a new car. Personally, I don't have confidence in axle stands - I think large, really solid ramps are safer because the car won't fall off them. Many axle stands don't have the footprint (or build solidity) to give me confidence.
I briefly considered plastic ramps - they looked attractive but, I read some reports of them splitting; particularly when used on a rough surface (like my concrete).
And the usual metal ramps were too narrow to consider.
So I ended up building a pair of extra long ones out of some 4"x4"s and 4"x2"s (laid flat). I used more timber than I'd have liked (they worked out dearer than an ordinary metal set, and they're rather heavy to move and bulky to store), but they're solid, they don't move when driving on, there's enough width to comfortably accommodate modern tyres and enough length for gradual steps up. For safety, it's crucial that timber is on top of timber from wheel to ground.
I'd imagine the sliced sleepers would be just as good (and cheaper), but chain sawing a nice long slope tidily through a sleeper is probably beyond my skill.
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I'd imagine the sliced sleepers would be just as good (and cheaper), but chain sawing a nice long slope tidily through a sleeper is probably beyond my skill.
I used steel sheet to make ramps at one end of the sleepers rather than cut them, but then my drive was long enough to take them, my brother still uses them, over 30 years old and solid
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During the brief period of years when I thought I might be able to do more than just change pads and discs, I had a set of ramps. I think I used them once, and they gave me no confidence at all that the car wouldn't roll down and squash me. A combination of trolley jack and axle stands are by far a better alternative. OK, you might not be able to lift the vehicle quite as high, but at least you'll come out in one piece rather than squashed so flat that your missus will be able to store you under the sideboard.
An ex neighbour of mine would throw his car up on a trolley jack and nothing else, on the public highway, and spend an hour or so fiddling about underneath. The wind from passing vehicles, a staggering pedestrian bumping into the car whilst ambling by or just a slight alteration in the centre of balance of the vehicle and he would have been toast. I suppose ramps would be fine with chocks/ sleepers/ whatever, but personally I'd avoid them like the plague, especially if you're working on the highway. On a level drive or in a garage, well, that could be a different matter.
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Thanks all for your inputs.
I will visit my local timber merchant this weekend, and explore the possibility of getting railway sleepers, other material to use as a potential ramp.
If that's not viable / cost effective, then the Karcher car chassis cleaner, seems to be the way to go.
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Thanks all for your inputs.
I will visit my local timber merchant this weekend, and explore the possibility of getting railway sleepers, other material to use as a potential ramp.
If that's not viable / cost effective, then the Karcher car chassis cleaner, seems to be the way to go.
Years ago I used to pass an Express Dairy depot (closed long ago) on my way to work. Often saw electric milk floats sitting on a plastic milk crate while the brakes were being serviced.
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eustace, I've just checked my ramps, which are the metal strut type, against my Civic and the lower edge of the bumper fouls the rising part of the ramp before the wheels can reach the bottom of the ramp. I think lots of cars are now built with lower bumpers than in the past.
Wooden ramps will therefore have to have a shallow angle to suit modern cars. Better to work it out before you end up with the world's most over-engineered bookends ;-).
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eustace, I've just checked my ramps, which are the metal strut type, against my Civic and the lower edge of the bumper fouls the rising part of the ramp before the wheels can reach the bottom of the ramp. I think lots of cars are now built with lower bumpers than in the past.
Wooden ramps will therefore have to have a shallow angle to suit modern cars. Better to work it out before you end up with the world's most over-engineered bookends ;-).
Having had an 07 Type S Civic and needed to put it up on a pair of ramps for oil changing, I made a couple of simple wooden ramp extensions out of 1" thick douglas fir planks the width of the ramp to stop the lower edge of the front spoiler fouling the ramp. Screwed and glued some blocks to the underside to locate and support in the gaps between the cross strakes of the ramp.
Make the extensions about 1.5 times the length of the angled part of the metal ramp, it makes the angle of the ramp less, it's also easier to get the car up on it.
If you have a heavy vehicle like our L200 pick-up, beware using the ordinary metal car ramps, our L200 weighs 2.0 tonnes plus unladen and is very front heavy. I had to weld some reinforcement into another pair of ramps as they were showing signs of flexing.
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