Not sure where to post this. I'm wondering if anyone has bought any good ramps to use for working under our cars. My Iroc is lowered like most and most ramps for lowered vehicles just aren't low enough for our cars to drive up on to. I saw some Rhino ramps for sale, just wondering what others have used. DannyT

See if you can scrounge up the thread about homemade wooden ramps. I forget who made them and with the search feature on the fritz, you may have to use google (include 'thirdgen.org' in your search), but there are ways to make them more shallow for lowered cars.

I use (2) scrap pieces of 2x6 "long ways".to drive up on to the ramps. Might not be fancy but gets the job done

What kind of ramps do you use? It sounds like the wood is necessary just to get on any ramp to avoid scraping.

Cool. I just found and read the entire thread. Seems like the easiest way to actually drive the vehicle on to ramps.
The main problem I see is that they entire vehicle is inaccessible from the side due to the length of the ramps. If I want to change my oil or fuel filter I have to crawl all the way under from the front of the car.
I guess it depends on what work is being done to the car to decide if it would be an issue or not. Thanks for the tip

Danny

Check these out...

http://www.ecklerscamaro.com/product...&dept%5Fid=120

You can kill 2 birds with one stone if you get the Air Ride Technologies kit and that way you can lay it as low as you want to, and come oil change time, air it all the way up and you won't even need ramps unless you weigh 300 lbs, and if you did just drive it up any pair of ramps.

Yeah, because a 1500 dollar air system is better than 80 dollar (or homemade) ramps. Yikes. If I had that kind of money, I might not even change my oil. HA!

Actually these look better than all so far. $93.48 shipped is obviously higher than Rhinos but you get what you want

You can build wooden ones MUCH shorter than those full length ones. 1 board, per ramp.

I second the wooden ramps. It took me about half-hour and a handful of nails...

i personally would put a stop on the end of it to keep the car for going over the end of the ramp.. it would really suck for the rocker panels.. to be honest, one plank of 2x12 would be perfect.. just cut into pieces, stack and nail.. i used to use only one to get my jack under the crossmember and jack her up.. i dont feel safe with ramps..

you can get some ramp extections at canadian tire (if you live in Canada)
i think there $40 or something. i cant remember but they look exatcly the same on the ecklers camaro store but red insted of black.

If you check out my thread on the ones that I made, I did make a stop. And while I thought it wouldnt be good enough, it has proven itself to work great. You can infact use one plank and cut them. My biggest problem with going up on the ramps was how steep they were. It was just a pain with my set up to try to "creep" up towards the top if it was too steep. Thats why I made mine so massive, because its sooo easy to drive up on them.

DannyT: What you said about the side acess is kind of a pain. I got around that by jacking up the rear, and placing the axle on jack stands. And then I jacked up the front by the control arm and put jack stands under those. Could you do that just by using jacks? Yes. But you'd have to do one front corner at a time, and probably over and over again to get them as high as I do on the first try.

I checked out the link for those metal ramps with the extensions... they look nice! I didnt go through the check out...but I imagine they are heavy, and probably shipping bumps the price up more. But they look like they would work good!

Definetly some good ideas in that thread, and in this one. I used to use rhino ramps, but they are pretty much useless to me anymore. Car is too low, they always pop out from under the car, and they are generally flimsy. Ive seen them fail before. Wood will never let ya down...or your car!

Justin

I just wouldn't want to hav eto carry wood ones around, even though they work and are cheap. These are what one of our friends has, he's a drifter and his car is LOW.


http://gtworx.com/catalog/product_in...oducts_id=1263

and these aren't cheap either, but they look good.


http://www.raceramps.com/

hehe only 7" tall, i dont think i could squeeze my fatass under that

Click this link from WAAYYYY back in 2002:

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/af...mps#post467214 (ramps?)

Ed

Honestly just use you normal ramps and a couple 2x4s to get that little extra lift so you dont scrap the front gtf is all I do to change the oil and so forth as its cheap and easy

DannyT...can u get a regular jack under your car or do i need to buy one of those low profile jacks that dont tear up the GFX?

and those ramps on ecklerscamaro.com say they only handle up to a 17" tire....if i have 18's that would suck switching out to the stock rims just to accomodate the RAMP an fix the thirdgen.

I can only get a jack under the front if I turn the wheel full lock the other way. Even then it is barely on the front A-arm.

The eckler ramps say there are limited to 255/45-17 but the only dimensions that should matter is the width.
Conveniently my front wheels are 255/40-17
To avoid switching your wheels out and to play it safe you would just need 255mm max width tires

I lowered my car, albeit not much, only 1 1/2" with my new Hotchkis springs but it was enough to make my 4 1/2" floor jack not fit under the car so I went out and dropped $130 on one of those low-profile NASCAR style floor jacks that is only 3 to 3 1/2" off the ground when all the way down. Works pretty good for me, I just have jack the drivers side first because my exhaust is just a little low for it to get to the frame on the passenger side.

Where did you buy the jack from?

i have a small jack that i put under the control arm and jack the car up enough to get my bigger jack under the k-member. then i lift it as high as necessary.

i wouldn't imagine trying to use ramps

I appologize...I should really measure crap before I go spouting numbers. My jack is 3 1/2" at it's lowest point, not 2 1/2". I got it from Sears for $120 plus tax...total was around $130.00.

I'll edit my other post.

Again, I'm really sorry about that.

harbor freight lo pro jack is only $80. i will be placing my order soon. but my homemade wooden ramps work well and raise the car about 8" and my car is lowered 1.5" as well. enough to get my skinny *** under it.

They are referring to width, not wheel diameter. They just used a bad choice of wording it.

all i did was take 2 large wooden beams and sand down the ends until it made an easy angle for my camaro to roll up on, then i just slide under the car and i dont have to worry about the jacks failing and the damn thing crushing me, i had that happen already and now my foot is broken, and as far as the harbor frieght goes their stuff is 1 time use IMO, ill drop the exrta cash for tools that wont break the second time i use them lol

I can drive up onto the ones I have...I think I have less than a half an inch of clearance between the gfx and ramp. And I can get my big butt under the front.

It took some courage to do it the first time with the ramps being made out of plastic, all I had ever used before were metal ramps. Now I have no problem with the plastic kind.

I know the pic shows them under the rear, but I used a jack to raise the back end.

ramp1.jpg

I still like my $1500 ramps better than all these shade tree versions, plus they are always with me and they keep me from scraping up all my ground effects.

just buy a jack stand and a set of jacks... $150-200

I'd rather spend $20, a couple hours work, and be able to drive right on.

DannyT, save yourself a lot of time, trouble and money and find your best deal on ramps if that`s what you want and then it will be easy to modify them so they will work for your car. I got a set from Kragen on sale for $39 rated at 12k lbs. capacity, then I did what Loneroad suggested and cut a few 2x8-10 or 12`s about 2 feet long and place them in front of the ramp. Easy and cheap. I tried making some totally out of wood but they weighed about 100lbs each and were a major p.i.t.a. to use but they did make for a good fire in the fireplace. No offense intended to Guitarjunk, I just have a bad back and can`t lift anything heavy anymore.

Back from the dead.....

Here ya go. Only requires 2 boards, provides 6 " of drive-on lift, & has a built-in stop to prevent driving off the end. The tip of the nose, at the corner in front of the tire, is 37" away, which means your tire will easily get on the ramps before hitting the built-in stop.

The wheels, if you put them on, only touch the ground when it it stood up & being rolled. Flat under your car, the wheels don't touch enough to let the ramps roll.

I just measured 7-3/4" from the ground to the bottom of my side ground effects. I can fit a normal jack under there and then I just use jack stands.

I just go to the middle of the k-member from the front of the car when I want to jack up the front... which is all I have ever had to jack up...

I just jack up one side of the car, slide a set of craftsman steel ramps under it, then you can get the jack under the k-member and raise it all the way up, placing the other ramp under the other tire. Walla... yer done. Common sense !!


I got a lift now and love being lazy LMAO!!
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I agree 100%, I only use the ramps if I'm changing the oil and not at the shop, other than that, noting but 4-ton truck stands under my car.

I am very paranoid as I had a car fall on me back in '96 and spent 2 months in the hospital with a crushed and punchtured (sp?) lung.

Wal-Mart sells the ramps and extendor plates that bolt on to them.
I use them to get the car high enough for a jack and then place the jack stands (you can't have enough protection).