well, i bought me a new 4-wheeler yesterday. 05' polaris 500h.o. w/ hunters package (winch, camo, hand warmers, & raw hide mud grips). i got it home yesterday, unloaded it, and drove around for a bit. decided to load it back up yesterday after we were finished. because of the winch on the front of the bike i can't pull it in forward, so i tried to back it up the loading ramps. well, that didn't work out to well as the back end of the bike slid off the side of the ramps, but i managed to safely get all 4 wheels safely back on the ground. then i tried to pull in forward, just to see how much room i had w/o busting out the back glass. this is when things went bad in a hurry. i lined the bike up on the ramps (just like i've done thousands of times be4), and just as i "crested" the tailgate (middle of the bike centering the tailgate), one of the straps that goes from the ramps to the tailgate cable decided to let loose!!! the spinning tires threw the ramps out from underneath me, and i went for a joy ride (not the good kind!!) luckily, except for my pride (many of the neighbors were outside and saw it happen), a couple bumps on my head, and a bruised tailbone, i'm o.k. but, when the bike fell off the ramps and landed on my tailgate, it dented it up pretty bad, ripped away some of the spray-in liner, and somehow the lip of the wheel pushed the drivers side latch forward. (how it got pushed forward i'll never know??) i ended up using the winch and a bfh (big ........ hammer) to knock the latch to it's original position. as for the tailgate, you can't see it from the outside with it closed. time for some new ramps i guess!!
later, dustin

 

I have several crushed vertabre and permanent nerve damage from an incident like yours. What kind of ramps were you using? The ONLY ramps I will use for ANYTHING into my trucks now are curved aluminum rated at 2000 lbs each. They use 1/8 aircraft cable to lock onto the bumper. I grew up farming/ranching and we used all kinds of homemade stuff for ramps, but I learned my lesson.

Glad you are not hurt too bad, but watch out. It took several days for my injuries to show.

Ed

 

I was using some home made lawn mower ramps to unload a deep freeze from the back of my rig. One of them slipped and I fell still holding onto the dolley I somehow kept the freezer upright as to not land on me.

 

Have you noticed that we do these great things just when EVERYONE is watching.....?

 

I have one of these.
It's 8' long, arched & wide enough that I can stop in the middle of my ramp with my full dresser and put my feet down.

 

From the www.oxlite.com website.
Another view of one in action.

 

Thats what mine looks like too, except mine is 2 seperate ramps so I can put them where I want them. I just gave one exactly like Eds' away the other day. A kid was using 2 2x6's loading a big polaris. Hope he keeps the ramp.

ED

 

I took some 4x4's, cut them into 4-2' long sections, and attached them one on top of the other. That way I have 2-2' long stops that are about 1' or so tall. That keeps my fourwheeler (completely identical to yours except an 02) off my back glass. It rides a little on the tailgate but not bad.

 

I guess I must be lucky. Never have to use ramps to load, unload my atv. Just back the truck down into the ditch and back the atv right off on to nice flat ground.

 

how do you unload it when you get to where your going?

 

Plans his trips to make sure there is a ditch handy.


phox

 

Exactly. Most of the local places I ride at have plenty of good ditches to load from. If I go someplace new, I either put the atv on a trailer, or borrow a set of ramps from a buddy.

 

Shovelhead,

I wish I would have had that link a couple of weeks ago, when I had a custom tripple fold ramp made for my Patio Hauler... Curved would have been nice....

 

I hauled my Kubota B8200 (4 wheel drive, small farm tractor) in my 4X4 Dodge CTD and the only safe way to load/unload it was with the truck backed in a ditch. My ramps just weren't stable enough to suite me.

 

I bought the extra wide tri-fold. They work pretty good, but at 7 foot, sometimes you feel like your going over backward. My tool box has saved my back glass more then once.

I used to use 2X12X7' with lattice nailed about every foot for the Honda 300 I had. One time in Colorado, it was so snowy and muddy, the back wheels slipped off the ramps. I was by myself, but finally got it back on the ramps. I ended backing the truck up to a berm and using the ramps as a bridge. No way I'd use them for the Polairs......too heavy.