We have a steel bumper pull two horse trailer with a BIG and heavy ramp that makes the rear gate. I like it for the solid feel that makes the horses feel secure and load nicely, but I HATE lifting that darn thing, it's just all I can do to get it up to close the trailer.

It does have weenie little coil springs on the sides, but I'd like to put something better on it. I've seen leaf-type spring assist ramps on bigger (commercial duty) trailers, that are made from leaf springs - like a slipper spring for a little boat trailer - but can't find any reference to getting the parts for them after a LOT of googling around.

Does anybody here have access to something like this - I'd think they would be nice for car trailers or toy haulers, too!

 

Never seen a leaf-type spring like your refering to. This may or may not work for your trailer, but my car hauler has an overhead torsion spring like a garage door has, with a cable on each side of the door. If there are any trailer manufacturers in your area give them a call and see if they could put in something to help you. I live near Elkhart, Goshen, Bristol Indiana and there are many trailer companies here. United sold me everything I needed to put an escape door in my trailer and even showed me how they build them.

 

Yeah, I've seen all the torsion spring, spring around the hinge bar (don't really want to cut the hinges off!), spring box and cable mounted over fender - all of those things. The cables are a death trap for a horse - no WAY would I even let a horse near a ramp that had cables running from the trailer to ramp.

We attended one show where a lot of the bigtime trainers came with their BIG rigs - 7-9 horse trailers, and most of them had leaf springs set up underslung to assist in picking up the ramps. I looked at them, but didn't have my camera, so only remember they were mounted with a normal spring shackle on the ramp, and the spring was inside a box tube welded to the trailer frame underneath - looked like it was free to slide in the box.

Guess I'll have to make a scale mock-up or something to get it right the first time.....