Help with Tailgate Ramps

[ssjwizard]

Ya your not going to want to try drilling holes with a dremel you will just smoke out the bits. If theres a harbor freight nearby you can get one of those stepper bits for about $6. They dont last as long as a good greenlee or irwin bit, but they get the job done if you wont be using it alot. Alternately any high speed TiNc coated bit or high carbon steel bit should do the trick. A 1/4" bit usually has a 1/8" pilot blade so its acceptable to use as a 1 off for drilling that hole. Side note when drilling holes in sheet steel WD40 is your friend. It will help keep the steel from heating up and shearing instead of cutting, ATF is also pretty good for this but it makes your drill bits stink.

 

[Weatherlite]

That makes sense, sounds like an implementation of the pulley system that Diggrr suggested. I would skip the lining and screw the paint job - the truck already isn't any prettier than I am. Well, maybe a little prettier. Seriously though, that's still probably stretching my fabricating skills. I will keep it in mind.

Damn, didn't see that Diggrr had written that already! lol Well, if you do decide to try it I've already gotten some of the leg work out of the way for you. Here are some links to what I think would work just fine. I don't know what stores you have in your area but I imagine Lowes or some place like that would have it all.

Bed rail clamp (and you don't need to make anything with this one)
http://www.etrailer.com/Truck-Bed-Accessories/Pilot-Automotive/WTD-823.html

A caribiner to connect the pulley to the clamp
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/PETZL-Carabiner-13D945

And the pulley
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/Block-5RRV7

After that all you need is a rope and a way to connect it to the dewar. Of course if you wanted extra safety and ease you could use a block and tackle setup similar to this.
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/TUFTUG-Rope-Block-and-Tackle-4RU48

Of course I have a better idea...install a 5,000 gallon tank behind your house and just fill it once every few years!

 

[Yamitoko]

This thread is making me wish I lived within a reasonable range of I.M.O.G. I would enjoy this challenge and don't mind lending some brawn. We should get a group of local overclockers to his house and just deadlift the tank.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Damn, didn't see that Diggrr had written that already! lol Well, if you do decide to try it I've already gotten some of the leg work out of the way for you. Here are some links to what I think would work just fine. I don't know what stores you have in your area but I imagine Lowes or some place like that would have it all.

Bed rail clamp (and you don't need to make anything with this one)
http://www.etrailer.com/Truck-Bed-Accessories/Pilot-Automotive/WTD-823.html

A caribiner to connect the pulley to the clamp
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/PETZL-Carabiner-13D945

And the pulley
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/Block-5RRV7

After that all you need is a rope and a way to connect it to the dewar. Of course if you wanted extra safety and ease you could use a block and tackle setup similar to this.
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/TUFTUG-Rope-Block-and-Tackle-4RU48

Of course I have a better idea...install a 5,000 gallon tank behind your house and just fill it once every few years!

I may go this route, using the block and tackle setup - the compound pulley would probably make the weight a lot easier to deal with.

I have a toolbox in the truckbed, which would be in the way of front mounting the bed rail clamp, but maybe I'll just take it out - it came with the truck, and is kinda convenient to throw crap into, but I don't really have much use for it. Could probably sell it pretty easy out where I am even and offset the pulley costs. I may need to look at cutting away some of the bedliner as well, as I believe it comes up over the front edge of the bed - I don't have any exposed tie down points on the truck bed except for the back corners actually, due to the bed liner. For securing the tank when driving, its actually ratchet strapped to bolts on the storage box itself.

 

[pwnmachine]

What I would do is get 2 more ramps identical to the ones you have now. Then combine them with the other 2 using a few 2x4's along the bottom.

This will give you enough area and support to walk down the ramps with ease with a full tank.

The pulley system is a good idea but just a bit to complicated for your uses.

I guess the only disadvantage is that the ramp would be kinda bulky.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I don't think the 8 foot ramps are long enough actually to do that. I don't know the math to calculate the incline using a 8 foot ramp from truckbed to ground (I did well in trigonometry 15 years ago), but with how hard it was to push 200LBs up the ramp, I'm not sure I can keep 470LBs from going down the ramp at whatever pace it wants to go down at.

I could just screw some plywood over the top of the ramps - that would be much cheaper to make the ramp surface better. But my main problem is manpower... Even if my footing is good, I'm not sure I can keep it from getting away from me.

I agree the pulley thing seems a bit complicated/overkill for my use.

 

[Seebs]

@Convicted: I'm not handy, how do I center punch the tailgate? Is it similar to a donkey punch?

LMAO... Nope... Donkey Punch is a completely different concept.

I'm going to elect Janus67 to be the one on the bottom.

Donkey punch, Janus to be at the bottom... You guys sure you're at the right board? This is sounding a bit risque for OCF...

PS: Janus... Next time you visit Matt; make sure that the beers he offers you are still capped and that you open them yourself... I fear for your "honor" after all this donkey punch talk.

I don't think the 8 foot ramps are long enough actually to do that. I don't know the math to calculate the incline using a 8 foot ramp from truckbed to ground (I did well in trigonometry 15 years ago), but with how hard it was to push 200LBs up the ramp, I'm not sure I can keep 470LBs from going down the ramp at whatever pace it wants to go down at.

I could just screw some plywood over the top of the ramps - that would be much cheaper to make the ramp surface better. But my main problem is manpower... Even if my footing is good, I'm not sure I can keep it from getting away from me.

I agree the pulley thing seems a bit complicated/overkill for my use.

Short answer is you won't be able to control that kind of weight going down the ramp on your own... It will end up in a similar fashion as dejo's chevy misadventures. You'll be a few feet away from the truck (on the front yard), the dewar will be on its side by the truck and you'll be out a bunch LN2 and money. I know you say that the pulley is overkill, but unless you have a second person to handle the transfer... You're just gonna hurt yourself and destroy a dewar.

 

[pwnmachine]

Yeah I kinda would have to agree with Seebs, unless you have somewhere you could use as a loading dock. That is, somewhere a little bit higher off the ground where you could pull your truck up to and decrease your incline(like a porch, deck, etc.).

 

[ssjwizard]

I don't think the 8 foot ramps are long enough actually to do that. I don't know the math to calculate the incline using a 8 foot ramp from truckbed to ground (I did well in trigonometry 15 years ago)

assuming an approximate deck height of 30" and a slope side length of 8' your covering 7.6' of horizontal distance at an angle of 35.9*

TBH that's a manageable slope once properly secured it should be doable with a 4 wheel hand truck like the one you describe. To give you even more control one thing you can do is measure the distance from center to center or front to front of the 2 sets of wheels. Then take 3/4" strips of 1/2" plywood and attach them to the ramps crosswise at that spacing. In theory it should add just enough that with your control you can lower the dewar down in steps.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Ya, I think the pulley thing seems like overkill, but in the scheme of things I'm pretty alright with overkill.

The problem with the ramp thing is its kind of all or nothing - once its on the ramp if I realize its a "this was a bad idea" situation, the only way for it to end is with the dewar on the ground one way or another.

I'm probably going to figure out how to do the pulley setup - going that route, maybe its overkill, but it should be a more controlled situation that doesn't depend on my balance or strength. Until then, I'll probably be leaving the dewar on the truck.

 

[Seebs]

Think of it this way Matt... If something can go wrong; it will eventually go wrong. And the last place you want to be is on the ground with a 200 lb bottle on top of you and 100 liters of -192C stuff spilling out of it... Getting a couple broken ribs, or a sprained knee are problems that you can easily fix with a trip to the ER, but having your face frozen off or suffocating to death on LN2 fumes is not going to have a "go-back-to original" option.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Good news and bad news. First the good news...

The ramp is completed. I bought a piece of OSB, screwed it onto both the ramps, drilled the holes in my tailgate to drop the locking pins in to keep the whole thing from going anywhere... I then parked on the incline in my drive, with the ramp going up it to level out the decline on the ramp. The dewar has 145L in it, so its pretty much at completely full weight (470LBs), but it rolled down safely and securely. The dolly I bought, which was about $150, was an excellent purchase - it has an assist when it leans back, so that helped a lot.

And now the bad news... When I was getting into the truck bed to wheel the thing off, I noticed a lump in the bed that hadn't been there before. It isn't cancer... It's the rear driver side suspension behind my back tire. It's approximately 75% busted through the bed of the truck... The bracket its normally mounted to on the frame rusted through and gave way. Not sure how long its been like that, but this is going to need repaired before I haul anything. The frame seems fine in that area, its just the bracket that gave way and probably needs replaced. I was planning on picking up firewood tomorrow when we go camping, but that will have to wait.