Ramping Your Wheel Horse

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,332]

  I have only used ramps into my truck bed a couple times. 99% of the time I use my Big-Tex utility trailer with a drop down gate.
  When I do use ramps I take off the mower deck as it gets caught or bottoms out at top of the ramps and the tailgate and that’s when it gets hairy! 

[Pullstart 62,912]

5 hours ago, haydendavid380 said:

If it fits, it ships

Define fits?

 

 

[ranger 1,750]

26 minutes ago, pullstart said:

Define fits?

 

 

The aftermath of a ‘ Plow day’ pileup! Or, “How many times Must I tell you”, “Do NOT look behind at the plow whilst you’re MOVING!!” 

Edited March 18, 2021 by ranger

[haydendavid380 759]

1 hour ago, pullstart said:

Define fits?

 

 

If it securely moves on down the road with you, it's good enough for me 😄

[Inspectorjoe 471]

8 hours ago, DennisThornton said:

Snug fit but I've done that too!  Had to let some air out of the rears though.

 

 

Details on the front weight?

I'm picking up a 314 H soon. I'm going to have to let some air out of the tires for its steering wheel to clear the hatch opening.

That does look like a front weight. It's actually the mule drive for that '73 14HP no name.

[Gregor 4,846]

14 hours ago, Inspectorjoe said:

I move tractors with my minivan (don't laugh), so I have the advantage of a bed height that's lower than that of a pickup's. Another advantage I have is my homemade ramps are 10 feet long. Most tractors I can push up myself. With heavier tractors, I anchors an electric winch in front of the door pillars.

 

If I wanted to die, I couldn't think of a faster way to do it, than telling my wife, I am putting a tractor in the back of your van.

[Handy Don 12,237]

16 hours ago, Inspectorjoe said:

I move tractors with my minivan (don't laugh), so I have the advantage of a bed height that's lower than that of a pickup's. Another advantage I have is my homemade ramps are 10 feet long. Most tractors I can push up myself. With heavier tractors, I anchors an electric winch in front of the door pillars.

 

 

We had minivans for ages and I took advantage of the utility often. Transported riding lawn mowers and all manner of stuff. They are very versatile. Only later realized that I'd been exceeding the rated weight carrying capacity. Our last one was stolen and used as a "mobile workshop" for stripping parts off of parked cars in NYC and then totaled while the gang was trying to elude the cops.

[Inspectorjoe 471]

2 hours ago, Gregor said:

If I wanted to die, I couldn't think of a faster way to do it, than telling my wife, I am putting a tractor in the back of your van.

Did you see the picture of the one being unloaded in the dark?  I waited until around  midnight to take it out. There was a reason for that!

[Mike in NC 341]

I have hauled a couple in the back of my minivan, but the height is too short for most.

 

Here is my winch set-up.

 

 

[Inspectorjoe 471]

1 hour ago, Mike in NC said:

I have hauled a couple in the back of my minivan, but the height is too short for most.

 

Here is my winch set-up.

 

 

 

I have 39" of clearance at the hatch opening. Most older WH's fit. If not, letting the air out of the tires gives me a few more inches.

Nice winch setup!  Mine isn't a permanent installation, but it works pretty well. The last time I used it, I wished I could also winch the tractor out of the van. Last December 30, I drove about 75 miles to pick up a 1968 Case 150 that I had bought sight unseen at an online auction. I wasn't feeling too well that day. The tractor had been sitting in a semi-open shed for a good 10 years. All the tires were flat. The winch pulled it up into the van beautifully. The problem came when it was time to unload. By the time I got home, I was feeling awful, but I had to get it out of the van and hidden before my wife got home from work at 11:50 pm. The tractor weighed 705 pounds, and with the flat tires, I couldn't budge it. I decided to drive the van up onto the ramps I use to change the oil, figuring that the incline it would provide would give me a little gravity boost. I've driven up those ramps more than a dozen times, but that night, I went up and drove right off of the right one. Ouch. Did I mention I was felling crappy? I tried it again (successfully) and it was enough to allow me to push it out the back. I walked it down the ramp and got it hidden. When I didn't get better in a few days, I got a covid-19 test and it came back positive. Of course, I wouldn't have gone to pick up the tractor if I had known I was covid-19 positive.

I only had the Case for about two months, then I decided to sell it. It's ride out was definitely done in more style than the ride in. I never met the buyer, who also bought it sight unseen He lived about 90 miles away. He said he'd send a truck to pick it up. I can't imagine what it cost him to have this rig make a 180 mile round trip. It was fun loading it, and a heck of a lot easier than when I put it in the van. The driver slid the bed back and tilted it. I drove it up and he returned the bed back to horizontal.

[haydendavid380 759]

Do you guys have any ideas for a non permanent way to have a winch in the front of the truck bed?

 

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,600]

Don't have one, but this is the concept...

 

[ranger 1,750]

On 3/19/2021 at 2:31 AM, haydendavid380 said:

Do you guys have any ideas for a non permanent way to have a winch in the front of the truck bed?

 

 

I have a 12v winch which has a plate that ‘clips’ onto the winch casing and has a ‘teardrop’ shape hole that allows it to fit over a tow ball.  (Photos to follow). It makes for a quick detachable winch unit that fits wherever you have a towball fitted, rear of truck, front of truck, or on the front of your truck bed or trailer. I’ve seen them on recovery truck beds for securing the couplings of caravans/trailers for recovery/delivery purposes.

Photos of winch as promised. As you can see, the plate clips onto the winch, then the whole lot hooks onto the towball.

 

Edited March 25, 2021 by ranger

[Mike in NC 341]

10 hours ago, Inspectorjoe said:

Nice winch setup!  Mine isn't a permanent installation, but it works pretty well. 

 

Mine is not permanent either. It is removable, pull the pin and slide it out. It is setup to be used with a 2" receiver. The electronics are inside the plastic box to keep it watertight. I have used it during hunting season to recover deer.

[haydendavid380 759]

2 hours ago, Mike in NC said:

Mine is not permanent either. It is removable, pull the pin and slide it out. It is setup to be used with a 2" receiver. The electronics are inside the plastic box to keep it watertight. I have used it during hunting season to recover deer.

What do you do for power? Throw a batter on the trailer tongue or did you run it back from the vehicle?

[Mike in NC 341]

3 hours ago, haydendavid380 said:

What do you do for power? Throw a batter on the trailer tongue or did you run it back from the vehicle?

I mounted a battery box on the cross bars on the trailer tongue, and use a spare battery to power it. If I use it not on the trailer, I take a battery with me to power it.

[ranger 1,750]

On 3/19/2021 at 9:17 AM, ranger said:

I have a 12v winch which has a plate that ‘clips’ onto the winch casing and has a ‘teardrop’ shape hole that allows it to fit over a tow ball.  (Photos to follow). It makes for a quick detachable winch unit that fits wherever you have a towball fitted, rear of truck, front of truck, or on the front of your truck bed or trailer. I’ve seen them on recovery truck beds for securing the couplings of caravans/trailers for recovery/delivery purposes.

Photos of winch as promised. As you can see, the plate clips onto the winch, then the whole lot hooks onto the towball.

 

 

[Pullstart 62,912]

On 3/18/2021 at 10:31 PM, haydendavid380 said:

Do you guys have any ideas for a non permanent way to have a winch in the front of the truck bed?

 

 

Could you chain it to the front tire downs for pulling?  Or clip it into the stake pockets?

[ebinmaine 67,627]

50 minutes ago, pullstart said:

Could you chain it to the front tire downs for pulling?  Or clip it into the stake pockets?

 

That just got me thinking.

I know I know. Dangerous.

 

So you take a little platform that the winch would bolt on to and you weld it to a solid piece of say like 1-in square tubing that's about four to six inches shorter than the distance between the eyelets. Weld a link or two with a closable clip eyelet like a dog latch to each end.

That would take most of the slack out of the assembly so you'd be able to pull the load closer to the front of the bed by mechanical means. 

 

That would work just as well for  pocket tie downs or lower bed eyelet tie downs. 

 

 

[ranger 1,750]

57 minutes ago, pullstart said:

Could you chain it to the front tire downs for pulling?  Or clip it into the stake pockets?

I must admit, with mine I haven’t used it on the towball yet. So far, every time I’ve used it, I used a ‘D’ shackle to attach it to the trailer front crossmember or the ‘A’ frame.  Sometimes with a short length of chain as well.

[haydendavid380 759]

7 hours ago, pullstart said:

Could you chain it to the front tire downs for pulling?  Or clip it into the stake pockets?

That was my plan. I got the winch plate that attaches to a chain. Planned on running a chain across the tie downs and attaching the winch to that. 

 

I ran the power wires and put the chain on and the bed sides were popping and flexing with just the slightest tug from me pulling on them. I scraped that whole idea then. These aluminum beds aren't like they used to be.