i use em. plenty strong. but will kickout when you reach the top. secure them to the truck with straps or something

 

I'll bring a length of 2x4 some screws, and a cordless drill with me. I'll screw the 2x4 under the boards to keep the spread correctl and to strap them to the trailer hitch. This worked to drag my 500lb wood stove off the truck last summer.

 

that should work just fine

 

I use a couple of 6ft long 2x12's to load and unload my X748 onto my flatbed trailer, sometimes with the tiller on back. That's about 1500 lb. No problems.

If you're loading into a pickup bed, you may have traction problems unless you can back up against a bank, etc, to decrease the loading angle

 

If you're loading into a pickup bed, you may have traction problems unless you can back up against a bank, etc, to decrease the loading angle

if you can, do this^^^

 

My tractor which has wheel weights, chains, snow plow, and turf tires we loaded it in a f-250 when it was snowing on 8ft 2x12" treated wood, Get the ramp kits it works a lot better than just wood. It will definatly work!!!:thThumbsU :thThumbsU

 

I still use planks in a pinch. But like this weekend, I'm going to a antique motorcycle show and I will take my arched aluminum ramp with me.

Safer, stronger, and the arch really helps. It helps if you have a low ground clearance machine to load. And garden tractors usually have that mowing deck under there.

 

The deck is off. Snow blower on front now.

 

love your avitar pic flatbed:thThumbsU


i agree w/ motobike about the arched ramps they are great

IMO i dont like loading in trucks, seen more than a hand full flip over due to any different causes its great to have a lil trailer like a 5x8 or 5x10 if you are taking the mower places often

if its once in a while your idea of the 2x12 and 2x4 st***** to the hitch will work great i think

 

I drive mine on the trailer with 2x6s all the time. Driving off is a little tricky though because the boards want to scoot out from under the tire. I also have a couple 2x10s that I am going to put metal brackets on the end so they sit flush

 

just be careful if you're loading into the back of a pickup. A few years ago I was helping a friend load a craftsman LT and the 2x10's shot out about 3/4 the way up. Luckily no one was hurt, just the front grill and headlight.

 

I hate loading into the back of a truck

I watched my friend load an older utility quad into the back of a truck with wood ramps and he even had the steel ends. just as the rear tires were about to the top of the ramps they shot them out, the quad fell onto the tailgate but then hinged back and fell straight down and even tried to roll ontop of him, by then we had gotten over there to hold the quad.

 

somebody should come up with a real low trailer for loading tractors.dropped axles.the older you get the harder it is to load them .and dangerous.

 

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Somebody has, but you may need to build your own with the floor at 14 inches, or whatever height you like, as I did 30 years ago. It makes loading a no brainer so it works perfect for me. :ROF I may even paint it someday. Should I be concerned with the weight of that LA-135?

 

I hate driving a tractor up ramps into a pickup bed,especially if its a 4x4 thats high off the ground--after having one spit a ramp out and bust the transaxle in half and nearly kill ME in the process (wasn't MY tractor either!)--.
I now use a winch to drag the tractor up into the bed instead if at all possible--if I have a hill or wall I can back right up to and drive the tractor in with little or no angle I do it,but otherwise I prefer using a winch..I like using the Caravan to haul tractors (as long as they fit in it with the deck on and are not too tall)--its a lot less of a "rise" getting it into the van,being only 16" off the ground compared to 38" to my truck bed floor is..
My full sized Chevy van would be a lot better for tractor hauling,but its unregistered..


When I had the flatbed on my other truck with the crane and electric winch I used that to hoist the tractor up high enough to swing it into the bed..but even with that,a 1000 lb garden tractor with loaded tires and a blower or plow on it was one **** of a dangerous chore to load..

 

Pickups are just not made for hauling tractors.Thats where a trailer is needed.A lot safer and worth the investment.

 

Ditto what T-H said.

I use 2 x 12 x 8ft. PT timbers. It's heavy but it's clear, no knots, and wide enough to accept the difference between the front and rear wheel widths. I don't drive the tractor up, I push it up backwards. I have a cap on the truck bed and it's kinda low clearance. The seats will usually clear, the steering wheel follows. Just make sure the tires have air in them. You can easily remove the front wheels if you need more clearance.
The tail gate cables are disconnected, the timbers are on top of the bumper, under the tailgate. Yup, the mower deck catches, but the machine is more than half in the truck and lifting the front is a simple thing to do.

I also use a couple old rear tractor tires between the truck bed wall and the back of the machine, to limit the sidewall contact. with fewer broken fenders or scratches. Then it is tied down front-to-back and back-to-front.

When unloading, I have a banking that I can back into, stretch out the planks, the tractors roll right out with no problems. So much so, they don't want to leave 'home'.

Watch out for the hoods. Tie themdown so it won't blow off and get distroyed.

 

that trailer looks about right.real safe.

 

A few years ago I bought a cheap 12v winch at Wal Mart for around $50. Its reversible by swapping the clamps on the car battery. Its rated for a 2000 pound rolling load. Not sure if Wal Mart still carries them. Maybe Harbor Freight or other discount places have them. When I get my own place I will build some kind of dirt or wood ramp to backup to for loading/unloading mowers.

 

I used a couple 2x10's just under 9' long. I used 2x4s to keep them parallel and strapped them to the bumper so they wouldn't kick out. Even with the ramps on a little rise and the front tires of the truck on ramps, the ramp was too steep to get the tractor up, so I winched it in with my come a long. The 2x10s were pretty bouncy with the weight of the tractor, snow thrower, and wheel weights on them. I put some jack stands under them at home.
Just after I winched it in at the former owner's house.

At home I had a better rise to work with and the jack stands under.

 

just my two cents, i used to use 2x10's to load my 4-wheeler. if the tires or the wood is even the slightest bit damp you could slip off to one side. i slipped off several times even in 4wd. i don't know how i didn't snap the board and flip the 4wheeler backwards. i would NEVER use or suggest using wood for loading ramps anymore. i know good ramps are freaking ridiculous expensive but they're cheaper than an ER visit or worse, a funeral.

 

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At one time, I believe here on MTF, someone posted a pic of their ramps where they had attached hardware cloth for traction. I'm not positive but it may have been Hydro Harold @ Shoddy Industries. Didn't look shoddy to me and I've yet to do mine.

Maybe Shoddy Industries can set me straight.

 

I agree - wood ramps are dangerous - but they are all dangerous. Knowing the danger is good. Laziness ignores danger.


Winter /2"snow/driveway is a hill.
= I did the total idiot thing on my arched steel ramps, loaded a snowblower machine, had it on the truck.
Problem - truck facing uphill, blower wants to roll back - I step on top edge of ramp while planting a wood block behind wheels of blower.

Ramp scoots backward - downhill.
I scoots straight down - fast and hard. Snowblower stays put. !!!!

I was alone. Shaken up; no real injury - except the minor slash on my leg.
Almost did the Darwin Award.

The opposite is really safe - truck facing downhill, ramp is comparatively level - this is similar to backing into a hill.

There aren't many backup plans when you work alone. And idiocy can delete most of them real fast. Don't do the Darwin or become an endangered species either. Think about it - get real - what were ya thinkin'. Or did ya thinks atall. uhhhh - nope, not that time.

 

Ramps? Who Needs Ramps? (see picture below)


An oldie but a goodie from the intrawebs. I am sure that this picture has been posted before and will be again, but it sure does make me shake my head and laugh/sigh every time I see it.

This winter I sold my Huge 7000lbs+ IH 3414 TLB and had to back it up on a trailer for the transport guy. The trailer had two fold down, purpose built factory issue, loading ramps and even with those it was a dicey maneuver as the trailer left only about 8 inches of clearance on either side. Not to mention the rear wheels on the tractor sat wider than the front wheels so the ramps needed to be positioned to split the difference between the two so each tire set was sticking off the edge just a tad. The most tricky maneuver I ever made with that tractor and it was the also the last.

Be safe out there!

 

I should put expanded metal mesh on my wooden ramps,they get green mossy algee or some slimy stuff on them outside and get mighty slick..I only use them to load tractors in the Caravan though,that doesn't have much of a "rise" to it..I use some home made metal arched ramps 8+ feet long on my pickup,I used some stuff that was the decking from a metal fire escape,or a srteel buildings upper floor, made of galvanized 16 ga. steel with oval slots punched in it,and holes ,that aid traction..I get mighty nervous using them on a real heavy GT like my Suburban with weights,fliud filled tires + a blower or plow though,I've put 2x4's under the middle to keep them from bowing and possibly collapsing when I use them on those!..and I DONT drive up the ramps,thats another 200 lbs,if I did !..

 

I've used the ramp- pickup in the past but never really liked going up those ramps. I built a 6'x12' single axle(5200 lb cap.) trailer and the tailgate is the ramp. Hauled my 445 JD from South Dakota to Texas on it with no problems. I did use a 4" drop axle under the trailer too. A trailer is way safer to load and unload.

 

Back in the 90s I hauled around a Wheel Horse 252-H+37" deck in the back of my 86 Mazda B2000. I bought cedar boards that I think were 2"x8" and about 7 feet long. I used steel hardware hinges and bolted the boards to the tailgate. The tractor had trouble getting over the bump at the edge of the tailgate and also had traction issues. I used my chainsaw and cut notches crossways in the boards. That helped some. Then I hammered in some flathead nails at an extreme angle into the boards. That helped a lot more. The last thing I did was getting another set of metal tailgate links and combined them with the ones I had. In the end it had tailgate supports (links) that were 1" longer than factory and thus lowered the end of the tailgate and it made a big difference in loading up the Wheel Horse. When I switched to F150s which had cables, I combined 2 sets of tailgate cables with cable clamps to do the same thing and it made a big difference.