Howdy, curious if anyone has experience loading a skid steer or mini ex up onto a 4' high flatbed. I have a flatbed dump on the F800 which makes that bed sit pretty high. Occasionally I have a portable sawmill job and need to bring my bobcat t740; it would be awesome to do it in one trip. If I got 14' aluminum ramps, the slope would be able 16 deg. 12 footers would give a 18 deg. The flatbed is 14' long so I could move the ramps up onto the bed during transport. Does it seem like a realistic and safe operation?
We started off with a landscape dump truck with 12' bed and 11.5' heavy steel ramps. Very slippery when wet. We never did load anything heavier than our smaller 2 ton mini excavator. We now have a very expensive set of 4 piece aluminum car ramps (ramps are 10' long) with middle support. Not as steep and easier to handle. A bit more flex at times. The same company makes some for very heavy equipment. Very, very expensive. A lot of guys would weld on some ramps to your truck making it a ramp truck
We load on a Ford F7000 flat deck, but have/or build dirt ‘loading docks’ at each end. Would be nice to have a short beaver tail & some spring(?) loaded flip up ramps. Just haven’t gotten around to building some yet. Straight ramps up to 4’ indeed is pretty steep (or as said above requires long mid-span supported ramps) I would probably weld some ‘keepers’ on the outside edges of ramps to prevent slipping off sideways.
Just be really careful, even a slightly off level setup on wet ramps can cause a machine to slide sideways….really slow & easy at the break over point. For that much weight (T740 approximately 10,000lbs) I would definitely want support mid-span. I think this type of transport is pretty common in Australia…
A real skid steer driver stands it on its front wheels and backs up to the bed. Climb the back wheels on the bed, then use the bucket to level it so the fronts can climb on the bed. I've seen it done, but I'm not a real skid steer driver. And I can say from experience when climbing a steep ramp if one pair of tires spins and the other doesn't the best possible outcome will just be new undershorts.
Landsport ramps. They build ramps for exactly this situation. Very aggressive traction bars also.
Those look pretty good…
This is how I do it. Sometimes, I skip the spini -spin if I’m in a rush.
I think it would be pretty hard to stand the t740 up on it's hind legs. Not saying it's not possible but pretty challenging. Also, isn't oil starvation for the engine oil pump a real thing? There's a fella selling 12ft, 7k/axle aluminum ramps in Dayton OH on Facebooke marketplace for $900 for the pair. I'm not sure how the 7k/axle weight rating translates to track skid steers. Thinking of getting those, and mounting a 12v winch to the front of the bed which could act as a safety line as I drive the thing up there.
The T740 is a big machine and heavy. Tracks can damage aluminum ramps. I would get out the big mig welder and turn it into a ramp truck. On the other hand, do you need a machine that big and heavy for what you are doing? How much weight are you lifting? You can buy a mini skidsteer like a Ditchwich SK800 or Toro Dingo and go with the aluminum ramps. Newer stand behind big mini skidsteers can lift 1000lbs or more and have a weight under 3 tons.
Oak logs can pretty easily top 5000 lbs when you're dealing with 12,14,16 footers. Truck also functions as a log truck with removeable log bolsters, so I don't have any intentions of welding on ramps. That would also complicate the trailer hitch, which is the whole premise to this situation where I need to tow the sawmill and carry the skid on the bed.
Now try that with a track machine.
I have 12ft ramps. Work fine.
What size machine? Can you post a link to the ramps you bought?
S250. Don't recall, been 3+ years
Bare in mind that the shorter the ramps, and if the truck bed won't lift up the "rocker" transition is quite scary going up. The truck should be parked going down hill, or level. Never up hill. Going down the ramps on a track loader facing forward for a skilled operator is not too bad if dry. The correct way of course is with the weight of the machine always on the "high" side. Backing straight up the ramps and then letting the loader slowly pivot down on the flat bed is not for the novice operator. As the machines drops down the ramps push out. If it's wet the machine of course can slide and have loss of control. The ramps I have are just pushed up to the flatbed, and then secured with ratchet straps. They make a style that is pin on. See model below: Aluminum Ramps with Pin-On Ends - 14' L x 16' W x 6-1/4 These heavy equipment ramps have pin-on ends, providing maximum stability and safety when loading machinery. Rated for 12,000 lbs per axle. Made in the USA www.discountramps.com The ones I have in the image below are not strong enough for the weight of your machine. I used to have a beavertail trailer, and I can say the 12' ramps I had were much more nerve racking to back up on. I always used my seat belt.
I've been looking at the 14' x 16"w aluminum ramps from discount ramps, as posted above. I haven't gotten around to buying a set yet but I'm considering them to load equipment on my IH 4700 flatbed. By my math, 14' ramps on my ~4-4.5' high flatbed isn't any steeper than the 5' beaver tail + 5' ramps on my equipment trailer.
So the aluminum ramps do flex a lot, which you likely will feel as you go up and down. The ramps footing also like a nice firm smooth flat surface. When the ramps are on a very slight tilt, or on dirt, they can kind of move and twist. At additional cost are the pin brackets that need to be welded onto the flatbed edge. Once the ramp is resting on the bracket, then the long steel pin is inserted making the ramps solidly attached to the bed. Images of the pin brackets and pricing can be seen on the link I posted.
I have no affiliation with this guy but saw his add and was intrigued https://lakesidemilling.com/
Yeah mine are bananas. Allegedly 5k per axle rating. "10k" rampd Well come to find they are really only 5k ramps and they expect only one axle ever is on the ramp.
My ramps say 5000lb per axle. Not sure if I would want to drive something over 4000lbs. So far it's been in the 2500lb to 3000lb range. I might use them for my 3500 pound mini excavator. Do you have an image of yours?
I'd have to dig through my photos.
I hauled my brothers TV380 in the bed of my Ford F600 a few times. I backed off in a ditch at his place and when i got to the farm there is a good ditch about a 1/4 mile from the farm i used to unload. I have my own skid steer and a truck to pull a trailer so i dont do that much anymore .