| Author | Message | ||
     Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 2611 Registered: 6-2009 |
. . . I cannot recommend any more highly than the set of Rhino Ramps Max 16K lbs ramps I just started using. Just the extra width, which isn't huge, makes a world of difference as far as getting a vehicle on and off the ramps and correctly placed for safety on both sides without having to back down, shift a ramp slightly, lather, rinse repeat. The fact that they stack for storage is also a godsend. I had previously had a set of 12K lbs ramps incredibly similar (visually identical, as far as what one can see here) as these Magnum Ramps 16K lbs and they were much flimsier (and the design here looks the same) and you could not stack them locked with each other for storage. They did have the ability to take off the ramp itself, though, if you were working on a vehicle that had enough clearance to allow you to lift the ramp part high enough to disengage it. That wasn't something I ever did (and could not do because of lack of clearance on most of my vehicles). The Rhinos are very convenient and incredibly sturdy. Even if you're blessed enough to have a garage with a lift, these could be very handy anyway, but for those of us who have to do a lot of work in our driveways, well, it's much easier with these than a jack and jack stands. I also think they're safer overall, too, but that's a personal opinion. No matter how "to the letter" careful I am about getting a car up on jack stands I always feel strange when I'm beneath a car up on them. I don't get this same sensation working on a car I'm under that's on a lift or on ramps. Brian | ||
| michael vass Grand Master Username: mikebentleyturbo2 Post Number: 491 Registered: 7-2015 |
Hi Brian Please be careful! Read this https://www.amazon.com/RhinoGear-11912ABMI-RhinoRamps-Vehicle-Ramp/product-reviews/B0117EESNC Mike | ||
| Robert J. Sprauer Experienced User Username: wraithman Post Number: 49 Registered: 11-2017 |
Looks like a good ramp. I have used Hein-Werner jack stands and trolley when younger and have the luxury of a lift. I sold my Hoffman lift I had for 30 years and purchased a Mohawk System 1. It is the finest lift with a 10k load spec and ALI rated at 150%. It is all American made and simply indestructible. Warranty is 25 yrs and mostly found in municipal garages because they are $8500 plus. Once you see the construction you would be safe to sleep under one of these, seriously. https://mohawklifts.com/automotive-lifts/2-post-lifts/system1/ | ||
| Robert J. Sprauer Experienced User Username: wraithman Post Number: 50 Registered: 11-2017 |
Brian, I read the reviews on these and personally I would not use them. They will fatigue in due time...they are plastic! I would sooner use tree stumps ( I have!) than crawl under these. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 2612 Registered: 6-2009 |
Gentlemen, I have been using plastic ramps for years, and far prefer them to their metal precursors, which I used as well, for their strength and stability. As I have said before, I am a big believer in being watchful regarding product liability suits and the reputations of certain brand names. Rhino has been around for a very long time and I have yet to hear of a failure incident from one of these ramps used properly. If someone is collapsing one of these under a Dodge Caravan then one of two things has happened: a huge manufacturing defect or user stupidity. I'm far more willing to believe it's the latter. Anyone *can* destroy a ramp, and I had an "almost overshot" incident when putting a car up on the old ones that put stress where it should never have been, causing a crack and relegating them to the trash bin. I have no fear at all, none, using this product and won't unless I were to do something to damage the ramp itself. I only wish I had both the money and the garage building where I could put a lift, but I have neither. With this recommendation from me, or with any product recommendation from me, I don't think I should have to add the proviso, caveat emptor, as it's a given. Everyone should do what he or she feels comfortable with after doing their own research. Brian | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 1943 Registered: 9-2004 |
"I have been using plastic ramps for years" May the Lord be with you! hope the heat with the hot weather does not effect them as well. | ||
| michael vass Grand Master Username: mikebentleyturbo2 Post Number: 492 Registered: 7-2015 |
Hi Brian, my only concert is your safety, I just wanted to let you see those reviews OK Best wishes Mike | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 2613 Registered: 6-2009 |
Michael, Thank you. That's obvious from the tone of your message and I sense it in Robert Sprauer's as well. First, a couple of pictures of my set of ramps, where the main weight bearing "tower" on the underside highlighted in yellow and the dividing line that's the back edge of the weight bearing platform, on which the vehicle is clearly supposed to be centered, both left to right and front to back in order to have the weight where it's supposed to be according to the instructions (also partially shown in the last photograph): Ramp Top Side:  Ramp Underside and Underside closer up:   Partial shot of use instructions and warnings sticker, with two bits emphasized by me:  Now, after looking at these, go back and take a look at the photos of the collapsed ramps and see if you think that the vehicles were driven on to them such that they were positioned as instructed. Look at how, and where, they're crumpled and what it tells you about where weight was placed for support that it is explicitly not intended to be placed for support. Look at the photos in this review and this one and see if you don't think the individuals using these ramps are not using them in ways the maker explicitly tells you not to. Each appears to have put the center of load on the transition cusp between the ramp and the support platform. Looking at my photos, the instructions, and their photos you can figure out why what happened did happen. In this particularly vehement review look at the photos, closely. This guy had to be doing two things wrong, possibly three (and the third being a critical mistake if you're doing the first two): Driving on to the ramps at far too high a speed, placing the weight of the vehicle not on the support tower, but on the "chock lip" at the very front of the ramp or very near it, not having non-skid material under the ramp when driving on it. The last will cause the front edge to collapse as it gets shoved along by the weight of the car. Like I said earlier, I'm voting for "operator error" for virtually all of the 1 star reviews. The ones with photos all show signs of user idiocy, which is impossible to fix, and where the idiots cast blame around on anyone and everyone but themselves. I will say, though, that the support design of the Magnums was more "webby" underneath, distributing weight more evenly, which is a plus. The Rhinos require that you're very close to centered left to right and that the bottom of the tire is resting very near to centered on that weight bearing tower in the center of the upper platform. That's how I always place the vehicles, and always have placed the vehicles, when using any ramp. Brian | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 1056 Registered: 2-2013 |
Brian honestly having been in the mechanical caper for 40 plus years there is no way I would get under a VW Beatle let alone a Rolls Royce held up by plastic ramps. Gravity shows zero mercy when it comes after you! My Camargue has been sitting on Toolex 533598 stands for 5 years without the wheels on. These are ratchet stands made in China by Jiangsu Tongrun. The stands sit upon a concrete slab in my car port. This morning I took a good look at these stands and noticed that some of the welds on these Chinese made stands are pure crap. These stands are sold by Repco a large well know tool and parts supplier in Australia. Brian thanks to your post I noticed how badly welded these China made stands are and I can tell you there is no way I will be getting under the Camargue while its held up by those stands! Life in China is cheap just like almost everything China makes. These days its impossible to buy quality stands in Australia made here or UK or USA so I have decided to make my own stands which I will Tig weld. Brian we all love your posts and your garden. Bin your plastic ramps and get an American engineering company to make some stands or ramps. A two ton plus car can not only kill you but could maim you horrifically. For a few hundred USD you get safety. That aside I think the best thing is a two post four arm single phase quality car lift sitting upon a 6 inch cement slab with reenforced steel mesh is perfection. Four post lifters obstruct access and pits are injury centres waiting to happen. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 2614 Registered: 6-2009 |
Vlad, I am really grateful for everyone's concern, really I am, but I made my decision about these ramps long ago and, as I have indicated, have been using similar under both RRs (including having SRH33576 up on the now binned pair for several months a couple of summers ago) and I have no doubt that they are "safe enough for me" from my experience with them. By the way, Rhino brand ramps are made right here in the USA, in Emporia, KS. When I need to use jack stands I use jack stands (and that's when I need greater clearance than ramps can give) and always will. I now have three different sets, one of which I know to be of Chinese manufacture but I'm not sure of the other two. One set is well-used, and was my first purchase of "heavy support equipment." When I need to do an oil change or take a quick look under the cars I intend to keep using ramps. I have absolutely no reason, none, to believe they are unsafe when used as directed. Given how litigious the USA has become during my lifetime, and how manufacturers are loath to make themselves easy targets for product liability, I feel very certain that ramp manufacturers know what they're doing and expect that users had darned well better pay attention to use instructions and safety practices, too. (Heck, I'm sure Rhino would have closed up shop years ago if people where even rarely getting crushed under vehicles supported by their products "when used as directed" and the press would be, shall we say, less than glowing and quite noisy, too.) Those who do not feel that any given product is safe and effective when used as directed should not use that product. Those that feel otherwise will. 'Twas ever thus. Should I ever feel differently, I'll stop. I check things out very carefully before ever crawling under any car, regardless of the support system and including assessing the support system on that specific use cycle. Brian, who with this post is done with this, as these kinds of "the sky is falling" episodes exhaust me, and I really don't feel the urge to draw them out as I once would have. I can simply agree to disagree these days. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 2617 Registered: 6-2009 |
For a bit of levity, I have to say that I cannot fathom what the product development and marketing folks were thinking when they named these plastic service ramps: Black Widow PSR295 Black Plastic Service Ramps Brian, who realizes he has broken his own "I'm done" declaration, but this was just too precious to pass up |
