[ejh]

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have a 7 x 16 enclosed trailer with regular doors in rear. No ramp. I did haul my new goldwing trke home in it but had a real challange getting it out. Now I wish to haul out west and looking for a safe way to load and unload my trike. The bed of my trailer is 16 inches off ground. I cant find any ramps wide enough to handle the 56 inch width. Has anyone made their own or know of somewhere to purchase them. Hopefully I wont have to trade for another trailer. Thanks for any help you may offer. Ed

 

[Ron Robertson]

Years ago we had horses we used for trail riding here in the Northwest, and had a Two horse angle haul trailer to get them up to the trail.
After the horses were gone, I converted the trailer to haul the wing.
I took it to a local welding shop and had them a fabricate a ramp that consists of two section 6 ft long and fit side by side to just about the full width of the door opening. They used expanded metal mesh for the top surface and 1"x1" square tubing for the frame with a couple 1" flat iron cross section for support in the middle running across the ramps. For hinges each section of ramp is fitted with two 1/2 " by 4 " pieces of pipe with off set matching pieces welded to the trailer door frame just inside the door on the bottom. a piece of 1/2 in steel rod slide into these to make a hinge and stops welded on each side of the door frame to stop the ramps from going all the way into the trailer.
The door is opened each half of the ramp is tipped down, and you can back the bike with plenty of room for you feet to walk it out and going in.
I also out fit it with a Condor Wheel chock. It grabs and hold the front wheel tight. Then you want to secure the rear of the bike so it don't walk around in the trailer.
Oh yah. Have them fit each side with some sort of device to secure it so it don't fall out on you when you open the door. If I recall right it cost a couple hundred dollars.
From the Northwest Corner
Ron

 

[L2R]

With a trike, I would find a welder to make a ramp with a hinge across the bottom where I could latch it in an upright position and still close the doors.

Also seen a ramp made to slide in just under the floor.

BTW, my 69" ramps with my 16" trailer cuts it very close. My 1500 scraps the apex if I sit on the bike. It will go up but I stand up instead of sitting on the seat. I would make the ramp a min. of 72" and more if you can.

 

[jamnjim]

And a small, but very helpful trick to do when riding the bike into the trailer or backing it down is to do the following: While keeping the trailer coupler attached to the tow vehicle, extend your tongue jack and lift the front of the trailer. Place a 2x4 or 4x4 under the foot of the tongue jack if you need more lift than what the tongue jack alone will provide. The amount of lift you can apply is up to you. You don't wan't to put too much strain on the coupler, but by the same token you can probably lift most tongues 6"-12" without putting too much strain on the coupler. If you have an electric tongue jack on your trailer, remember that if you extend it to, or past full extension on some jacks, you could break it (have a manual crank nearby just in case). A regular inspection of the coupler is always advisable. Lifting the front of the trailer will lessen the angle of the transition where the top of the ramp meets the deck of the trailer greatly reducing or eliminating the hump. Doing this makes it much safer, particularly when backing the bike out of the trailer and passing through the part of the decline where your feet are the furtherest from the ground. If you have a 30" inseam like me, you'll appreciate the couple of inches closer to the ground your feet will be by lifting the front of the trailer. If you are particularly vertically challenged, place two 2x12x6' (baseline dimensions, to be lengthened/shortened and/or height increased/decreased one way or the other depending upon the deck height of the trailer floor and length of the ramp) boards on either side of the bike so you can place your feet on them while rolling the bike up/down the ramp.

 

[dirtdobber]

If you have any trailer manufacturers close by, I would let them do it. If not you can go to a good welding shop. They are rather easy to make but you need the tools and experience.

 

[budoka]

We did a similar thing with our shop trucks. Our ramps slide in under a false floor in the truck bed and are on rails for easy access. We use them for picking up customer bikes, lawn tractors, snowmobiles, quads, you name it. A similar sustem would certainly work for your trailer, but as mentioned, length is key to avoid hanging up on the trailer lip. My ramps I use for my RZR are 77" with a slight curve in them. My ramp in the Patio Hauler is a full 8' and it slides in under the rear section.