Lang's new Mack toy carrier

A bit more progress today.

Measured under my FIAT Spider and found 13 degrees is the sharpest angle it can get over. I will not be carrying some 18 year old's lowered Subaru so reckon the beaver tail can cater for 99% of vehicles at that angle.

I cut the main bearers and coaming at the bend leaving just the checker plate floor. Measured and blocked the tray at the appropriate height and drove 3 tons of Towmotor up onto it. The whole tail bent up straight and exactly to 13 degrees first time (more luck than good management). Now just to plate the bend on the coaming and main bearers and she should be sweet.

Lang

Now here is the sad part. I could not lift the ramps without a super gutbuster effort. My personal muscular weight assessment told me it must be about 100kg. Got out the aircraft weighing scales and lifted the ramp with a big lever onto them. 50Kg exactly! What the hell has happened to me? Where did my power go?

Anyhow it looks just about right. Measurements say the ramps will be pretty close to the beaver tail angle onto the ground.

Gear shift.

After my dramas with Chantelle the Parts Interpreter I got the ball joint for the end of the rod to gearbox. Still so much slack in all the joints I can not get reverse. More ringing around for window winders and I struck Weetalba Wreckers. Really nice bloke went out and checked his Midliner in the yard and discovered the whole gearshift rod and joint system is good (at least he says so). As a bonus his wife is coming to visit a sick grandchild on the Sunshine Coast and will drop the stuff off for me.

Lang

I was talking to my local tilt tray man and he was telling me he had a flat tray with ramps that sat up in the air and couldn't get over 100KMH out of his truck.

He removed the fold up ramps and said 110 was easy and the truck went up hills better.

Worth thinking about if you can get he load ramps out of the wind.

Yes ramps are the perfect drag device. Solid ramps have less than half the drag of ramps with treads but leave you blind behind.

I should be OK as they are only 2m long with about 1/3 below deck level on the back of the beaver tail. I am sure nothing sticking up would be better though!

Here are the perfect air brakes on American Vultee Vengeance and Douglas SBD dive bombers during WW2. the more holes the more drag as the air spills over the structure. No dive bombers had solid air brakes. Same reason jet fighter and drag racing braking chutes are full of holes or slots.

Lang

Lang wrote: A bit more progress today.

Now here is the sad part. I could not lift the ramps without a super gutbuster effort. My personal muscular weight assessment told me it must be about 100kg. Got out the aircraft weighing scales and lifted the ramp with a big lever onto them. 50Kg exactly! What the hell has happened to me? Where did my power go?

Yes,Lang, it is natures revenge on us for being fit and strong. I had been 29 years old for many, many years and could lift and carry anything, although I must admit that the ground was getting further away every year.
All of a sudden on my last birthday I turned 75 and now can hardly do anything. in a couple of months, I will be 76 and fear what little I will be able to do by then. One slight consolation is that on that day, I will have had my driver's licence for sixty years so I will celebrate that!

Lang some blokes have made up real simple jiggers so the ramps fold in half automatically when the lift up

Might be something to consider

Paul

Hi Lang, if you remember the ramps on Lorry are around 2.5 metres high and heavy. However they have a single spring on each ramp and are very easy to lift one handed. The spring I refer to is ofeten seen on the tailgates of horse floats but can a pic of mine if you like. I also have considered making these foldable by the use of a pivot and a linkage arm.

It'll be right lang, You're Hiab will suck 'em up for you.....

I have been looking at those horse float springs. Unfortunately the trailer blokes reckon they are not strong enough for my ramps, even the largest standard size would need 2 per ramp.

I have a couple of options in the hydraulic ram area.

a. Figure out a dual line system to use the PTO and crane pump off the truck gearbox. Means jumping in and out of the cab and having the engine running and making Enzed yearly profit to run the plumbing the length of the truck.

b. I bought a fully self-contained 24v pump and tank with heavier ramps in mind. This seems to be the thing.

c. I just picked up a very nice hand pump and ram off an old MAN to set up to lift the cab so could use that but it would be very slow.

d. I have a porta-power that I have not used for years, also very slow.

Just a comment on the cab. The manual says "well balanced, one man operation tilting cab". Well, that is total BS. Even with the doors open it is a super-human lift, which I estimate having lifted the 50kg ramps yesterday, around 50kg. One thing lifting a ramp with your legs try pressing a cab starting about shoulder height going to full arm extension before it goes to balance point. Aussies are piss-ants compared to French truck drivers.

Lang

Great advice on air dam effect of ramps - counter intuitive- as I was set to make holes in my low loader ramps. Saved me from a big job. The 24v self contained pumps are on ebay for around $500, only need to be one way. The folding ramp idea typically uses a cable over the pivot to get it straight when being lowered and to secure in the upright position the same cable goes under the pivot.