little lost ramp

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

this is a real longshot, but the other day one of the pins holding my trailer ramps in place broke and the ramp fell out somewhere between north raleigh, apex, and downtown raleigh. i retraced my route looking for it (hoping to see it on the side of the road) to no avail. what are the odds that highway patrol or other safety crew picked it up and placed it in "lost and found"? any idea who i'd call to find out?

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:32 pm

Did you see any partially wrecked cars along the side of the road with a ramp stuck in them?

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

DickRasmussen wrote:

Did you see any partially wrecked cars along the side of the road with a ramp stuck in them?

no, but not for lack of looking! however i did learn that it's not easy to drive while continuously scanning the side of the road for a black 1" thick chunk of steel.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:16 pm

It's gone. Just get a fab shop to make one to match your other one. Shouldn't be too expensive.

And the single best thing we've found to keep from breaking those pins is to just replace them with big padlocks. You can use the combo ones if you want, but the "key" to this is they are hardened. Everything else is just going to break regularly in that kind of position.

--Donnie

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:27 pm

Donnie Barnes wrote:

And the single best thing we've found to keep from breaking those pins is to just replace them with big padlocks. You can use the combo ones if you want, but the "key" to this is they are hardened. Everything else is just going to break regularly in that kind of position.
--Donnie

So that is why the padlocks that hold the mild steel bar that hold the ramps on my trailer have lasted so long. I don't know how the "load" on my locks compares to your pins, but I towed well over 75K miles with no lock breaking.

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:32 pm

Donnie Barnes wrote:

It's gone. Just get a fab shop to make one to match your other one. Shouldn't be too expensive.

And the single best thing we've found to keep from breaking those pins is to just replace them with big padlocks. You can use the combo ones if you want, but the "key" to this is they are hardened. Everything else is just going to break regularly in that kind of position.

--Donnie

When I had my trailer built by Kraftsman, this is exactly what they said. They provided 1 pin for each ramp, but highly recommended locks on the second attach points.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

I believe someone *told* you to replace those cotter pins with locks when I first saw the trailer

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

MikeWhitney wrote:

I believe someone *told* you to replace those cotter pins with locks when I first saw the trailer

indeed you did, but i thought it was just for theft prevention. it never occurred to me that kaufman would sell trailers with such weak-ass pins. *shrug* live and learn.

also worth noting that mike was generous enough to let me borrow one of his ramps so i could make it home and (possibly) haul to roebling this weekend. thanks mike!

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little lost ramp

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