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Ramp "door" for toyhauler that can support big stuff

pennsylvaniaboy

make fullsizes great again
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So after cancelling this weekend of wheeling due to the weather and not wanting to tent in heavy rain. I got a dreaming about enclosed trailer hauling...dreaming because it wont happen for a long time. But I got to looking, I can find a trailer with a big enough opening and box to haul my big truggy. But it looks like the big obstacle would be the ramp door. The ones I am seeing are only rated at 3k? So how does one get around that? My truggy is like 5.5k
 
I am not sure how to find out what a ramp door is rated for, but it's a good question.

I intend to rebuild my ramp door with more metal to make it rigid enough for my truck. Basically two heavy ramps that are skinned together as one ramp door. Don't need much if any structure in the middle.

EDIT: The door is strong enough as is, but I can see it starting to taco just a little bit. Not sure if it was like that before, or happened since I drove on it.
 
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Is the rig taller than long? Probably only have 1 axle on the door at a time.

My only recent enclosed experience was a low end rental last week to move the toolbox and other shop stuff. Could hear the plywood cracking/compressing on the door while running the winch. The rest of the floor was fine. But that’s about 2k on 4x 2x8 hard wheels.
 
I'm not sure what mine is rated for but it has had a built Ford Exploder driven over it many times. The whole trailer is built like a tank though. 9800# for a 32' goose empty. Door is 96" wide.
 
Just make some metal ramps that either bridge the door completely or at least help distribute the weight better?
 
I got my trailer from Dune Sport. They would have upgraded to a 5k door, I don’t know how. Probably another layer of plywood laminated together. I declined and stayed with the 3500 door because single axle weight below 2k.
 
Just make some metal ramps that either bridge the door completely or at least help distribute the weight better?
I always thought the best solution to that would be angle iron thru bolted to the door on the outside. flip out kickers to hit the ground at the top.
tweak the door springs a bit so they weren't a bitch to lift.

every enclosed trailer I've ever borrowed the ramp door was bent/tweaked/poor fitting when closed.

what about a roll up door and then just use ramps? You lose overhead space though to clear the door.
 
I ordered a Continental Cargo trailer with an upgraded door. I want to say it was rated for 4k and was 3 inches thick. Would I order that kind of trailer again? Probably not. I think I would rather deploy ramps instead of the ramp door that is super heavy.

The easiest way to beef one of these doors would be to add angle iron to the surface - effectively making a ramp on the door to keep it from bending. The other way is to bring ramps that are slightly longer than the door and use those to take the weight of the crawler.

I'm still on the lookout for a Toy Hauler that can haul my GPW in the back however. I wouldn't want a Krawler Hauler type because I want my garage to be enclosed. That's kind of the point.
 
It’s hard to find a toy hauler that will take 150” of cargo, 80” wide, 72” tall. Then getting enough payload to carry it....
 
It’s hard to find a toy hauler that will take 150” of cargo, 80” wide, 72” tall. Then getting enough payload to carry it....

It is hard, but they're out there. My 28' goose has a 19'6" deck and tandem 7500# axles. Plenty of capacity, and will fit my wagon with some room to spare.
 
There was a lengthy thread on this topic on GJ back in the day. May be worth looking it up?
 
I wouldn't want a Krawler Hauler type because I want my garage to be enclosed. That's kind of the point.
I agree, they make the same style trailer, but enclosed. Basically a large enclosed with living quarters in the front, but with slides and stuff like an rv trailer.
 
I'm not talking toy hauler....more like a box/race trailer.
 
I've been searching around on GJ for an hour and can't find a lengthy thread. Care to find it for us?

This is the closest I found. Like most stuff on GJ, not very useful.
I was afraid you were going to ask.

I spent the last 10 minutes looking but cant' find it. IIRC, the guy was retired with a number of old cruisers... he bought a trailer specifically for a mid 40's car, I think, and the door ramp essentially broke on the first use. Round and round for a year trying to get it fixed through dealer and mfg... and ultimately fixed himself.


Probably from the 2010 timeframe?? I've had no luck finding it.

But this thread is interesting.
 
I had issue with my ramp door strength loading a heavy YJ. Here is my solution. I missed the angle just a little, on flat ground there is about a 1" gap between the door lip and the ground.
20191227_164110.jpg
 
At KoH there was a few companies that brought out a bunch of toy hauler demos to walk through. I was talking to them and none were strong enough for a full size toy. I asked if you could have the door built to open up vs down and he said they've done that for others. You'd need small ramps to get in but you'd also get hard awning out of it.
 
At KoH there was a few companies that brought out a bunch of toy hauler demos to walk through. I was talking to them and none were strong enough for a full size toy. I asked if you could have the door built to open up vs down and he said they've done that for others. You'd need small ramps to get in but you'd also get hard awning out of it.
That would be a great option. Lighter weight and the awning concept.
 
At KoH there was a few companies that brought out a bunch of toy hauler demos to walk through. I was talking to them and none were strong enough for a full size toy. I asked if you could have the door built to open up vs down and he said they've done that for others. You'd need small ramps to get in but you'd also get hard awning out of it.
I also thought about building a set of clamshell doors as well. That would be a fairly easy thing to build and solve.

I have been working with one of my engineering buddies on what determines the weight rating of a toy hauler. Mostly it's a combination of the pin weight vs. wheel placement and the bending moment of the rear beams in the cargo area. Most of the toy haulers are built so some old couple can buy it and keep their dogs back there without having an unwieldy amount of tongue weight. If you moved the axles back and accounted for your max weight, I'm sure you could make it work.

My current toy hauler uses an 8" C-Channel in the rear section and stacked 8" C-Channel (16" total) in the front section to reflect the load capacity of 3000 lbs in the garage section.
 
At KoH there was a few companies that brought out a bunch of toy hauler demos to walk through. I was talking to them and none were strong enough for a full size toy. I asked if you could have the door built to open up vs down and he said they've done that for others. You'd need small ramps to get in but you'd also get hard awning out of it.
The awning would be a great feature but it also seems like could also just do barn doors for a lot less $$ for a budget build.
 
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