When I was working at an ATV dealership one of the last things people thought of was the ramps they would need to get it in there truck or even there trailer. You would be surprised by how many calls I got when the customer has already left their house and wanted to know if we have ramps to load there machine up.
Of course, we would have the ramps.
A lot of the time we would get guys who ask what kind of ramp do they need? Who makes the best ATV ramps? Wood or Aluminum?
What Do You Need The Ramps For?
You need figure out what you’ll use the ramps with the most. Do you need them for your trailer? Your pickup? If you have a pickup is it lifted? These questions can affect what kind of ramps you need. Especially if you have a lifted truck.
Avoid Two Piece
I always avoid two-piece ramps. I’m a big fan of the one big piece ones that fold up. Too many pieces make for too many problems. One piece could move so slide away when you start moving.
You’ll want a nice long aluminum ramps like this*.
Important Part!!!
You would be surprised by how many times I have seen people ride their machine up into the bed of their truck and the ramp slip out from there ATV and they fall and seriously hurt themselves.
It’s very important to strap your ramps down, especially since a lot of machines are not getting super aggressive tires like this one below.
It’s just plain stupid to not strap the ramp down before you ride upon it. Honestly, I don’t even trust the straps or chains that most ramps come with.
I use my own strap, and I place it in the center of the ramp and hook it to the hooks that the safety chains go for my truck.
I avoid strapping it to anything else. I’ve seen some guys strap it to the tailgate holes where it locks and this is a big NO-NO! I don’t even trust the strap holes that some trucks come with. You got to think, many ATVs weigh around 500 pounds and the only thing strong enough to support that is the place where your safety chains go for your trailer. I also go to the center of the ramp, if too low or too high the ramp can still get away from you.
I shouldn’t have to say this but it’s happened before. Make sure your Truck is in park and the parking brake is one before loading and unloading your machine.
Here is a reason you strap down your ramp to your truck…
Ramps For Lifted Truck
If you have a lifted truck you’ll need some really long ramps. The problem is that the long ramps that will work for an ATV or even Side by Side come in the two-piece configuration.
Depending on how lifted your truck is you might want to find a ditch to back in before loading. If you feel like your ATV is going vertical when loading it into the back of your pick up then it just might not be safe.
These Titan Ramps are probably the best quality ramps I have ever used.
Don’t forget to strap these ramps down too!
Also, Remember To Stop
So I had this customer one time knock out his back window of his truck loading his ATV. Boy, was his wife pissed that they had to get that fixed. I mean insurance usually covers something like that, but she was pissed that the back seat of the truck was covered in glass. That poor guy.
You need to practice placing your ATV in the back of your truck. So that you don’t have a broken window either.
The trick is once all 4 wheels are on the bed of the truck you need to turn the engine off and place the ATV in neutral. Once in Neutral slowly push the ATV as far as it can go up and place the parking brake on. Make sure you leave enough room and really strap the ATV down before leaving.
Check out this video on how to load an ATV…