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Not everyone is lucky enough to own a professional car lift to lift a car to facilitate maintenance and repair work underneath the car. Most DIY mechanics have to rely on an affordable and reliable set of jack stands and floor jacks that can handle the weight needed to lift the car high enough to crawl under the car and through the undercarriage.
Another way to get under a car
No, we’re talking about old grease pits that early garages used for decades to work on customers’ cars. Such pits were once a pit for convenience, keeping the garage clean, and safety, both literally and figuratively, when older lift alternatives were used.
Instead, car owners have what seems to be a good alternative. It is a portable car ramp that can drive the front wheels and position the front end of the car for easy access.
But are all car lamp brands safe?
That was the key question on a recent episode of Project Farm’s YouTube channel. In this episode, the hosts tested several brands of portable car ramps. How practical is it? How much weight does it take to crush one? And are they considered safe enough to use?
Harbor Freight’s Pittsburgh plastic and steel ramp brands MaxxHaul, RhinoRamp, Black Widow, BiSupply, Eastwood, M-Auto, Petersen, Kiekumm, and Vogue.
If you don’t have time to watch the entire video and want to know which lamp brands are the best, here’s a summary of the video for your convenience.
Is your car ramp a death trap? Find out!
And the “winner” is…
Harbor Freight’s $60 plastic Pittsburgh car ramp was the number one winner in our car ramp comparison test. Oddly enough, Harbor Freight’s metal vehicle ramp was the second-to-last of those tested.
But…but (though the organizers won’t say so) none of the lamps we tested performed well enough to actually recommend their use. If you read the comments section after the video, you’ll see that car ramps can and do cause injuries so dangerously that most DIY mechanics are discouraged from using them. .
Car lamp test points
In the end, we found it was better to use a trusty floor jack and jack stands to get the vehicle high enough to work underneath. Obviously, the most dangerous way to get a vehicle high enough to work underneath is to use only a hydraulic jack to lift the vehicle. The problem with hydraulic jacks is that the rubber seals wear out and eventually fail under pressure. In the worst case, it may stop working.
However, car ramps have the following problems:
Unless you have 4WD, most cars will skid when pulling onto a ramp. Most are made in China with questionable lightweight materials. Your car may be too low to use some brands of car ramps. Ramps can damage your car. If you back up from a ramp, it can pop out from under your car. The ramp provides enough protection to prevent you from rolling down while working under the ramp.
Why you shouldn’t use ramps to work under cars
And if the above issues aren’t enough to deter you from using that lamp in the future, there are important considerations not mentioned in the video. All car ramps achieved significantly higher crash ratings than listed during testing, but here are some concerns: If used multiple times, you can expect the car ramp to become weaker with each use. This is what we’ve seen happen with some brands we’ve tested after one use.
It is true that the more you bend or bend metals and plastics, the weaker they become. It’s that simple and should be enough to deter you from using a portable car ramp.
what works for me
In my personal experience, even jack stands fail from time to time. That’s why I always use two sets of jack stands, with a second set as a backup in case the other one fails when working under a car. It may sound overkill, but when a pair fails (as I experienced), everyone loses faith.
For more articles related to car lifting options, see these two:
Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati. With extensive experience restoring early cars, he regularly restores older vehicles by modifying their engines to improve performance. Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimBoyerWritesWe bring you daily news and topics about new cars, used cars and trucks.
Image source: Deposit Photos
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