Stupid or dangerous?

In reply to RevRico :

To answer your original question in the title...

....lifting a vehicle AT ALL on gravel is dangerous. I can’t think of a single way to do it safely. 

(But you knew that!)

Why not just buy some railroad ties and use a chain saw to cut a ramp into them or use your ramps to drive up onto them.  

In reply to FieroReinke :

Railroad ties are 9” wide. That’s a little narrow for me to feel comfortable that it won’t roll over (especially on gravel). 

In reply to RevRico :

My local Lowes stocks advantech, so you shouldnt need to talk to a specialist. Its more expensive than your standard 3/4" osb, i think it was around $25 a sheet last time i bought it, but you can feel the difference in quality. It is really hard and really dense. If you arent going to need the full sheets look to see if they have any damaged sheets. Often times they get the tongue and grooves beat up in handling, and my local store will sell those for half price if you ask them to.

In reply to RevRico :

Yes, your brackets and lag bolts are a great idea. 

SVreX said:

In reply to FieroReinke :

Railroad ties are 9” wide. That’s a little narrow for me to feel comfortable that it won’t roll over (especially on gravel). 

Be relatively easy to fix that though--put them on a 12 inch board, stick a huge bolt through both. 

In reply to mtn :

That’s true. And they’d be pretty secure, even on the gravel. 

At our old house, I put up a fabric garage on our gravel driveway. My father-in-law and I built a platform that was slightly larger than the size of the fabric garage (12'x20'), and bolted and secured the fabric garage to the platform. The platform was made of 4x4 pressure treated lumber on the edges, and then we added in some old scrap wood under the paths of a vehicle's wheels. The surface was 4X8" sheets of pressure treated 3/4" plywood. It held up really well over the 3-4 years we lived there, and would have lasted for a while longer had we not decided to move (the top of the fabric garage was on it's last legs - the cover had taken a beating from the UV/snow/cold weather and needed to be replaced).

It gave me shelter from the elements and most of the wind, and I could roll around on a creeper, use a floor jack, and put a car up on jackstands. My total investment was pretty limited ($230 for fabric garage, figure $2-300 for the platform), but it gave me a lot of utility and comfort for my money.

SVreX said:

In reply to mtn :

That’s true. And they’d be pretty secure, even on the gravel. 

Now I'm thinking about this more--put them on the boards, drive stakes through the boards into the ground, and then bolt a couple 2x4's to the boards spanning the left and right side. Be pretty damn secure then. Only problem with it is that you'll have limited which vehicles you can drive up on the thing. 

FieroReinke said:

Why not just buy some railroad ties and use a chain saw to cut a ramp into them or use your ramps to drive up onto them.  

Apparently My original idea blew over everybodies head.  Yes railroad ties are a little narrow. Plus the creosote that’s injected in them is pretty nasty stuff.  

So buy big nice wide beams and as you say cut them on a diagonal 

I’m guessing but I suspect you’d pay around $20 for a 12x12. X 8 foot beam enough to make two ramps out of.  

Maybe less if a low demand/ no market wood is used.  Tamarack, hackberry,  etc.  where you are will determine what woods have little call for.  

Buy an extra 2 inch plank from the same tree and lag bolt it on the end sticking up a couple of inches to act as a stop. 

I’m a big believer in cardboard to work on.  Keep a nice big piece in the garage out of the rain. Throw it down and it’s easy to slide on even over gravel or damp ground etc. Heavy duty highly waxed cartoon are a real prize. I always keep one in the race car trailer. As soon as it started to get shabby I looked for its replacement. One piece lasted me three seasons. 

if a RR tie is too narrow put two side by for each side of the car tied together with treated 2x4s underneath to get you to 18" wide.  The 2x4s will help anchor the RR ties into the gravel so they don't slip as you drive up on them.  the Creosote shouldn't be an issue if you get good used RR ties.  I like to keep things simple using one big piece of wood that I know could handle the weight vs trying to build something hoping the screw/nails haven't rusted out on me and the whole thing collapses while I am under the car.   

I think FieroReinke’s got the win on this one. 

In reply to RevRico :

I think you can add floor jacks and some wrenches to make your canoe look more attractive!

canoe!

I think you can add some quality floor jack to make it more attractive...yesterday i was reading about {best floor canoes} reviews from the internet. 

I can't believe the canoes this thread brings in. Please, just lock it. 

Although I did find a screaming deal on railroad ties, if I can find a way to get them home. 

Wally said:

In reply to vwcorvette :

Instead of dragging whole boards around I cut 1 ft squares for each jack stand,  a 2ft x 3ft piece for the jack and then an old area rug to lay on.  The rug is much nicer than laying on the plywood and easier to move and store.

The side of a big cardboard box is more fun than a rug because you can slide on the cardboard.

as requested