bridge rail project

[mike harris]

Hey guys.In a few weeks I'll be building a set of sand/bridgeing rails like the ones you see on the landrovers on national geographic.They will serve a multitude of tasks including sand rails and bridge rails for crossing deep/steep ditches and as a ladder to get up to my roof rack tent.They are going to be made out of angle iron(not sure what thickness yet so insert advice here.The angle will be layed out to look like a triangle then welded into a ladder.Hopefully these will be strong enough to support my xj over about a 4 ft. span since they will be about 6ft. in length.Any advice or design options will be nice.I wonder how heavy these will be,hmmm..........

 

[MaXJohnson]

Your design sounds about like a pair of trailer ramps that I have. They are built out of 3/16" thick, 2"x2" angle for the runners and cross pieces with expanded metal over the top. Talk about heavy. I couldn't wait to replace 'em.

I found some folded sheet metal runners that are normally used for steps and mezzanine flooring. The sheet metal is covered with quarter sized, raised dimples with a hole punched in each dimple (for grip/traction). These are 4ft or 5ft in length and about 10" wide with the edges folded over 90° and then 90° again for stiffness. The cross section, if turned over 180°, would look like this:

[_________]

I welded 1 1/2" by 3/16" angle along each edge to add beaming strength. 1 1/2" square 1/8" square tubing would have worked as well. They ended up weighing half as much as the first ramps and had a more professional look.

The pounds add up fast when you use angle iron

 

[CRASH]

Think positive arch. Nothing helps weight handling like a bit of positive arch to spread the load.

Also, aluminum is quite nice.

I bet there are some nice commercialy available ones that wouldn't cost very much, and are designed for just your purpose.

CRASH

 

[Maximus]

Go to your local steel shop and you will find just what you want. You can get it in any length and there would just be some extra strengthening to do but not much.

You can also go to Harbor freight and buy some loading ramps for ATV's and modify them to work. They are probably out of aluminum too.

 

[mike harris]

Think positive arch. Nothing helps weight handling like a bit of positive arch to spread the load.

Also, aluminum is quite nice.

I bet there are some nice commercialy available ones that wouldn't cost very much, and are designed for just your purpose.

CRASH

I checked out the ones at britishpacific.com and they are 450.00 ...way too expensive!I would like aluminum because it's light but I try to build everything myself and I don't know how/don't have the right setup to weld it.If I could get those atv ramps and modify them relatively easy I might do that.Just trying some different ideas on for size...anything that saves me cash I highly condone!!!

 

[mike harris]

Your design sounds about like a pair of trailer ramps that I have. They are built out of 3/16" thick, 2"x2" angle for the runners and cross pieces with expanded metal over the top. Talk about heavy. I couldn't wait to replace 'em.

I found some folded sheet metal runners that are normally used for steps and mezzanine flooring. The sheet metal is covered with quarter sized, raised dimples with a hole punched in each dimple (for grip/traction). These are 4ft or 5ft in length and about 10" wide with the edges folded over 90° and then 90° again for stiffness. The cross section, if turned over 180°, would look like this:

[_________]

I welded 1 1/2" by 3/16" angle along each edge to add beaming strength. 1 1/2" square 1/8" square tubing would have worked as well. They ended up weighing half as much as the first ramps and had a more professional look.

The pounds add up fast when you use angle iron

Can you're set-up support the weight of the jeep while spanning a gap? Have you ever tried it?

 

[4ward]

We've used exactly what Max is talking about for ramps on a friends race trailer. 3000 lbs. of vehicle spread over a 12' span and they didn't have a real noticable bow.

 

[2offroad]

Bass Pro Shops item# 21-882-636-00, 62"x12" 5000 lb rating 33 lb wt $169.99 trailer ramps, a little shorter than what you said but a good start.