Well my new Coach is big and I do mean Big, But to get under it to repair any thing, Its low, Im skinny, but its still too low,

So I parked it across my drive, Giving me room to get under it, But its just not me, Its unsafe,

Hmmm, I have all this old steel laying about, Yep, I have enough, I will build myself a set of self leveling ramps to sit it on,

First mistake, Its a diesel pusher, All the weight is behind the rear axle, So to make my ramps work now, it has to be backed onto the ramps,

Second mistake,  This Coach gets bogged very easily when it Hits dips and gullys on the flat ground, The engine guard digs in,

I ended up building dirt ramps so the ground was raised up a bit allowing the Coach to finally back on and all the way to the stoppers,

The ramp just slowly rolled over onto its four legs and the Coach is now sitting almost level,

Start to finish,

Plenty of room now and totally safe as well,

SnowT wrote:

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I was think'n that I saw something I think is VERY worrying..

It came to me this morning..

The Middle set of Leg's Only have one set of braces to stop side ways movement.. You have nothing to stop the Leg's from Moving backwards and forwards.. Any tiny movement forwards and Backwards could cause the Welds or areas close to them to become fatigued and Break..

Do not want to hear of someone crushed under a Motorhome on a homemade ramp setup..

Juergen

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 Im Under it, Thats all that matters, If Im safe, Every one is safe, Thats the way I am, Sinking the Concrete Plinth its sitting on,  into the ground is more my worry,

I build ramps for earth moving equiptment, The Coach is a toy sitting there, 

I would have loved to make it out of full lenght beams, Nice new chequer plate all the way through, Etc, Nice and pretty, 

But this one didnt cost me a cent, Its all out of scrap steel, I do know my stuff when it comes to steel, 

But that pivot point is actually more over kill than it looks, Its all 6 inch X 4 inch RHS with a wall thickness of 3/8 ths of an inch thick,

For the whole thing to move sideways diagonally, or just roll over, It has to twist both the full lenght floor plates, side beams, Its just not going to happen,

I welded it, Thats better than good enough,  Hahahahaha  100 ton machine on it, It may crush the Longitudinal Channels, The bottom U shape of the vertical and horizontal RHS The lot are sitting on,  Will be still standing vertical,  They just wont buckle, or bend, And there is no way possible that my welds would let go, 

Yes, I am That good at welding, I have a few Certificates to say so, Hahahahahaha,  So rest easy Mate, I dont intend on getting my self Squished,

Just looking at those welds and side supports;did you forget to weld the vertical supports to the carrier beam  ?? looks a bit light on for holding what..... about 14 tons?

The welding looks like bird **** not enough heat.( Don't take my word for it though I'm just a retired mechanical engineer)

The cross supports brackets to stop side and rear movement are too short, unless you used (twice that length) in angle iron.

The support base in not secure (a few bricks) ? And a stand.

Seeing you are sited on the side of a hill, I would put in a concrete lined pit with a drain, much easier to navigate

and safer. Won't get me under that support system, I use a pit at my mate's place. 

Use the big steel for cross supports and carriers in concrete and bolt on some long hardwood sleepers side by side.

My old service station (approved work shop) used to have them with a sleeper ramp.. Works great!

Not being picky but...... careful mate !

Vanderee wrote:

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Just looking at those welds and side supports;did you forget to weld the vertical supports to the carrier beam  ?? looks a bit light on for holding what..... about 14 tons?

The welding looks like bird **** not enough heat.( Don't take my word for it though I'm just a retired mechanical engineer)

The cross supports brackets to stop side and rear movement are too short, unless you used (twice that length) in angle iron.

The support base in not secure (a few bricks) ? And a stand.

Seeing you are sited on the side of a hill, I would put in a concrete lined pit with a drain, much easier to navigate

and safer. Won't get me under that support system, I use a pit at my mate's place. 

Use the big steel for cross supports and carriers in concrete and bolt on some long hardwood sleepers side by side.

My old service station (approved work shop) used to have them with a sleeper ramp.. Works great!

Not being picky but...... careful mate !

 

Be picky all you like,

Engineering Blacksmith, Practising Engineer, DLI Certificated Welder, Boilermaker, Heat treater, Forger,

My Qualifications allow me to write the books you learn from,

And its backed up by 50 years of Practical Experience, 

When was the last time your welds held 4000 PSI or 400 ton in the air, Mine do,

What I design, I also make myself,, Test, Prove and write out all certification out for it in my own name,

And your weld guessing is so full of **** its not worth even considering,

Not enough heat, You really are an Idiot,

If you really want to push my buttons, You can call my welds crap in a court of law, I will welcome that,

It will cost you a lot of money,

 

-- Edited by Vanderee on Sunday 24th of November 2013 10:53:45 PM

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Considering your back ground I take back the comments.

Nice coach.
Cheers K

Your ramps look really good Brian...
But I will still put my rig over the pit where I know I am safe...

Ohh and I can also stand under there..

oldbobsbus wrote:

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Your ramps look really good Brian...
But I will still put my rig over the pit where I know I am safe...

Ohh and I can also stand under there..

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If I had it shot blasted and painted it Bright Yellow,

You couldnt tell the difference to a Professional built one, Which I am, Hahahaha

I would have no problems putting a Thirty Ton Excavator on it and working underneath,

Its amazing what a drop of paint can do, 

All my work looks like Crap, Untill you put a Gloss Paint on it, Then its a work of art,

Vanderee wrote:

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Considering your back ground I take back the comments.

Nice coach.
Cheers K

-- Edited by Vanderee on Monday 25th of November 2013 08:21:28 PM

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 Thanks Mate,

I am very Proud of my Excellent Reputation,  All my work was word of mouth, 

I was never out of work or very rarely, Usually by choice, 

I was always asked for by name, in the Labour Hire Industry,

If you want Shonky ****, Its simple, Go elsewhere, I wont touch it,

I welded in a Stillage on the fourth floor of a building, They whacked a Tower Crane on it, It was supposed to be in the middle of the four columns,

But they stuffed up with the holes in the concrete floors, So the Crane was actually sitting on one column only,

This thing fails, its on my head, They are my welds holding the whole lot up, 4 Feet off the floor,

Hmmmmmm, I calculate in my head, the entire weight of the Crane, Towers, Counter weights, 160 Foot of Boom, and 12 ton being pulled up from a Free Fall, on a

160 Foot Boom,

170 ton Minimum, then the jerk from the sudden stop, Guaranteed to shear the beam off the column, With out a shadow of doubt, Thats my Very Educated Guess, Out of my head,

It takes 250 ton to shear a 4 inch square billet of steel clean off,

I says to the Engineer,  when he drops in for a visit, I hope you have done your home work on this one,

He says Yes, I am very happy with it, He says to me, Why do you ask,

I explained to him the weight was all on one column because the Tower Crane Holes were in the wrong spot,

making the one column carry the entire load, Instead of four columns sharing the load,

And in my opinion, It will shear off at the Column as soon as they load up the Crane, You will have a Crane collapsed in the Middle of Collins St,

He was quite surprised that I could estimate the weight of the Crane, Towers,Boom, Etc, Out of my head, and it was Bloody near Dead Accurate, All the tonnage involved,

He could see I was quite serious about my estimates and the out come that would occur With Out Fail if he didnt do some thing about it,

He went away not quite a Happy Chappy like when he arrived, Hahahaha,

But thankfully he did listen to me,  Im Welding it in, Im a Certificated Welder, So I must know some thing about it,

Engineers have this Holier Than Thou Attitude, And dont usually listen to the Riff Raff, Like me, Hahaha

The next week, all these extra stiffening plates arrived to be welded on around the beams and extra Gussetts as well,

That should hold it, I was very Pleased, My Neck was off the Chopping Block, And it would have Failed, With out the extra stiffeners,

I went back a week after the Crane was in use, It had a 3/8 of an inch permanent deflection as it came off the Column,

I never even got a thank you, Hahahahaaha Not that I expected it, Hahahaha

I work with my hands, Simply because I hate Paper Work with a Vengeance, Me sit in an Office, Your Dreaming,

The Money I could have made over the years with my hands, is If I had of had some one to trust with the Paper Work,

Love being a Grey Nomad,  You wouldnt be dead for quids,