Ask any excavation company, lawncare professional, or heavy equipment transporter how important ramps are for their business and they’ll probably tell you that they’re the most crucial pieces of durable equipment they have at their disposal. They’re strong, lightweight, and portable; but most importantly, they’re safe.

Attempting to load or unload wheeled vehicles or machinery either without ramps, or without sufficiently rated ramps, can have catastrophic consequences for both the equipment and anyone standing nearby. Ultimately, no business owner or equipment operator wants to find themselves in a position where the reliability or availability of their ramps is in question; that’s why if you’re in a business that regularly transports heavy machinery from one location to the next, you want to ramps that are up to the job.

Portable Heavy-Duty Ramps Have the Capacity For Any Job

Let’s be honest: it doesn’t matter if you’re loading a lawn mower, a ditch witch, or a classic car, the capacity and the condition of the ramps you’re using means everything. Safety has to be your main concern, which is why regardless of whether fixed-site ramps are available or not, you need to have your own sufficiently rated, heavy-duty equipment loading ramps with you.

When it comes to managing and moving machinery, few pieces of durable equipment are as simple, or as essential as heavy-duty trailer ramps are. That’s because in addition to supporting heavy, and potentially asymmetrical weights, trailer and truck ramps also need to overcome steep angles of attack and clearance variations in order to achieve:

• Maximum stability when loading or unloading cargo or machinery;
• Maximum adhesion, regardless of the type of traction system, weather, or ground conditions; and,
• Maximum mud, dirt, or debris removal from the traction system when loading.

No matter if you’re a heavy equipment operator loading construction machinery at a jobsite, or a hotshot driver delivering a truckload of cargo to a remote laydown yard, portable loading ramps for trailers eliminate the need for a conventional ramp, or any other type of complex loading infrastructure. You just need to be sure that you’re using ramps that have the strength and capacity for the job that you’re doing.

Aluminium Adds Unrivalled Portable Ramp Strength

Strength and weight capacity are the most crucial components in portable loading ramp construction; that’s why tempered aluminium alloy is the preferred material for lightweight, high-capacity ramps. TIG welded rungs, and a choice of surface profiles and side rails form the basis for a strong pair of portable loading ramps that offer a selection of attributes that include:

• Lightweight convenience. With unit weights typically less than 60kg (120kg per pair), heavy-duty aluminium loading ramps can easily support loads up to 6.5 tonnes, but are still light enough for an equipment operator to set up and take down unassisted.
• Complete mobility. With average lengths of 3.5 metres, even aluminium portable truck loading ramps up to 5.0 metres are still manageable enough to safely and securely stow on trailers or ute rooftop racks.
• Unmatched durability. Not only do aluminium trailer ramps hold a strength-to-weight advantage over low alloy nitrided steel ramps, they also won’t rust or corrode.

Ideally, with their superior strength and load ratings, heavy-duty truck loading ramps made from aluminium have all the core attributes you would need to safely load a wide range of powered, and non-powered vehicles or machinery. And, depending on the design and profile of their loading surfaces, these heavy-duty ramps are built for both wheeled, as well as tracked vehicles and machinery.

Rungs Give Your Ramps the Right Profile

Although loading surfaces are easy to ignore when looking at heavy-duty equipment ramps, it’s important to remember that not all machines load the same. That’s because factors like rung spacing and surface profiles, the types of wheels and tyres your machinery is equipped with, and even the wheelbase of your machinery all have an impact on the amount of grip a pair of heavy-duty truck ramps need.

You can buy heavy-duty loading ramps for sale with surfaces designed especially for rubber or steel traction, and they’re outfitted with an array of rung profiles that include:

• Flat rungs. Flat rungs are stamped with anti-slip ribs, are typically used for ramps hauling machinery weighing up to 2.4 tonnes, and equipped with either rubber tracks, or pneumatic or full rubber tyres.
• Square rungs. These square shaped rungs feature anti-slip ribs, and are ordinarily used for rubber wheeled, or rubber tracked machinery weighing up to 3.5 tonnes.
• Serrated rungs. These heavy trailer ramps are easily identified by their raised, serrated grips on either flat or square rungs, and are suitable for all types of rubber, or steel tracked machinery weighing above 3.5 tonnes.

With their variable choices of width and length, each of these heavy-duty aluminium ramps is engineered to provide the most effective traction surface possible. And with the option of securing them to your trailer or truck bed with either pins, tongues, or chains, you never have to worry about dangerous ramp slippage or movement.

Always Respect the Rules of Safe Ramp Loading

Make no mistake: If you’re serious about safety when you’re looking at heavy-duty loading ramps, then you can’t afford to be any less vigilant about how you plan to use them. There are some key precautions that should always be followed when using ramps to load or unload heavy machinery, and they cover the most fundamental guidance on preventing ramp failures and personal injury. Be sure to:

• Verify the weight of your machinery. Ramp weight capacities are rated in pairs, and you always want to be sure that the weight of your machinery doesn’t exceed that limit, especially if you’ve added any heavy attachments to it.
• Only load from even surfaces. Not only does loading or unloading from uneven surfaces push the amount of stress on your ramps perilously close to breaking levels, but it also increases the risk of your machinery tipping, or rolling off.
• Minimise ramp loading angles. Limiting your loading angles to no more than 16° (30%) is the best way to reduce the risk of an unwanted loss of adhesive traction, as well as preventing longer wheelbased machinery from getting stuck at the top of the ramp.

Ideally, not only are heavy-duty trailer loading ramps at their safest when they’re used properly, they’re also guaranteed to last their longest.

The Final Word

At the end of the day, with costly conventional loading ramps continuing to fall out of favour, it’s increasingly incumbent on service providers, transporters, and heavy machine owners to arrange for their own loading and loading. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of lightweight, and perfectly portable options available for them to get the job done safely.

Portable, heavy-duty ramps provide all the strength and capacity you need to safely load and unload your heavy machinery anywhere, anytime. They’re a small investment with a big impact.