Santa brought my son an ATV for Christmas...it is too heavy for me to load in the bed of my truck to take him somewhere he can ride it. I found a kit from Lund for building loading ramps out of 2"x"10" wood. http://www.autoanything.com/hitch-bed-accessories/65A3664A0A0.aspx
The problem is that to get a reasonable slope relative to the height of my pickup (Tundra crewmax), the ramps need to be at least 8' long (preferably 10' according to the instructions for the hardware). Because I have a short bed pickup, building the ramps long enough would mean at four or five feet would hang out of the truck when I transported the ramps.
My idea is this...
Would it be possible to hinge the 2x10 in the middle so the ramps would fold in half for storage and transportation? If so, what would I need to do to make sure the hinged section was capable of supporting the weight safely (e.g., making it bear the same load as the other hardware or at least strong enough to hold the weight of the atv and rider during loading)???
The problem is that to get a reasonable slope relative to the height of my pickup (Tundra crewmax), the ramps need to be at least 8' long (preferably 10' according to the instructions for the hardware). Because I have a short bed pickup, building the ramps long enough would mean at four or five feet would hang out of the truck when I transported the ramps.
My idea is this...
Would it be possible to hinge the 2x10 in the middle so the ramps would fold in half for storage and transportation? If so, what would I need to do to make sure the hinged section was capable of supporting the weight safely (e.g., making it bear the same load as the other hardware or at least strong enough to hold the weight of the atv and rider during loading)???