The ramp on my 3-horse trailer fell apart and I took it to a trailer place to have it repaired. The guy there replaced the ramp, and it took forever and cost a fortune. Now it’s almost impossible for me to lift it.
It does have the springs for lift-assist, but either this ramp weighs 100 times more than my old one, or the springs are not working.
Advice??
Hook it up. Haul it to him. Get out of truck. Approach repair man. Point to trailer. Say ‘show me.’ Don’t mean to sound sassy in saying that, but he did the work; hold him accountable for it. Anything else is wasting time , seems to me.
As Equus said. A bit of BS on the repair side. Which is why I know how to do all the things I do. The BS has been around for a long time so it is just frustrating to do it myself, saves money.
Some, a lot of the springs have tension adjustments. Which usually can be done by turning, tightening a nut . Yours may or may not have this. If it does and the repairman didn’t bother to check things, shame on him.
Due to the beefier ramp it may need a bigger spring, or nothing “simple” inexpensively can be done. In any case IMO the repair shop was remiss in not taking this into account when discussing repair options and the giving you the cost of repair/replace option A and the more expensive option B.
We are moving out to Colorado in less than a week. I wonder if someone could fix it out there? Even if it does cost more $$, and the guy here SHOULD fix it, I’m not thinking I have time to take it back now.
But, overall, the proper springs with the proper adjustment should fix the problem? I don’t need to sell the trailer, just get someone to fix it right?
I just moved, so I can sympathize with not being able to find the time to get something done. But really if you can at least find the time to stop in for a quick check, it would be ashame if there were a simple adjustment to be made and you didn’t even find that much out. If you really can’t manage that, then CALL. Don’t say you can’t come in, but tell them your problem at listen to what they have to say … it’s possible they used heavier materials, couldn’t find parts, forgot to set and adjustment, who knows what. But my guess is that even a phone call may give you a pointer in the right direction.
Doubtful you need to sell the trailer, just find someone competent to look at it.
Since you can’t return the trailer to the shop…
If you would post a picture of the spring / hinge area of the trailer… you might get better suggestions from the hive mind.
I had an overhead door company, it appears from what the OP sated that the springs are either wrong for the application or one is broken. From what I have seen regarding horse trailer ramps there is not an adjustment at all in the springs.
http://www.easternmarine.com/Torsion…ngs-Hitch-Pins
I just wonder if the repair shop might have known about the move to Colorado and just didn’t care about correcting the spring rates since they knew the OP would be gone shortly… if I had paid with a credit card I really, really think I would contest the charge to get some sort of cost adjustment on the repair
Depends on the trailer. I have had 2 that could be adjusted. Pretty much the same as the springs on my Disc-Bine mower the controls the mower bar “float”.
I hate working with springs. One fights them off and fights them on equipment. Either the rebuilt ramp is supper heavy or more likely, the springs were not preloaded enough.
Those springs seem to be the inert kind, they just sit there not doing anything until you go open the ramp
Then they get squashed as the ramp lowers, keeping it from falling down fast of it’s own weight and then they come under pressure and that supposedly helps when you go lift the ramp back up.
The ramp lowering is what “loads” those springs.
My guess, ramp may be too heavy for those four springs.
Most everyone here uses step trailers, but I am sure any trailer place in CO will be able to fix that, bigger springs maybe, or different ones.
That’s called a torsion spring. Not much can be adjusted on that. I assume there is one on the other side? I haven’t seen them used much on trailers. They are “off the shelf” springs used in a lot of different applications. Might be able to find the next size or two up?
What changes did they make to the ramp? There looks to be enough space on the retainer bar to add another torsion spring something like this; Would need to take measurements.
https://www.nueratrailerparts.com/ramp-spring-left-hand-1.html
What brand is this trailer ? Is it a Keifer ?
Yes, it is a Keifer.
is it possible something is stuck in the torsion springs? Or are you saying they replaced the springs too (did I miss that?).
i admit i know next to nothing about springs, but I have a Keifer too and last fall it was an absolute ##### to open and close to the point the ramp got “stuck” suspended about 4 feet above the air! Granted the trailer is ancient, but what it was was the springs getting stuck/rusted together - I spent about an hour with a hammer and a chisel separating the areas of the spring[s] that ‘rusted’ together. Once I did that the springs were able to rotate and expand/contract just fine and haven’t had an issue since, but we have to be careful about detritus/shavings getting into the springs.
Those ramps are heavy though… we actually took the ramp off at one point and omg, it’s no wonder they make those springs standard in new trailers now.
Do you know if the shop took the ramp off the trailer ? I wonder if Kiefer preloaded the springs with a tool that the shop did not have. Seems to me that the springs have a large number of coils for a spring without a preload.
Hmm, looked at an older Kiefer ramp photo there were more springs ( at least on the one I looked at, it had 7! ) maybe post a full width photo, do you have extra bolts on the ramp side where the springs are hung that are not being used???
Risa
Happy Trails Trailers
Balanced Ride Trailers
Those springs don’t even need bolted, they should work fine without it in a place like that, where with enough of them they won’t shift around.
Ramps on trailers have their place, but they also add one more thing to go wrong.
I really wish I’d gotten a step-up trailer, but my old boy King could not manage the step anymore with his arthritis. That’s why we got the ramp in the first place. We are heading out to Colorado tomorrow and once we get settled I will see if I can get someone to look at it out there. Maybe it’s as simple as adding more springs. There are only 4, so maybe three more would make a big difference. I’ll circle back once we get settled! Thankyou for all of the suggestions!
Ramps have their place, when you need them, you need them.
Could you fix some way to get a pulley and rope bolted somewhere on the roof, to help you pull that ramp up without being so hard?
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