Getting car up on ramps

[Muttley]

I was just wondering what tricks others might use. I normally like to change the oil with the front of the car up on ramps. A front wheel drive is easy - just drive it up, but when I try with the commodore, once the front wheels get up on the ramp, it just pushes the ramps along the garage floor, or even worse, shoots the ramps out from under the car.

Are there any tricks people use to stop this happening?

[VT-565]

dynabolt the ramps down? the only problem with what you're doing is that when the oil is draining out, you will alwys leave a little bit in the sump because of the angle the car is on. i use a jack, i cant drive my car onto ramps at the front, it's too low. so is the back come to think of it...

[L8N]

Muttley as EcotecManiac your car should be level when you change the oil so all of the old oil comes out. a small trolly jack and four axel stands would be the easyiest way NEVER GET UNDER A CAR SUPORTED ONLY BY A JACK.

i cant drive my car onto ramps at the front, it's too low. so is the back come to think of it...

same here. the other day when my dad and i changed the oil in my car it took so long to get the car up its not funny. we couldnt even use a jack (but it was a massive jack not one of those small trolly jacks) cause you could get the front up but you couldnt get rear up or vise versa, so we had to use some blocks of wood drive it up on to the wood even that took awhile needed a bit of a run up. then when it was on the blocks we could get the jack under and jack it up and put it on jack stands.

[michaelw]

Two tricks I use.
1)Put a towel under each ramp. The problem with the ramps is that they are solid metal and on a solid concrete (or worse brick) ground there is only a few points of contact. With a thick rag (towel) under each ramp the towel will compress as the weight comes on, speading the load and increasing friction.

2)Run FE2's which mean that the front bumper is too low for most ramps, so infront of each ramp had a block of 4X2" so that the tire hit that and raised the bumper enough to clear the ramps.

HTH

Mike

[Muttley]

Hadn't thought of the towell. That's the kind of trick I am looking for. Might give it a go. Even stock standard the front fouls on the ramp so last time I used a couple of pavers in front of the ramp to drive up on first to get more clearance. Ended up just leaving it up on the pavers when the ramps exited from under the car and had just enough room to get under it to the sump plug. I would never get under a car that was just up on a jack.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[matty88]

CHocking the rear wheels also helps to stop the front ramps from sliding out underneath the car

[FCCOOL]

two tricks I figured out a few years ago working on smooth concrete floors. No 1, drive up with the hand brake dragging then use it for brakes, dont use the foot brake period unless your handbrake dosn't work, this usully works well and the guys at work were always amazed by my then secret method, other was if that was failing I would also stick old rubber floor mats under the ramps.
It used to be funny watching guys at work try to get up the ramps, then I would jump in and get up first go with the handbrake.

[vtss5spd]

I reverse the car up on the ramps, ( my old man welded extensions on the bottom so the rear just gets up) and then jack up the front and slide another set of ramps underneath, easy

[smithy73]

I know with my VP SII V6 - I can undo the sump plug from the top - under the bonnet.
Therefore no need to jack it up or ramps. Checking for an oil leak is another story.

[MarzVP]

I changed my oil with out ramps or jacks on my VP and i can drive it up the ramps without the bumper hitting or anything else bad happening.

[sc0pe]

there are good ramps u can get, they are specifically designed with sportscars is mind. really long so low cars can go up easy. cant remember the name but ill search for a link

[gopher]

i just put it on the grass
put a couple of pavers in front of the ramp so it clears the bumper
then drive on hoping they're straight

[cracker]

i just jack mine up and slide the ramps under the front wheels

[gemini]

Ever tried to jack up a lowered car with a flat low profile tyre ? shit that sucked. I was going to just drive it over a brick but that could have damaged the rim so i had to look for a small enough jack lol.

[starkeyholden]

When using ramps on concrete, look for one of those expansion cracks put in when they layed the slab. drop the edge of the ramps in that slot or if no good, belt in a couple of old screwdrivers into the cracks for something to push the ramps against or just use old rubber car mats. Speaking of screw drivers and oil changes, if your old oil filter is a bit tight, and you don't have an oilfilter grippy thing, stabbing a screw driver straight through the filter from side to side = instant handle!

[vr_calais]

i had the same problem with trying to get my car up the ramps on concrete so i just got 2 bits of timber that are about 3ft long and 2inch thick by 10inch wide place them almost level with top of ramp on concrete and it drives straight up with no problems at all

[Phoenix21]

we must have the good ramps i drove me car up on to the ramps last week when we changed the oil on my car last week and im only 16 but yer we put the ramps on the top of the driveway and thats all stones maybe that helped and way just thort i'd say that

[aperfectcircle]

http://www.raceramps.com/

[Spike79]

When using ramps on concrete, look for one of those expansion cracks put in when they layed the slab. drop the edge of the ramps in that slot or if no good, belt in a couple of old screwdrivers into the cracks for something to push the ramps against or just use old rubber car mats. Speaking of screw drivers and oil changes, if your old oil filter is a bit tight, and you don't have an oilfilter grippy thing, stabbing a screw driver straight through the filter from side to side = instant handle!

You might want to be careful using a screwdriver as an oil filter removal tool. I've seen it done with a fairly nasty outcome, pretty much ripped the the top half off leaving the base still stuck to the mount on the oil pump.

[commy92]

yeah but if that wants to happen it will cause when you use an oilfilter removal tool thingy ma bob they go onto the main steel part. My drive way is perfect for my car it has a bit of a dip in the end of it i caneither use that to slide under it or i can put the ramps at the end of it against the lip and drive straight up. The prob i have is that iget half way up and it starts smoking and wont get any higher or worse goes backwards...

[chromic]

two tricks I figured out a few years ago working on smooth concrete floors. No 1, drive up with the hand brake dragging then use it for brakes, dont use the foot brake period unless your handbrake dosn't work, this usully works well and the guys at work were always amazed by my then secret method, other was if that was failing I would also stick old rubber floor mats under the ramps.
It used to be funny watching guys at work try to get up the ramps, then I would jump in and get up first go with the handbrake.

It took me a while to work that out when I kept using the brake and I was getting nowhere. Timber at the bottom of the ramps for lowered vehicles which was mentioned in the thread as well is a good idea for preserving your front bumper.

[gamevx]

if ur car is to low for ramps, just wip the front bar off. takes 2min's but it better to do it with axel stands, cos then u can do more work on the car(ie take wheels off)

[digisol]

Geez, any commodore sump drain plug should be easy enough to get at with the right spanner and maybe a jack if lowered.

All ya need to do is to find a quiet street, yours or anyones and drive one side of the car up onto the footpath via any driveway leaving one side on the road, that leaves more than enough space to get any person under the car, no matter it's height.

Most have the drain on the left rear so probably better to drive the right side up onto the footpath and most oil will be drained, if "warm".

Your only going to be there for 10 min, and that includes the old oil dump, filter change, and new oil.

Too hard.

[Toyoden]

Hi, some good tips on ramps, the best I have found is to rivet some rubber matting to the ends of the ramp, so as you drive up, the car tyres are on the rubber matting and can't push the ramps forward. Oil filter clamps are cheap as, some good ones out there, forget the screwdriver. Good luck, occasionally once every 12 months, drop the sump out and wipe all the gunk out and clean up around magnet, good time to do a complete service whilst underneath, grease etc.