I searched a bunch and didn't really come to the results I was looking for. There's lots of sand ladders, and there's plenty of short bridging ladders made from various materials (the fiberglass grate ones look pretty reasonable for short sections), neither of which are what I'm looking for.
I need something longer. A 4' ditch is not an obstacle to me. 6'-8' is about what I can fit on the vehicle, and what I would like to do, with longer being more useful.
Vehicle weight is about 4200lbs with me in it, 5000lbs is more reasonable for an actual in-use weight. Keeping these light would be better, as I'd rather not strain my back moving them around, and every pound of weight is another pound of weight that's useless most of the time.
I can't weld aluminum... Or at least I've never tried, and I'm not super stoked to buy a spoolgun just for this. I do have hole saws and dimple dies.
I was thinking two pieces of 3x3x.250 L in 6061 for the outer edges (about 26lbs there per ladder), a 1' wide strip of .188" sheet between them (about 20lbs, would blow some material out with the holesaws and punch dimples for traction), and 9' of 2x2x.188 L for braces running perpendicular to the length (9lbs or so). Fastened together using whatever I find lying around the shop, er, no, 3/8" bolts/nylocks and some cherrymax rivets. Hopefully around 55lbs per ramp, maybe a little less depending how much material I can remove with the hole saws.
I will produce a rendering of this in M$Paint if anyone is too confused.
Do people think that will be too wimpy for an 8' length?
I need something longer. A 4' ditch is not an obstacle to me. 6'-8' is about what I can fit on the vehicle, and what I would like to do, with longer being more useful.
Vehicle weight is about 4200lbs with me in it, 5000lbs is more reasonable for an actual in-use weight. Keeping these light would be better, as I'd rather not strain my back moving them around, and every pound of weight is another pound of weight that's useless most of the time.
I can't weld aluminum... Or at least I've never tried, and I'm not super stoked to buy a spoolgun just for this. I do have hole saws and dimple dies.
I was thinking two pieces of 3x3x.250 L in 6061 for the outer edges (about 26lbs there per ladder), a 1' wide strip of .188" sheet between them (about 20lbs, would blow some material out with the holesaws and punch dimples for traction), and 9' of 2x2x.188 L for braces running perpendicular to the length (9lbs or so). Fastened together using whatever I find lying around the shop, er, no, 3/8" bolts/nylocks and some cherrymax rivets. Hopefully around 55lbs per ramp, maybe a little less depending how much material I can remove with the hole saws.
I will produce a rendering of this in M$Paint if anyone is too confused.
Do people think that will be too wimpy for an 8' length?