I need some help on how to figure something out. I need to put my atv in my truck. I have a 2004 f-150 with a 5 and a half foot bed but, my atv is about 7 and a half foot long by 4 foot wide. I was just curious on what the deminsions of my ramp whould have to be to fit the atv in the back of my bed with the tailgate closed. I want to put the atv inside the back of my truck. Any suggestions on how to figure that out? thanks!!!

 

do I just need to make my ramp 2 feet high since that is the distance I'm trying to gain?

 

Do you mean you want a ramp inside the bed of your truck so the ATV is sticking out over the top of a closed tailgate?

 

or a ramp so that the front wheels are up on the ramp by the cab and the rear wheels are in the truck bed with the tailgate closed?
If that's what you mean, you'll need a ramp that is just over five feet tall. I think. it's been a while since I've done any trigonometry. Check out this site for some details of how to do the calculations yoruself.

Or, just cut yourself a 2x4 to the length you need it, and stand in the box with the tailgate closed, then once it's in the right location, measure how high off the bed it is. That's the non-math way to do this.

 

As for the practicality of the problem, I did a little figuring and drawing. Given a 7 foot ATV, which would be about 40 inches high at the seat and 48 inches at the handle bars; at best, the center of gravity of your load is going to be about as high as the top of the cab of your truck. The top of the ATV is going to extend at least 2 feet (I'm guessing more like 30") above the top of the cab. The pitch angle is going to be on the order of 35 degrees. With a dry weight over 600 pounds, this is going to be a B**** to tie down and drive.

My advice; go buy a 5x8 trailer at Tractor Supply for about $600 bucks.

As for the math: "A" (The length of your bed 5'-6" or 66") squared (4356) plus "B" (The height of the cab over the bed floor 42") squared (1764) equals "C" squared (6120) to find the length of the tread of the ramp (square root of 6120 is about 78.25 inches). That tread needs to be longer than the distance from the center of your front wheels to a point on the ground that is 36 degrees from the rearmost edge of the ATV to allow for the vehicle to be pitched up and still closing the tailgate.

Class dismissed.

 

I have a trailer for my atv already. I'm going hunting here pretty soon and I'm just trying NOT to take my 24 ft camper and my atv trailer!!!!! I think that I will build a smaller ramp just to be able to get the tires inside the bed of my truck and then I can just pull my tailgate up a ways and tie it off. I just don't want to take my tailgate off. Anybody else out there have any other cheap ideas? Thanks

 

keep the tailgate down

or

http://www.monsterhauler.com/pages/hp3lg.html

 

I can't i have to pull my camper and I won't be able to turn with it down.

 

then build what one of those things in the second link, maybe outa 2x4's