LocostUSA.com

So I did a little bit of trigonomo-figurin and came up with the idea that to match my beavertail angle of 10°, from an 11" deck height, I would only need 2' of ramps to hit ground level (technically 20")

this seems awful short to me, but if its right, some 36" ramps should give me a nice even surface for low stuff, and I could probably even use some 2x10's with a brace underneath to load and unload off the trailer. Its impossible to find a load spec for the horizontal dimension of a 2x10, but assuming a standard number 2 pine pressure treated board, I can't see why it wouldn't hold 1k lbs across two boards (one axle at a time) on such a short span (3ft)

_________________
Tucker

Have you trigonomically ciphered the transition or the beaver tail to the main deck? It appears that you may have issues with the car 1/2 on the ramp/beaver and the other 1/3 on the deck. all dependent on wheelbase and ground clearance of your car. Angles can also change on the tow car's hitch height. if you have then ignore this person. BTW, nice job so far.

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

so yes - to the best of my ability. I pulled the 10° from a spec Miata board. I think its probably the closest to a locost dimensionally in the masses. this guy was saying that with a 3' beavertail, 10° pitch and a 3" ride height, he had almost no scraping while loading..

I should end up with around a 90" (versus the 89" of the Miata) wheel base and a 4" ride height.. so I should be ok?


I also forgot to mention that I am going to widen the fenders out 2" on each side, the deck will accommodate most small cars with no issue, but the fenders will be an issue as they sit with only 63" of clearance between them. There is about 3" between the fenders and the back side of the tire as is, and with a fixed leaf suspension, I really don't have to worry about lateral movement of more than an inch by the tire.

_________________
Tucker

1055, For a point of reference, I built my trailer last year. My ramps are 6' and when installed they are essentially an extension of the beavertail. The length of the beavertail/ramp is not important. Just that you can clear 1 or 2 transitions. My WB is 91-5/8" and I have ~4.5" clearance between frame and the ground with no driver in the car. Actually the engine drops lower by an inch but because it is very close to the front wheels it does not create an issue. The angle of my beavertail is just under 9 deg (8.80 to be exact) I do clear when driving up but not by much. You may be OK provided you always load on flat ground. Any lower ground at the end of the ramps...... may be an issue. All bets are off if you have to load a damaged car or one with a flat tire. (me too) Worse thing is you have to re-do it if it doesn't work. If we can build cars, we can build/rebuild trailers.

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

Chuck, I agree with you - but correct me if I'm wrong.. the length of the beavertail is kind of important, as it determines the height difference you need to overcome when loading, or how long the ramps need to be to make up for it.

I made these crappy MS paint drawings to try and demonstrate.. If you have a shorter beavertail length, with the same 10° angle, you cover less height. When you couple that with a longer ramp, it should decrease the difficulty in loading.. no?



the ramps are in yellow, the black is the trailer.. lol. by running a slightly longer ramp, it would decrease the approach angle to the trailer, and with the shorter beavertail it would need accommodate a lower change in grade, no?


It makes sense in my head, I think, but my words aren't working as I'd like them to today.

_________________
Tucker

I look at it as the beavertail + the ramps needed to be " X" long to get the height and keep the angle within reasonable angles. Not the beaver "has" to be this, therefore the ramps "have" to be that. I looked at them as a set and designed from there, keeping in mind the beavertail shouldn't be so low that I scrape coming out of driveways etc. The higher, the better was my guide.

Yes. It is all in what is a given (fixed constraint) and what can be changed. In your 2nd dwg the longer ramp should work better with different ground levels as it raises the rear end of the car higher than the short ramp as the car passes over the transition. The longer ramp makes for a longer beam in bending (i.e. more flex/lower rated load) the shorter length is stronger and has less capability to compensate for varying ground. There is no right nor wrong answer. whatever works.

Here is the drawing I did for my 9 degree beavertail. In theory, my HF ramps are essentially "in-line" with the angle of the beaver. I modeled my car using 4" ground clearance, which is the ground clearance to my muffler, not my frame. The frame is 1/2" higher. You can see that if I increased the beavertail angle any more, the tail-end would be lower and the ramps would not be in-line. The car would have more issues crossing the transition. YMMV.

My post was pointing out the issue. You seem to have it mostly covered, great!

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

hmm, I like your approach better than mine. I also was eyeballing those HF ramps. I wish I could get the 10" x72, instead of having to go up to 84", but 9" width should be fine. They're on sale this coming weekend for $59.99, plus a coupon.. should be a solid purchase. plus a 6' ramp would absolutely help loading. I've heard the flanges on them are prone to separating, so i'll probably weld them on instead of bolt, and i'll probably reinforce them across the back with some of the scrap I have kicking around.

better safe than hospital!

_________________
Tucker

The HF ramps I got have a folded over panel at the rear end unlike the website photos. I tack-welded it to the sides at the bottom of the ramp to give them a bit more strength. It worked out pretty well. The front, I assembled the "tab" underneath instead of over, thinking it will give better support of the loads. That end could be better designed though. There is a semi-permanent deflection that you can see in the photo. And welded the obligatory bolt to secure the ramp to the trailer during loading and unloading. I also used a piece of flat bar across the side rails to retain the front of the ramp during storage. It slides into a slot/tab on the trailer frame. This allows me to load and remove the ramps from the rear with ease. Car on the trailer or off doesn't matter. Just slide them in, flip up the plate mount and tighten 2 bolts at the rear.

One idea, You could buy the 10" ramps and just cut a foot off the end if you would prefer.

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

I used to haul my locost on a big flat deck trailer with a beavertail. I never measured the angle, but I only tried using the ramps that came with the trailer once. I got high centered on the break over at the top of the beavertail and had to get my floor jack to get the car unstuck. After that I used some 3" thick planks about 8 or 10' long and set them up so they went halfway up the beavertail. That gave me enough clearance to not get stuck. I just slid the planks under the car from the rear before strapping it down. My car has somewhere in the region of 4" of clearance too. I'm now a very big fan of tilt decks, not more ramps to screw with and no more getting stuck.
Kristian

_________________
V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

I think I may be borrowing some ideas from your trailer for the ramps and ramp storage. I'm assuming you welded a bolt to the bottom of the tongue to locate it in the hole in the end of the plank?

_________________
Tucker

.

Borrow away where you like, change what you don't like. This is a sharing community. On the other hand, there is plenty of room for individuality. I really like the way that the swinging license plate/ramp storage retention dohickey turned out:mrgreen: I'm not so proud of the spare tire assembly. If you want to see anything more specific, just ask.

Yes your assumption is right, sort of. I inserted a carriage bolt and welded at the top leaving the bottom to fit flush against the 2x rails. I have 2 sets of holes for different vehicles. I still need to add a middle rail for my 3-wheeled Cushman. (just when you think something is done, something else changes the whole plan!) You can find more pics of my trailer over here: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=4145&start=735.

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

So i'm not dead, I swear.

I accepted a promotion that was effective May 31st, and went on a scheduled vacation the following week. Since we got back, I've been non stop playing catch up and trying to get into the groove. I went from handling 1 customer and a warehouse to 60+ on the road, so its a total change of pace.

I did get the chance to do a little bit more on the trailer here and there.. the deck is to the point where i'm going to call it done. I made the mistake of buying still wet pressure treated lumber from a box store, so it warped like MAD when I left it in the sun to dry out, then it got rained on overnight, and the sun again. I straightened it the best I could y securing it to the frame.. but its not pretty. good news is, it works.. so I don't really care.

Last thing I have to do is replace the surge brake master cylinder, and the front axle brakes, finish wiring up the lights and its good to go.. then back to the car.







The smaller, middle sections between the beavertail and the deck I had other plans for, but they didnt quite work as I intended, so I'll be re engineering the original idea to work, but that requires some different lumber cut a different way, with tools I don't have.

_________________
Tucker

So, I've been doing some designing since things have gotten hectic and its been way too hot to work outside lately.

I've been going back and forth about gas tank location in the rear, and I obviously occupied most of the space I had with the rear down bars. in the space above the axle that I do have - there is only enough room for what would be a 7-8 gallon custom fuel cell.. which I'm not really looking to do. So I thought of putting it alongside the passenger compartment, in its own special enclosure.

Bear with me here as I explain my madness.

I have to have a cat for CT. I have no internal space for once, so it would have to be mounted externally. There is nothing glorious looking about cat converters, nor mufflers for the most part, so I was already considering make a pontoon style outboard housing off both sides of the car. I would incorporate this into the rear fenders. it would be probably a 10" wide extension off the side of the car, and most likely 11" tall. on the drivers (right) side it would allow me to incorporate all the exhaust components. on the left side, the pontoon would house the fuel cell. With the space, I could fit a 15 gallon tank, charcoal canister and pump. running the fill would be easy and accessible. both sides would be serviceable with a removable top panel cover.

My initial concern was of course, what would happen if the car was t boned. I would have to build a cage around the tank and incorporate it into the superstructure of the car to protect it.

Then I realized that if I got t boned, the car would probably go right through the lotus and spilling gas would be the least of my worries. Statistically, you are more likely to be hit from the rear, so if anything moving the tank from the rear would be safer.

My second concern was weight. I am shifting probably #100+ of equipment forwards. it doesn't help for a car that will already be a bit nose heavy, but it could help balance out my #170 + another #100 in exhaust equipment across the car.

I guess I'm just looking for ideas on this.

I'm estimating 20-21mpg based on weight, engine, efficiency and gearing. I would love to have a cruising range of 300 miles, and I simply can't get that done with the tank in the rear.

_________________
Tucker

No thoughts eh? Alright well.. back to the good stuff then I guess and i'll figure that out later.

Tonight, I should finally get the opportunity to finish stripping the s10. Front suspension and steering column coming out.. I honestly don't think i'll be able to use much else.. but i'll hang on to it for a little just in case.

I also was able to pick up 4 R1 shocks from a forum member, and have acquired the Heims for the rear 4 link. Now I just need to make some measurements and buy the rods and jam nuts and I can get that sucker buttoned up.

_________________
Tucker

I had to go back in your log to see why a tank would be a problem. I don't see where you've put on the rear section yet, Are you going to "bob" the rear? Is that what creates the issue? Sorry, it's been a while. Are you building just for the track?

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886