Spinning on ramp advice

[Silvertip]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Anyone buying a tow vehicle (2WD or 4WD) should pop for a locking differential. Yes -- even 4WD should have one. Put one front wheel and one back wheel on slim and you will still be stuck. The rear locker at least gives you true 3 wheel drive. I consider it essential for a 2WD truck. But then I live up north -- what do I know eh?

 

[monoshock]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Don't over do it with Bubba's in the back of the truck. <br />

 

[rwidman]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

I would first try not backing in so far as to get your tires in the water. You'll still be where others have pulled water onto the ramp but your tires will be damp not wet. Aslo as others have suggested, new tires or more weight in the back of the truck. If you can drive out at an angle, this reduces the effective pitch of the ramp.<br /><br />The trailer tongue weight should be set for towing safety and stability, not pulling out of the water. Experts recommend between 5% and 7% for boat trailers with tandem axle trailers at the lower end of the scale.

 

[woosterken]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Hey I think the right tires make all the difference.<br />When I bought my F150 4X4 it had all terrain Michlins on it and if you spit on the street it would not move with out 4X4 changed to all season <br />tires and it made a magor difference even on wet ramps.

 

[NMplayer]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

I appreciate all the help. I may try tires first and pulling out at an angle makes sense to me. i can probably add some weight pretty easily too. I'm also going to check into a getting a limited slip rear end. I'd like to drop my axle ratio a notch anyway. I only use the truck for working or fishing and it nearly always has a load on it.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Check salvage yard for a 4WD rear end. Generally they have deeper gears and may have a limited slip or locking differential. It would likely be cheaper than installing a new ring & pinion and adding a locker.

 

[CZSteve]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Anyone here ever had their tires 'siped'?<br /> http://www.****mantires.com/sipe.html <br /><br />I've never done this, but am seeing positive remarks on various forums.

 

[Realgun]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

NMplayer what ramp you launching at? They are all pretty steep but you should not be spinning tires as they are all grooved as far as I have seen. I usually angle the boat and you could get some 5 gallon water jugs and put them in the back.<br /><br />I have the wide low 20 inch tires and the water actually goes over the rear wheel on the truck when I launch!

 

[Nikko]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

If you have a limited slip (Posi, twin traction, trac-loc etc.) rear end, try riding the brakes a bit as you come up (sometimes this requires a fair bit of pedal pressure). <br /><br />I know this sounds strange, but it will equalize the load on the rear tires causing the power to be distributed evenly bu the Ltd slip differential. <br /><br />It's an old 4x4 off road trick..you have to put the brakes on to get up a hill <br /><br />Good luck!<br />Nikko

 

[JasonB]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

If you have the factory Wrangler AP or BFG tires on that F-150 NM, they are a big part of your proble. I have a '99 F-150 SC, V8 with limited slip that came with Goodyear Wrangler. My 2000lb fishing boat drug me backwards down the ramp trying to pull out one day. I went the next wee and had a set on Bridgestone Dueler AT Revos installed. I haven't spun a tire on any ramp in well over two years, 200lb fishing boat or 4500lb bowrider. My F-I-L has a 2000 F-150 SC with open diff, like yours, and his was factory equipped with BFG Long Trails that had a few miles on them and wouldn't get traction from a stop light if the road was wet. He installed Revos and now won't run anything else.<br /><br />Ford really dropped the ball in the stock tires. The ones they chose don't seem to get the job done on these particular trucks.

 

[NMplayer]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

I'm looking at tires today<br /><br />The ramp is at Caballo Lake and yes it is grooved

 

[Realgun]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Wow I thought things were hunky dorry but yesterday I backed in kinda crooked and got 1 tire on sand. I got the boat off fine but spun tires trying to get just the trailer up the ramp. Was a no go with the boat! This was at Cochiti lake and the whole ramp bottom has sand all over it. In retrieving the boat it was a we but hairy getting the boat up the ramp.<br /><br />I think I will get the limit slip outa the box and into the truck pretty soon.

 

[NMplayer]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

I've fished Cochiti a couple of times. Its a nice little lake. I bought two plastic 55 gallon barrels I'm gonna fill them up when I get to the lake and see if that "fixes" it.

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

"Assuming you have an auto, try starting in 2rd gear."<br /><br />"Like jimmbo said,<br />Put it in low gear and slowly let off the brake and slowly engage the accelerator. Do not put it into 'D' until you are on level road. Also take the overdrive out.<br />I put mine in low gear and out of overdrive when I want to launch and retreive the boat. It give me better traction on wet ground and stop the tires from spinning.<br />That should reduce the torque and wheelspin<br /><br />There were a couple references here to using low gear or second gear on an automatic transmission. Doesn't matter what you put the selector in, the tranny will always start-out in 1st or low gear gear.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Powertrax no slip<br />It is a locker that can be installed without re-setting the ring and pinion. It will give equal traction to both rear tires. They are popular because even tho they are a locker, they are not harsh like a Detroit Locker. However, they will make the truck feel different in normal driving, and can be dangerous in ice and snow since then you can wind up with both rear wheels spinning and slide off the road! But for off roading in dirt, mud, etc and pulling up boat ramps they are good.<br />Before that you might want to try better tires, airing them down a bit for traction, and weight in the pick up bed.<br />BTW about putting it in 2nd gear, on the older Ford automatics, you could do that, it would actually start in 2nd gear and make it easier to start up in snow, since less torque was being delivered to the rear wheels. Our 98 Subaru has the same feature. I don't know if that works on modern Ford automatics though, need a couple of modern Ford fans to chime in. I used to put the C-4 auto in my '70 Fairlane in 2nd to get it out of a snowy driveway, and it did help, you could feel it starting out slower than if it were in Drive (starts in 1st always when in Drive).

 

[malagaoth]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

i haul a 1.5ton boat/trailer como with a 1600cc renault, tire spin is usually not a problem unless there is weed on the ramp (end of season problem). then i rig up a rope from the tow hitch to trailer so i can keep the car on the dry part of the ramp. if this fails i have a winch welded to a tow hitch on a steel bar i connect the winch up to the draw bar and just wind the trailer up the ramp! here in ireland there is never a problem with busy ramps.

 

[umblecumbuz]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Hi NMplayer,<br /><br />I've said this before and got laughed at, but here goes again.<br /><br />Here in the Med, it is common to have a short length of rope loop-spliced at both ends. When the trailer is in the water at the ramp and the vehicle is on the dry, the rope is hooked round trailer and vehicle and then the trailer is unhitched, with the jockey wheel down on the concrete.<br /><br />The trailer slides the rest of the way into the water, and then the vehicle pulls it out with the rope attached to the hitch. Whether floating off or recovering, it always works without a - scuse the pun - hitch.<br /><br />The vehicle never gets wet. We boat in one of the most corrosive seas in the world, and that's the real reason for keeping vehicles out of it, but the spin-off (scuse pun again!) is that we always have good traction.

 

[milkyway]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

If everything else fails, check how much to convert your low mileage suv to 4-wheeler. You will need this anyway when it's raining and it gets slippery.

 

[tomatolord]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

Ok the easiest way is to get the mother in law to sit in the back <br /><br />Nothing like a good amount of dead weight to solve the problem.<br /><br />There is one trick.....<br /><br /><br />You have to leave the window open in the back otherwise all that hot air they blow will actually make the spinning worse by lifting the back end off of the ground. (which by the way does come in handy if you get stuck in the mud)

 

[NMplayer]

Re: Spinning on ramp advice

My MIL is a little wiry thing so I guess the hot air would out weigh any benefits