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Cruze car ramps, another minor problem.

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car cruze minor problem ramps
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NickD

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Over 40 year old Made in the USA ramps won't work, inclination angle is 22.3 degrees, determined for the Cruze, maximum angle is 18 degrees.

Some guy on youtube is using a single 2 X 4, was going to make ramp extenders with a 2 X 10 that would fit flat on the floor and ramp that I could do using both a radial and table saw to cut those long angles with a little bit of help from a hand saw. But then frictional problems on a smooth piece of Douglas Fir board.

So decided to look around, seems like RhinoGear owns this market, every auto supply dealer in town sells them, and everyone only has a 6" lift. Wondered who came up with that idea? Did find an older model 11903 with an 8.5" lift and 17 degree inclination angle. But after a search, only O-Reilly carries those. We just got a brand new O'Reilly store in town with Advanced Auto on one corner, Carquest on the other. Just came back, only while supplies, none on the shelve. Chatted with the owner, do other stores have these. Made some calls, will be in Wednesday. I know 8.5" will work, blocked up my wheels with a very low floor jack and put 9" high blocks under the wheels. A PITA, but got my oil changed. Still was a tight fit, old ramps are 9.5" tall.

Also saw extenders that should work with my old ramps, but these are high tempered steel, try drilling a hole in those even with a Made in the USA drill bit. Tip get red hot and hardly puts a dent in them. Thought my 88 Surpa was low, but old ramps still worked on that car. With the Cruze, careful watching driveways for various store parking lots. Did slightly drag something on one, but didn't see any damage.

Have air shocks on the front of my motorhome, can lift those another 4" with additional air pressure, should get struts like that for my Cruze to solve two minor problems. Still like this car, especially at the gas station.
[h=3][/h]
 
#2 ·
The Rhino Ramps work okay for me. I don't have much chance to use them since my oil changes are done without any crawling under the car.
 
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Discussion starter · #5 ·
Rhino part # 11903 is advertised at 35" x 10.5" x 8.5", but that 8.5" height is the height of the end stop, not the lift of the tires. Dealer said try them anyway, if they don't work, bring them back. With my low profile creeper, had no problems going underneath, so kept them.

One advantage, with the lower height and angle, was easy to drive up with a manual transmission Cruze. And that plastic is sure light compared to my 40 year old ramps.
[h=3][/h]
 
#6 ·
My Eco just scrapes the front spoiler on my rhino ramps.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
Just grabbed a set of RhinoGear ramps at Walmart for $43.82. On the underside it says model#11909. Sticker on side says item number 11914. Rated for GVW of 12000lb. Rated capacity is 3000lb each or 6000lbs/pair. Says use on maximum tire width of 9.5 inches.

My measurement of width is 9.25 inches between the side ridges where tire will rest. Their website for the two models they talk about says to always go an inch smaller than what they say the width is, which they measure at 10.5 for the smaller rated (8000lbs gvw) ramps, and 11.5 for the higher rated (12000lbs gvw) ramps. There is a new RhinoGear Max rated for 16000lbs gvw.

The height is about 6.5 inches worth of lift, ridge at top where tires will rest between is about a 1/4 inch more. The backstop ridge goes to 8.5 inches.

Still undecided if I will keep them so I have not cut the plastic tie. I know my 30 year old red steel ramps will not work for my Vibe or any other new compact.

I just hate jacking the car up, even at the jacking spots on these compact cars. The last oil change I did, I jacked up at the center front subframe member that is a jacking point. Still, I was afraid my jack stands with the deep V was going to punch through the floor or mangle something. I need to find some rubber inserts or start cutting some wood to fit there.

If I keep them I will probably use old rubber floor mats underneath to see if that will help them from sliding on my smooth concrete floor. If that does not work, then maybe a couple 2x4's coming out from the garage back wall and another 2x4 connecting the two at the end that the ramps would back up against.

Still, 6.5 inches of lift just is not much room for my chest, or enough clearance to see what the heck I am doing with these quickly aging eyes that do not like to focus on something as close as my nose! I am not sure if it will work for me.

If I was not sitting on a $15.00 wallyworld gift card courtesy of the local Dodge dealership for showing up and looking at the Dart, among other things, I would not of got the ramps.

Oh, on the back of the ramp it says made in the U.S.A.
 
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Discussion starter · #8 ·
Is tight but workable, don't ask me to take a photo would need a super wide lens. But appears the Cruze adopted the long Ford subframe design, two black painted bars with the engine, transmission, suspension, and steering all mounted to it. Just jam that assembly up there by dropping the body over it. Attached to the unibody with large bolts, think I counted four of them.

Really nice for production, but not the best for maintenance, least with a tiny 4 banger, does have room around, it. Fords with a V-6, even a four are miserable to work on in this respect.

One key reason we have a new Cruze, daughter's 98 ZX2 broke a timing belt, typically a 200K car with only 130K on it. Had AAA bring it home and set it in my garage. Complete timing belt kit was 80 bucks off the internet, waited a couple of days, Ford dealer wanted 370 bucks for exactly the same kit.

Unbelievable, in six short months, her rocker panels completely rusted through, when I went to lift it, entire car body bent. Just said, this is going to the wrecking yard. Those bend down tabs under the rocker panels are the key jacking points, just like the Cruze and practically all unibody vehicles. One reason to buy an SUV with a real frame under it. If you can afford the gas to drive it.

I first started looking for a used vehicle for her, that clunker program sure cured that. For even 10,000 bucks, could only find a pile of rust doing a 250 mile radius search. Cheapest route was to buy a new vehicle turning our Cavalier over to her.

Those bent down tabs under the rocker panels is what these new lifts depend upon for support, what happened to bumper jacks? First thing I look at when looking for a used vehicle down on my hands and knees, all bent.

Also got a good look at that engine shield, already has six 1 1/4" holes at all the low spots formed in. What the heck are they talking about with puddling?

Feel the rest of us should be smoking crack so we can think at that same level as our leaders. If they really want a recall, should be on these lifting points.
 
#9 ·
NickD said:
Unbelievable, in six short months, her rocker panels completely rusted through, when I went to lift it, entire car body bent. Just said, this is going to the wrecking yard. Those bend down tabs under the rocker panels are the key jacking points, just like the Cruze and practically all unibody vehicles. One reason to buy an SUV with a real frame under it. If you can afford the gas to drive it.


Those bent down tabs under the rocker panels is what these new lifts depend upon for support, what happened to bumper jacks? First thing I look at when looking for a used vehicle down on my hands and knees, all bent.

Also got a good look at that engine shield, already has six 1 1/4" holes at all the low spots formed in. What the heck are they talking about with puddling?

Feel the rest of us should be smoking crack so we can think at that same level as our leaders. If they really want a recall, should be on these lifting points.
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Lol, you are not helping my fears! Those lifting points and the worry of Midwest "saltfall" winters weakening them, and the rockers in general, were one of the many last straws that made me want to trade in my 86 Olds 98. After twenty something years of ownership and working on it, got lazy and could not find any soft wood blocks handy to try to protect the rocker panels and underbody. Needless to say, started to punch a hole through the underbody and the lift point started to mangle pretty good. I can still hear the noise.

Sometimes the floor jack would let down a little faster than you would like when trying to slowly lower onto stands. It is fun to find enough room to use the floor jack and get the stand in about the same place you are jacking it, especially on the front side. The rear was easier with a "mini frame rail" branching off and on the inside of the rocker going to the rear suspension, if I remember correctly.

When trying to jack that car from the center front member, my floor jack barely had enough height to account for the suspension decompression to move both tires freely, and not enough height to get my jack stands under the front side jacking points.

Seen some put the jack on the lower control arms before, but was never comfortable with that. Should of got smaller profile stands and a higher lift floor jack.

I miss the Dakota 4x4 that got traded in. There were a plethora of solid lift points between the frame, axles, etc. Could do an oil change without jacking it up, but usually would anyway. I seem to always want to put my head through the frame. Smack the forehead on the bottom of the vehicle, jerk back and smack the back of my head on the concrete, rinse and repeat, like a bobble head. So I would jack it up enough to get the creeper with the padded headrest under the truck along with my beer belly. I might have a knot on my forehead, but the back of my head will be A-okay.

Ramps still do not solve making tire rotation, suspension, or brake work easier. Maybe should stick with the floor jack and stands.
 
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
Vetterin said:
While these weigh about 100 lbs each I have been using them for about 15 years now. I actually made them for my Corvette and they are as safe as you are going to get.
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Was thinking about something like this, but cutting a 17 degree angle at that edges. With what I have for wood tools, could cut 3 1/2" deep on my table saw running the board vertically along the fence, then finishing the other side with my radial saw. Total length of that cut would be 5 1/8" for that hypotenuse.

But using 6 each 2 X 12's for a continuous ramp for a 9" lift so they wouldn't be quite that long. Step method does have the advantage of making it a lot easier to drive up. Another problem around here with my kids, son-in-law tried it with my Wayne Dalton garage door and smashed the 2nd up panel. Should have left the door opened, replacing that panel wasn't cheap. Not to mention trying to buy anything from Wayne Dalton to do it yourself. Really had to insult their so-call garage door mechanics, to do the job right myself. Never heard of certified garage door mechanics before, think one requirement is having an IQ less than two.

Well, since then hear, DAD! to drive the vehicles up and down those ramps.

Tire rotation is yet another subject, can't even rotate the tires on my Supra, very expensive tires, unidirectional with the fronts smaller than the rears. Can do sides, but that requires remounting and rebalancing the tires. Remounting tires causes major stress, so have to say the heck with it. And I should be concerned with relatively cheap tires?

Least with the six inch ramps, can get my 24" lift floor jack under it to block it up, pitched my jacks stands a long time ago and use Douglas fir blocks glued and screwed together. And will I have problems with that tire monitoring system? Don't know, didn't try that yet. According to the tire warranty, should do that every 7,500 miles to maintain that warranty, not quite there yet. Current method, if I spot uneven wear, time for an alignment job.

Yet another problem is changing coolant. In my neck of the woods, use a 60-40 mix. Block plugs are totally inaccessible so use a blower to hope to get out most of the rinsing water to hit that mix ratio. Next problem is the radiator cap not being the highest point anymore, get around that by jacking up the front of the vehicle so it is. That way, no air pockets. The newest problem is no radiator cap, don't even want to get into that. But with any slight air leaks between the reservoir and the radiator, can suck in air rather than fluid.

New vehicle advertising should say, you want problems, we have problems! Not planning in keeping this Cruze forever, already stashing away bucks to trade it off with 35.9K, that way the dealer can say, this car is still under warranty. Getting too old to fool around with problems like this.
 
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