Torn ramp hinges, cracked gate frames, bent spring assists and broken latch mounts, rewelded and reinforced so they stop tearing out.
4.9 50 reviews from Cleveland customers
Rated with the BBBArc Wheels Welding LLC, since 2023
Black ownedIndependent shop on Cleveland's southeast side
Ramps and gates take more abuse than any other part of a trailer and get looked at the least. A landscape trailer gate goes up and down maybe a dozen times a day, gets driven over by a mower, gets dropped rather than lowered, and nobody inspects it until it will not close.
The failure is almost always at a hinge or a latch mount rather than in the ramp itself. Those are small welds carrying shock loads in a direction they were not really designed for, and once one hinge tears the remaining ones carry more and go faster.
Hinge knuckles tearing away from the ramp or the frame, usually on the outer hinges where the leverage is greatest.
Latch and catch mounts, which get hammered every time a gate is slammed rather than closed.
Spring assist mounts and the brackets holding gas struts, which snap when the spring has weakened and somebody has been lifting against it.
Ramp frames themselves cracking at the crossmember joints, on ramps that have been driven over by machines heavier than they were rated for.
Bent ramp rails from a machine coming off at an angle.
A hinge that tore out was carrying more than it was built for, which is worth knowing before rewelding it exactly as it was. Rebuilt hinges get longer welds, more material at the knuckle and a doubler where the mount ties into thin frame steel.
Latch mounts get the same treatment. They are cheap to reinforce and they are the thing that fails at the worst possible moment.
Where a ramp is genuinely undersized for the machine going up it, that gets said. Reinforcing a ramp rated for a mower so it will take a skid steer has a limit, and it is better to know where that limit is than to find it.
Reinforcing a ramp so it will carry something well beyond what it was designed for. There is a point where the answer is a heavier ramp, not a stronger weld, and pretending otherwise puts a machine on the road.
Yes, and it should be rebuilt rather than just tacked back. A hinge that tore was under specified for the load it was taking, so it gets more material and a longer weld, and the other hinges get checked because they have been carrying extra.
Usually. Bent rails get straightened where the steel will take it and replaced where it has creased. Cracked crossmember joints get rewelded and gusseted.
That is a lot of this work. Landscape gates cycle constantly and the hinge and latch mounts are the first thing to go.
Most quotes come back the same day the shop is open. Free, no obligation, and if it cannot be repaired you will hear that straight.
