New Toys for Driveway Repairs

Jul 04, 2015 Abel Longoria Vanagon 3

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I had a project coming up on my Vanagon and I knew I’d need a few items in order to make my job a little easier. I planned to swap out my stock coolant plastic pipes with stainless steel pipes as well as change out my radiator. Since I didn’t own a set of automotive ramps I got online to scope a few sets out.

What I ended up with:

1. Rhino Gear RhinoRamps (12,000lb GVW Capacity) – Sold as Pair
2. Powebuilt All-In-One 3-Ton Bottle Jack with Jack Stand – Sold individually
3. Ernst High Grip Wheel Chocks – Sold as Pair

I’m used to the old school metal ramps and so all of the plastic ones that are available kind of took me by surprise. At first I wasn’t too crazy about the idea of lifting my heavy Vanagon up in the air on these plastic ramps while I worked underneath it. Once I got the van backed up onto the ramps I then realized how sturdy they truly were. I shook the van side to side and front to back and these Rhino Gear Rhinoramps never flinched. Impressed.

I recall back in the older days when I last had to use metal car ramps while on concrete, the ramps would tend to be pushed or slid out a bit before the weight of the vehicle was actually on the edge of the ramp holding it down in place. These RhinoRamps have a cool rubber foot near the front edge of the ramp. Once your tire approaches the ramp that rubber foot catches the tire immediately and the bottom of the foot, under the ramp grips onto the concrete floor. These ramps stayed right where I placed them. No sliding.

Another cool tool I stumbled across was a Powebuilt All-In-One 3-Ton Bottle Jack with Jack Stand. This eliminates having to jack up a corner of the van with a floor jack, place a conventional jack stand in place, lower the floor jack so the vehicle rests on the jack stand, then wheel the floor jack over to the other side in order to repeat the whole process again. These jack stands have a lift range from 11″ – 21″ high. That’s plenty!

These jack stands you set in place and with their built in bottle jack you simply jack it up to the desired height and thats it! Done. These bottle jacks were really cool and even though they have an automatic safety pin thats falls into place at about every inch of lift I still opted to back these up with my old stands just in case until I’ve gained confidence in their abilities. Which I have now!

What’s very beneficial with this design is if your working under the van and find that you need just a little bit more lift you can simply jack each jack stand up right where they sit (not while you’re under the van of course). No need to wheel the floor jack around to raise the van then raise the conventional jack stand then lower the floor jack then repeat the process for the other side. That now seems like a major waste of time.

I also added a pair of Ernst High Grip Wheel Chocks so that the van doesn’t accidentally roll out of position and hurt myself and/or others. Cheap price to pay for added safety.

I’d definitely recommend these items as I’ve been very impressed with the function and security of these products.

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