Ramp door springs

[privateer]

Anyone add more springs to their w&p ramp door? Mine has only 4 springs but looks like there is space to add two additional springs to the outbound positions of the ramp hinge. A little extra help in lifting the door would be appreciated...

[bschoening]

I added 1 spring and it helped tremendously, I think 2 springs would keep door off the ground

[privateer]

Any tips on how to remove the rod so that i can add springs... before i just start pulling the obvious screws...

Wondering if I just remove the outward hinge and then the rod will slide out or if need to do something else???

[IsleDog]

following with great interest

[chuck19702017]

Haven't done this yet myself...looking to do it. I think if you take the end cap off the rod you can slide the hinge(s) off the one side add your spring put the hinge(s) back on and put the end cap back on. Doesn't look like it would take very long. Found out the hard way to...make sure you stay on top of your maintenance of the ramp door. Apply sealant around the exterior and interior. Especially around the 45's. Water will find it way in there and the internal seal does fail. So save yourself some trouble and stay on top of the sealing. We had to purchase a new door...and it cost us a little over $2000. Hope this helps.

[privateer]

Originally Posted by chuck19702017

Apply sealant around the exterior and interior. Especially around the 45's. Water will find it way in there and the internal seal does fail. So save yourself some trouble and stay on top of the sealing. We had to purchase a new door...and it cost us a little over $2000. Hope this helps.

sealant around what? or are you talking of a silicone treatment for the rubber gasket that seals the ramp door to the trailer body?

and what is a 45?

the only seal appears to be the black rubber gasket that compresses when the ramp is closed. I have the same on my box trailer and it has been doing fine since about 2000 with no maintenance at all and that one sits outside while the toy hauler is stored indoors when not being used. i suppose over time it may either dry rot or compress to point where not longer seals. Is this your concern?

[chuck19702017]

the 45's are the corners...where the metal extrusion is mitered. Those are 45 degree cuts. That is what was meant.


Sealant = caulking! The exterior of the door you can see a bead of caulking or sealant around the edge. That must be maintained. The door itself when it is built has a seal inside that in time will fail. As most sealant, caulking, gaskets, rubber seals do over time. This is why my brother and I took it a step further on our new door and sealed the interior seam, where the extrusion is including the corners (45's). This door is sealed up tighter than a frogs butt. Honestly do what you want...I was just trying to give some friendly heads up so you don't get blind sided like we did. a couple of dollars worth of sealant every year is cheaper than 2000 all at once. JS

[bschoening]

Originally Posted by privateer

Any tips on how to remove the rod so that i can add springs... before i just start pulling the obvious screws...

Wondering if I just remove the outward hinge and then the rod will slide out or if need to do something else???

When I did mine I had 2 people, one outside and one inside to hold the fasteners. All you do is remove the bolts, slide hinge off, slide spring on and reinstall hinge. Don't think it took 10 minutes. You need to have the door closed when doing the work.

[privateer]

Originally Posted by chuck19702017

the 45's are the corners...where the metal extrusion is mitered. Those are 45 degree cuts. That is what was meant.


Sealant = caulking! The exterior of the door you can see a bead of caulking or sealant around the edge. That must be maintained. The door itself when it is built has a seal inside that in time will fail. As most sealant, caulking, gaskets, rubber seals do over time. This is why my brother and I took it a step further on our new door and sealed the interior seam, where the extrusion is including the corners (45's). This door is sealed up tighter than a frogs butt. Honestly do what you want...I was just trying to give some friendly heads up so you don't get blind sided like we did. a couple of dollars worth of sealant every year is cheaper than 2000 all at once. JS

thanks - that explains - i had not even thought of that part of the door. i will use the marine grade 3m 5200 that we use on our boats. that stuff is strong but flexible. only negative is it will yellow somewhat if not painted and is exposed to light. it requires mechanical removal - i had to use a dremel grinder to get out of through hull fitting on my boat after using a 4' breaker bar to unscrew the transducer... lesser caulking just pulls out. Oh, it was 10-years old too...

[privateer]

Originally Posted by bschoening

When I did mine I had 2 people, one outside and one inside to hold the fasteners. All you do is remove the bolts, slide hinge off, slide spring on and reinstall hinge. Don't think it took 10 minutes. You need to have the door closed when doing the work.

ok. so have to do both the upper and lower part of hinge to get to spring location. that seems easy enough.

thanks

[bschoening]

Originally Posted by privateer

ok. so have to do both the upper and lower part of hinge to get to spring location. that seems easy enough.

thanks

That's it. Assuming you already have a spring, Amazon has them if you don't.

[emm-dee]

Looks like you have room for additional springs at each end of the door. I added two to my Vengeance and it helped a lot. You can call Lippert and get OEM springs direct from them. IIRC the price was around $20 each.

As far as the leaking problem it can be easily prevented by having either the complete door sprayed with Line-X or a strip of Line-X applied around all four edges, about 3-4 inches in width.