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Building vehicle teeter totter, need advice

Line the bottom outer edges with car tires???

Those daystar bumps are kinda pricey and IDK if they would really do much. Those poly ones, or a set of the ones like Jesse is running from an s-10 or something can be had cheap.

Im curious at how they do the pivot. Be cool to rob a front axle of the spindles and hubs to make it.
We did use tires under the teeter totter we used to borrow and that helped with the slam down. I hadn't thought about those s10 bumps, I've used those on other projects. As long as you can keep them from popping out of the cups.


What's the purpose of it, just drive across?
The idea is to try and find the balance point of your vehicle.


I wanna see one with like a 6' tall pivot....
The one we used to use probably had a 2' fulcrum height and the end would really slam down. I can't imagine how bad it would be with a 6' pivot.


Well 2 shocks at an angle will not really slow it down much.

The only thing I have heard about teeter totters lime this is they tend to get ignored after a while cause they are so difficult to do
It does get a little discouraging and frustrating. In reality we only use it about once a year. In October we do something called Fun Days at a club members property instead of hitting a trail. The idea is to stay out of the way of the hunters.

So this is just for one more thing to do at our little day long event.


Here are more pics of the ARB articulation trailer

3303117590_376b11b4fd.jpg
That would be awesome. Unfortunately I have a harder time visualizing how to build that than I do building the teeter totter.


Maybe you could use some old coil springs on the ends to keep from slamming down to hard
Might be too springy tho.
 
What I am talking about doing is something like below but instead of just scissor lifts at opposing corners you have a continuous ramp on each side supported by a bottle jack that causes the same action

4-Jeep-Beach-Daytona-4-29-14.jpg
Seems like I've seen something similar before. Kind of a more advance type of RTI ramp.
 
Here are more pics of the ARB articulation trailer

3303117590_376b11b4fd.jpg
That would be awesome. Unfortunately I have a harder time visualizing how to build that than I do building the teeter totter.
In thinking about this more, I wonder if a fella could build something similar just using angles and not curves. That I could wrap my wee little brain around.
 
If I can figure out the materials needed. Seems like most could probably be done with 2" square tube maybe?
 
If you build one of the ARB style trailers you could probably rent it out to other clubs in the area for a daily rate and have it pay for itself instead of just sitting when you're not using it and yes, you could definitely build it with square tube. The hardest part would be the stabilization of the actual trailer center section. They have arms that come out like a mobile crane or ladder truck on theirs. May be able to get away with just 4 heavy duty trailer jacks. You could also make it so that all 4 ramps are interchangeable so you could move them around and have different scenarios. The centersection would always be the same but each ramp would itself be different and that might be just enough difference to keep it interesting. And you could always run it forwards and backwards in each configuration. This would give you like 24 different configurations or something like that if the math is close to right.
 
I gotta a tube roller and an itch to use it. Someone send me the tube and I will get started on the arb style trailer
 
If you build one of the ARB style trailers you could probably rent it out to other clubs in the area for a daily rate and have it pay for itself instead of just sitting when you're not using it and yes, you could definitely build it with square tube. The hardest part would be the stabilization of the actual trailer center section. They have arms that come out like a mobile crane or ladder truck on theirs. May be able to get away with just 4 heavy duty trailer jacks. You could also make it so that all 4 ramps are interchangeable so you could move them around and have different scenarios. The centersection would always be the same but each ramp would itself be different and that might be just enough difference to keep it interesting. And you could always run it forwards and backwards in each configuration. This would give you like 24 different configurations or something like that if the math is close to right.
One of the tricky parts is figuring out the angles that will make it challenging but not too much challenge. It would suck to have someone roll off the top of the trailer. It would need to be something a stockish Jeep or Toyota could do like those pictured. It might make it kinda bland for built rigs. But in all reality a lot of the vehicles in the club are just built a little above stock.

I was thinking about the stabilizing jacks as well. I think you are right, it could be done with some of those big square jacks like what's used on bigger equipment trailers. One on each of the 4 corners. Just like I mentioned with the teeter totter, you gotta design for the chance that someone might try to drive their big diesel 3500 crew cab long bed on it.


I gotta a tube roller and an itch to use it. Someone send me the tube and I will get started on the arb style trailer
Hard part would be getting the steel to you.
 
I would think that it'd be hard to balance a vehicle once the gas starts sloshing around. At 6 lbs per gallon there's probably an average of 100 lbs that's constantly moving making it hard to get it perfectly balanced.
 
I don't think you would have any flops at the very top if you make it like the arb trailer. Your flops would be on the ramps and the risk would be no greater than on the trail. Just don't set it up on asphalt in case someone does flop. You might also want a winch anchor point on the top of the trailer so the Jeeps can make it up there too
 
For the hardcore guys you could make some rock ledge type ramps off the short side of the trailer. Very steep and high break over angle.
 
I would think that it'd be hard to balance a vehicle once the gas starts sloshing around. At 6 lbs per gallon there's probably an average of 100 lbs that's constantly moving making it hard to get it perfectly balanced.
I've seen it done successfully a few times, but never with an automatic. Everyone I've seen do it rolled up slowly to the tip point and then pushed in the clutch as the front started coming down to roll the truck back slightly to regain the balance.

I'm liking the ARB ramp idea. An added idea that I don't think would be too hard to implement (for someone other than me :) ) would be to make portions of the center section be able to be raised and lowered so that you could increase/decrease the level of difficulty.

*edit*
Actually, something even easier to change would be to have some pieces that would fit into the "valleys" on the course so you could mellow out the worst of the angles for lighter built trucks. If you're feeling froggy, go with no valley fills for the extreme version.
 

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