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Ramps for Loading Cart into Bay
For you guys that have a Cricket or Wheels To Go cart, where did you find appropriate ramps for loading into the bay? Length? How about tie downs in the bay? Any insights are appreciated.
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4 Replies
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John,
If you have a Cricket come look at what I did to get mine into the bay. It is a little tricky and it is easier if you see it rather than me trying to explain.
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These might help, but easier to picture in person.
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Thanks Jon, now I remember you writing this up a few years ago, and I found the article you wrote. Do you know if the aluminum loading ramps (from Parliament) are a commercial product, or were they custom fabricated?
I bought one of the Wheels To Go carts. I think it is a bit less tall than the Cricket when “folded”. My Royale does not have the Liberty leveling box like that, so that is not a problem.
I added a Joey bed that is on the passenger side, but is wider than 1/2 of the bay width. To make this work at all, I will have to shorten the depth of it quite a bit.
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
The ramps are actually 1/2 of the ramps that came with the Cricket I bought from Parliament. They are just the top half of each one. My guess is any ramps will work, but on the XLII the entire key to success was getting the front wheels as low as possible on the ramps until the steering tiller went under the bay slide reinforcement seen in the top photo.
A short set of ramps is better, and I have to have the bus at ride height or higher otherwise the front wheels do not drop enough for the tiller to go under the reinforcement.
The metal framework in the Cricket bay is from the joey bed I removed. The joey bed raised the floor height of the bay so the Cricket would not get under the slide reinforcement. I really wish its removal wasn’t required because having the Cricket sit on a Joey bed that rolled in and out would make loading and unloading a whole lot easier.
I park the Cricket at its shortest possible length and I still need to get the length over the passenger side joey bed I retained so I needed the ramps in the bay. What is not shown is the strap used to secure the Cricket. If you look at the photos you will see a couple of ring bolts. Those are the attach points for a ratchet strap that goes across the Cricket prior to travel.
If the chair pockets on the bay door were not there I might not have needed the ramps in the bay to get the Cricket wheels over the joey bed, but I need them for chair storage so the ramps became necessary.
I use the Cricket power to back it into position in the bay. I manipulate the pedal with it in reverse to back it into its final position with the tiller up against the Prevost conduit channel under the ceiling. Then I have to wiggle and twist my hands and fingers up behind the tiller to switch the key off and put the directional switch our of reverse into the forward travel position. But the bottom line is when we are at venues with long walking distances the Cricket is really nice to have so the little bit of gyrations needed to load and unload are worth it.
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