All Trucks, Campers, Trailers, RV's and Motor Homes - Too Heavy Horse Trailer Ramp

I have a 84 Circle J warmblood size trailer that has a too heavy ramp (I had back surgury and cant lift it) Any ideas on fixing it or replacing it?

Does it have any counterbalance springs already or do you have to wrestle the full weight?

the trailer has springs going from the trailer to the ramp, but it feels like you are lifting the whole weight of the ramp.

does anybody have any ideas on how to fix this?

I have some experience with trailers and ramps but have no clue what a "84 Circle J warmblood size trailer " looks like.

If you could post some pics on a free site like Photo Bucket and post a link we could take a look.

The trailer looks like a normal 2-horse trailer-except it is taller and longer to fit in large horses. (like draft size) I think the ramp is extra heavy also because the big horses weigh more. It is only maybe a foot higher and longer then a reg trailer.

anybody have any ideas?

I can only imagine that the springs you are referring to somehow take some of the weight off the ramps.
How they work is not possible to guess without seeing it.

Post a pic and we might have a better idea.

I would check into mounting a 12 volt winch above the door that would hook up to the ramp to lift it.

life begins when the kids leave home and the dog dies

Contact the mfgr. and see if they can help. Maybe it has the wrong springs. Or may be they can supply some helper springs. The winch would do the job also, you would have to run a wire from the truck or install a separate batt. RW

car trailers have a spool above the door (like a garage door spring) and a cable on each side of the door for lift. not sure if you could use that with horses though.

Could even conceivably go hydraulic, although it would take some engineering and $. Problem with any cable-type arrangement is that a lot of horses like to dance sideways while trying to load [been there, had them] and anything like that would be a hazard. Also horses sometimes come out pretty quick without much regard for what (or who) is in the way. Again, cables anywhere in the area could be hazardous. Weight is a major drawback of having a drop-ramp trailer. You can lose the weight by switching to a swing-door arrangement, but the trade-off there is horses who don't like the step up and prefer a walk-up loading.

I got it fixed, had a welder put new springs on it and adjusted the height of the springs. I can actually lift it now!!!
Thanks for all your suggestions.

Glad it worked out and thanks for the feedback. :thumbup: