We're Buying Ramp Racks for ALL Our Mowing Setups!

Hey, everybody, it's Lee with Augusta of Whatcom county, the office manager there. And today we just wanted to give you a little bit of a logistical overview of the ramp racks that we've been ordering here for our truck. So we recently just purchased seven in total. So we are practicing what we preach and we are converting everything over to trailerless setups. So we have two that just came actually yesterday from the ramp rack company and we wanted to show you Charlie and Caleb are out here battling the elements. A beautiful Pacific Northwest day, and they're putting this thing together. So I wanted to show you a little bit of what happens when they get delivered to us, how we assemble them and some of the tools you'll need and the processes that we use.

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So first thing I want to show you over here is the delivery method. So they come on the longer pallets. I don't know the technical term if there is one, but they're longer. So you're definitely going to need your skid steer or a track loader that has forks or if you have a forklift, obviously that's going to be ideal. So we just put forks right here on our skid steer there. It can handle the weight. These guys come about £600, so it can handle the weight just fine. It's really the awkward shape and length of the pallet that's going to be the main issue when unloading. Sometimes you have to find a counterbalance weight to make sure it doesn't teeter when you finally get it on the forks. So comes in a pretty small footprint. I'll get a little closer here.

So this is all what it comes with when you get the non assembled, no headache rack version. So I know in a previous review that Mike did, we showed you the one that came with the headache rack. That was a demo unit they sent out to us, we our guys, and we said we don't really need the headache rack. It's not really going to work for us in the way we like to set up our racks. So we went ahead and ordered seven more without the headache rack. So this one comes without the headache rack. Comes with all the parts and components you're going to need for general assembly. Actually a pretty small package overall. You know, you're looking at maybe 4ft wide by about 6 to 7ft long. So pretty tight package overall. You're going to want to prepare for that, have a space, a safe spot to leave it overnight if you don't get to assemble it same day. So we got these delivered yesterday Caleb and Charlie are putting them on today. So that's what they come looking like when they come off the truck on the pallet. So we'll swing over and out of the truck. And we'll just kind of walk you through the setup process.

So it comes really in, as you can see, about, like, three parts. You get the back ramp. You get the back ramp attachment and assembly, the mounting bracket, basically. And then you get. The third part is going to be the bed rails that attach to the sides of the bed. So you have the main ramp on the back, the bracket that mounts the ramp to the truck itself, and then the bed rails. So you have to assemble that in certain stages. And Caleb and Charlie could probably tell you a little bit better than me. I've just kind of been watching them every once in a while. But the rack part on the bed actually mounts in three spots. Two on the bed rails and one where you can see where Charlie is underneath the truck on the ball hitch. So it has three points of contact we really like. It's going to keep it a lot more sturdy when you're moving weight and keeping things up and down the ramp like your mowers. Like Mike said in previous videos, we were able to fit a stand on 48 in the back just to test it. So that that third point of contact underneath on the ball hitch, really nice for us to make sure it's sturdy and it's going to last a long time. So that's how they assemble it. You do have to assemble the lights on the back, as well as mount your license plate, Obviously running the cables up underneath like you normally would. If you had a trailer to attach, you would just run those light cables underneath and a plug into the back. So Charlie just assembled the lights for us there. And then when you attach it to the bed rails, obviously it mounts in those normal slots that come standard on pickup trucks. So it just slides in there. You screw it in with some pressure screws, and it holds in place. So really standard. To set these guys up, you're just going to need, you know, a drill set a drill, different drill bits, crescent wrenches, and obviously the green racks. If you're going to use the green racks like we do. So we also. One thing that our guys rented to make a little bit faster. This is really sturdy steel. We really like it. We know it's going to last long. However, a handheld drill might not drill the same way as a mag drill. So we actually rented one from a hardware store.

And so this is what we're working with here.

So we just rented this Milwaukee mag drill, and we got a generator in the back there. So Caleb's been using this. This is going to make really nice precision holes. And I think Josh got. Josh got some shots of that. So we can drill the exact size hole that we need. For the bolts that come with the green rack system. So we know we're going to have really clean, tight bolts and screws. When we finally set up the whole system. So that's the Milwaukee drill, I think, for us, like, 50 bucks for the day at a hardware store. So this was really great to make it a little bit quicker and easier for our guys to get really nice, clean holes. So on this side, we're going to do standard setup, like we always do. This is the passenger side of the vehicle. So we're going to operate off the assumption that if we need to parallel park, our guys are going to parallel park on the same side as our client. So they're going to need the blower and their trimmers. So the blower will get mounted right here. The trimmers will get mounted on the back there. And then the mower will go in the back. On the other side Caleb's working on, we have the gas cans, A sprayer, and hand tools and extra line will go on the other side. So we can swing around and show you that side. The nice thing about these. And if Josh can get a little closer, closer here. This is a customized bracket. It's really cool. So it actually goes on two different axes, and it customizable to different bed sizes. So see how you can slide. Slot the screws differently. So if this bed were, say, an inch wider, you could slot this piece over another inch if you needed that play. So it's really nice. You don't have to order, Oh, I need a 2006 Chevy 150 V6. Whatever. You don't have to do that. All you have to do is say, hey, it's a 1500 pickup. Great. They can send you the one. And it has these customizable slots that work great on different bed varieties. You need this.

Cool. So that is the drill, the mag drill that we like. Like Mike said in a previous video, we like to buy our trucks used. Because everyone knows how to drive a truck. This truck has been in the fleet since Josh and I were young bucks. And Augusta had four or five employees. And this thing's still kicking, still making us money. And we upgrade them as we go. So this is the upgrade we're putting on P3. One of the original augusta trucks. So, as you can see here, Caleb's mounting, Lining his holes up, and just drilling them in. So we'll get really nice, tighter, customizable bed rails. Like on the previous system, there were only holes every so often. Now we can customize it, measure it, and make it standard across all trucks and make it perfect. So that's what we really like. So he's measuring and dialing it in to be perfect for all the future trucks we have. So all seven of these beds are going to look identical Once we're done with them, all pieces of equipment, all racks could be moved and interchanged because we're going to measure and do it the same on every single truck.

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All right, everybody, fast forwarded a couple hours. Caleb, Charlie, amazing work today. So we get to show you some of the finished product here. So we'll start on P3. So P3 is basically complete. It's ready to go. All we have to do moving forward is put our tools on it, and this thing's ready to rock for mowing season. So we set it up the same way. Like I explained earlier before it was all set up. We got the blower rack and the trimmer rack here on the passenger side of the vehicle. Easy access for them. If they parallel park in the street at our client's house, they can just go ahead, grab that stuff off of it, and get right to work. So set it up that way. Couple things Caleb wanted me to point out. As far as the measurements, you have to make sure one, that when you mount your blower rack, you have enough space here for the blower tube to fit through. So originally, it was going to mount it a little bit closer, but gave enough space to slot that blower arm through. Also, we already kind of showed you the way that this works, so it's customizable to fit different sized trucks. Obviously, it's designed for the long bed, standard trucks, but you can custom fit it. So all we have to do is order, like, one type, like I said earlier, and it goes great. One thing that we really like that Caleb and I didn't really think about much, the stability of this thing. I know in a previous video that Mike shot, Someone had put in the comment section, man, it looks like the rails kind of have a little bit of play to them. But one thing that is awesome about these, it has this crossbar that runs right along the backside of the cab here, and it adds that much extra structural integrity to this thing. We love it. Obviously, three points of contact in the back that we talked about last time. But for this, we hadn't really thought about it. Caleb and I kind of overlooked it. But man, this thing is going to be sturdy. I mean, I shake on this. And it moves the whole truck. It doesn't actually move the racks themselves. They are sturdy. And all we have to do, like I showed you with that mill, that mag drill we had, these are custom sized holes. So these are not going to move at all. I mean, these are on there sturdy. We have perfectly sized drilled holes that these are going to last a long time. Couple times in the season, obviously just, you know, wear and tear, bouncing over speed bumps, things like that. Yes, we are going to need to tighten these back up. But, man, are these sturdy. We love how sturdy these are on the ramp rack. Caleb also measured the optimal spacing for these guys. So now we know this measurement here will be standard for every truck that we build with this new ramp system. So that way, if I take a trimmer off this truck here, P3, I can put it on P1, P2, P7, whatever truck. Right. So that's awesome. So we can measure, custom cut our own holes. And it's going to be great for that feature. We can take any trimmer off any setup and move it to the next setup as soon as we need to. Another thing Caleb wanted me to point out, this blower rack. Now, this is the older version. This is version two. I think version three is a little different. But you do have to make sure that this has enough space here for when your trimmer motor, you know, your trimmer motor is going to stick out to about here. So you need enough space for this arm to open up all the way to get your blower off. So we did have to be aware of that. So you do have to watch that a little bit. That's the only issue that we found on this side when setting it up. But overall, same setup we've had in the past. And we love how sturdy it is, how awesome it is. We can show you the other side real quick. But this thing is sweet, man. Little assembly you saw earlier. Charlie put the tail lights together. No big problem there. That went like a snap. So tail lights are all set up. The spring assist here to lock it in place. All set up the spring on the side that helps bring the weight down. That's all set up, ready to go. And then on this side, nothing too special about this side. We got the hand tool rack set up that's ready to go. We got our sprayer rack all set up. And we got our two cycle and five gallon cans set up and ready to go. Another little tidbit that some of you might like to know. One thing that Caleb did when putting this together. So this back rail here is obviously adjustable. It inserts into this front rail here. And then you have a tensioner bolt right here that holds it in place to the distance. It will sit to the back of the truck. But this rail runs in here. So what Caleb did is he made sure this sprayer rack actually has one bolt into this rail as well as into this rail, if that makes sense. So it's making sure that it just has an extra secure point. You have a bolt that goes through the rail here, a bolt here, and then you obviously have your bolts in the back that hold it in place. So just another way to make it a little bit more structurally sound. We're so far really liking these guys. And same thing. Nothing over here is going to move. I mean, these are sturdier than. Than anything we've had on the previous rails. I'm moving the whole truck. So we love that. Now we just want to show you P2. I had the guys not fully finish it so you can get an idea for just the bare bones of it. Show it a little bit easier. So this one, like I said, different trucks, same ramp, same manufacturer, no custom ordering, anything like that. But it fits just the same. Real awesome. So this guy, you can see that cross brace there that we. We pointed out. Really, really like that also just adds a little bit of extra protection for the back window. So that was kind of cool. But man, is it sturdy. Fits great on a Chevy versus a Ford. Minimal customization to make it fit. Slide back. Caleb loved this. He said, lee, I got to show you this fitment. I mean, just clean, right? It fits right up against there. We love that. And then just bare bones. Like I said, all that they put on it was the clamp closures on the back. But you can see here, the tail light is empty. So I just wanted to show you that real simple assembly. You just pop. Plug them in and pop them in. No problem there. Got the mount on the hitch gun. And then we got this clamp on this side. And then the spring assist open and close over here as well. So this is kind of the bare bones of what it looks like. So you can customize it. That's one of the really nice features about this. You can put whatever you want on it. If you need more trimmers, if you need more blowers, if you're going to use it more the landscaping type truck. Whatever you need, it's going to work. So that's kind of the fully completed version, how we're going to run it here at Augusta locally, and how it's going to work here if you just want to customize it yourself, or you're just going to run a mower in the back, whatever it may be. So that's kind of the setup. And I hope you guys like the video. Give it a like. Subscribe to the channel, share it with your friends and leave a comment below to tell us, hey, how should we set it up differently? How would you set it up? How are you going to run it? And how are you going to make more money with these things, baby?