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Loanranger
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 842
- Age
- 44
- City
- Puyallup, Wa
- Vehicle Year
- 1989/
1972
- Transmission
- Manual
Well, something bothers me with this whole RTI score thing. The fact that the ramp angle has anything to do with how well a rig flexes has me baffled. Basically, it's my opinion, that if your one tire is a certain distance from the ground, with a certain wheelbase, then your RTI score should be the same regardless of the ramp angle. So the fact that the ramp angle has anything to do with the score, leads me to believe that these scores are completely worthless when it comes to determining how well a rig actually flexes.
For instance. With my Fordzuki project, and a homemade ramp which is not nearly long enough to measure max flex, being 6' long and at around a 25 degree angle, I can get to the top and still have more flex to go. So today, I decided to raise the bar a bit, and put the tall end of the ramp on my flatbed trailer, and give it a whirl. Well, my conclusion was that the Fordzuki will travel to the point where the front tire is 45" vertically from the ground with an 87" wheelbase. Now here comes the funny part. The ramp with the one end on the trailer, is sitting at approximately a 45 degree angle from the ground. So with these measurements, the rig ramps out at a 731.49 RTI score based on the calculator on the tech page. This seems unreasonable, since the vertical distance from the ground is a little more than half of the overall wheelbase. Leave the first two measurements the same, and change to a 30 degree ramp, and the RTI is 1034.48. A 23 degree ramp would be 1323.78. A 20 degree ramp would be 1512.31. So basically, I guess my rant would be that the ramp angle should have nothing to do with the RTI score, or I guess rather, the RTI score has basically nothing to do with the rigs actual flex, because regardless of the ramp angle, the rear tire would still lift at the 45" vertical from the ground with the front tire. So basically I would like to say that RTI scores are a crock of shit and worthless, because the measure of a rigs capabilities should be of the actual flex of the rig, not how far up a ramp you can get.
For instance. With my Fordzuki project, and a homemade ramp which is not nearly long enough to measure max flex, being 6' long and at around a 25 degree angle, I can get to the top and still have more flex to go. So today, I decided to raise the bar a bit, and put the tall end of the ramp on my flatbed trailer, and give it a whirl. Well, my conclusion was that the Fordzuki will travel to the point where the front tire is 45" vertically from the ground with an 87" wheelbase. Now here comes the funny part. The ramp with the one end on the trailer, is sitting at approximately a 45 degree angle from the ground. So with these measurements, the rig ramps out at a 731.49 RTI score based on the calculator on the tech page. This seems unreasonable, since the vertical distance from the ground is a little more than half of the overall wheelbase. Leave the first two measurements the same, and change to a 30 degree ramp, and the RTI is 1034.48. A 23 degree ramp would be 1323.78. A 20 degree ramp would be 1512.31. So basically, I guess my rant would be that the ramp angle should have nothing to do with the RTI score, or I guess rather, the RTI score has basically nothing to do with the rigs actual flex, because regardless of the ramp angle, the rear tire would still lift at the 45" vertical from the ground with the front tire. So basically I would like to say that RTI scores are a crock of shit and worthless, because the measure of a rigs capabilities should be of the actual flex of the rig, not how far up a ramp you can get.
