Newby Ryker owner learning things every time I use it.

[JeffAZ]

So it's been about 8 weeks since I picked up two Rykers in Nebraska and transported them home to AZ in my toyhauler motorhome. They will both fit in the garage, but I have to put them in "69" style. The first one I drive in frontally, as far to the right and forward as possible. After shutting it down, I have to lift the rear tire and move it over about a foot. Difficult, but do-able. Then comes the tricky part where the second Ryker has to be backed up the 10 ft ramp at just the correct angle to tuck in to the left of the first one. I put an old chair cushion against the first Ryker's left side to protect it. I performed this task 2 or 3 times over the last 8 weeks, usually being successful after 3 or 4 runs up the ramp. The back tire tends to want to spin out and lose grip as it ascends the ramp, so you need some decent speed to get it done.

Last nite around 11 pm I was attempting this tricky maneuver again to get ready for a short trip. I tried a dozen times to load the second cycle, but the drive tire kept spinning out, and I lost all momentum before getting all the way up the ramp. A few times I actually got the rear tire up on the garage floor, but it would still just spin out and not let me fully enter the garage. It was getting late and I was getting frustrated.:banghead: This was the first time I had tried to load the Rykers at my home, so I thought maybe the angle of my driveway was steeper than where I had previously successfully done this task. I decided to sleep on it and try fresh in the A.M., maybe even turn the motorhome around so the front end is lower and reduce the steepness.

While I was thinking about this last night in bed, I then had "Eureka" moment. What mode do I have the transmission in? I got up this morning and checked. The Ryker was in Sport mode. I switched it to Economy mode, and the Ryker reversed up the ramp much easier with very little spinning out of the back tire. I had the Ryker in Economy mode on my previous successful loads. So now that is a lesson I have learned. pps:

So I left this morning heading north with the Rykers in the toyhauler to spend some time riding on the twisty, curvy highways of Mingus Mountain up by Prescott AZ. But the traffic on I-17 was a bumper-to-bumper crawl because of the holiday traffic, a small brush fire, a car fire and a jack-knifed semi truck. So about 30 miles out of town, I turned around and came home. Maybe I'll just keep the Rykers loaded in the garage and head up in a few days.

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans :yes::clap::2thumbs:

 

[gr8Frank]

Is your motorhome a Thor Outlaw.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

New Ryker owner

:congrats:........:welcome:........................Mike :thumbup:

 

[JeffAZ]

Is your motorhome a Thor Outlaw.

Yes Frank it is an Outlaw, but it is an old 2008 model when they were made by Damon, which evolved into Thor who makes them now.

 

[Mikey]

Just a thought would some of those interlocking garage pads work as a surface to give you a little traction on that floor? Just a thought!!

 

[ARtraveler]

Sometimes...it's those little things. Thanks for posting. :bowdown:

 

[SportsterDoc]

Highway 89A is a nice ride from Prescott Valley to Jerome, then on to Clarkdale.
The summit is 7000 feet elevation.

Unfortunately the Corona panic permanently closed my favorite Mexican restaurant in Clarkdale: Su Casa.
Hog Wild BBQ, west of Old Town Cottonwood is open for outside dining during this panic.

Continuing NE on 89a, the ride from Sedona to Flagstaff, via Oak Creek Canyon is also a good ride.
I prefer to run it south to north, under power, climbing through the turns.

I do miss living in Flagstaff, as there is so much to see in northern Arizona:
Tuzigoot ruins near Clarkdale, along Verde River, although they are rebuilt, not original
Youngest daughter and family live in Clarkdale...they kayak the Verde River
Montezuma's Castle cliff dwellings
Montezuma's Well...a favorite for watching animals late afternoon, early evening
Sunset Crater National Monument
Wupatki National Monument...ruins are original
Walnut Canyon cliff dwellings...visitors can enter, or at least used to be able to do so.

 

[JeffAZ]

"Just a thought would some of those interlocking garage pads work as a surface to give you a little traction on that floor? Just a thought!!"

Yes Mikey, I do have some metal stair treads that I have screwed to the ramp that are usefull for when I load my Smart car. Of course their position make them useless for the Ryker. But when camped, I raise the ramp to horizontal to use as a deck/patio and those treads are not barefoot friendly, so I hate to place more of them up the middle of the ramp for the Ryker. I have purchased a 4' x 6' rubberized mat to put on the ramp when backing up the Ryker, but it just gets spun out of the way by the back tire. I would like to devise a way to put some small attachments into the back of the garage floor that would attach to the mat or garage pads like you mentioned, but would be easily removed so the mat would not be permanent, and be water-proof. I need to think about this some more. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Here is a photo of the ramp with the metal treads.

 

[JeffAZ]

"Highway 89A is a nice ride from Prescott Valley to Jerome, then on to Clarkdale.
The summit is 7000 feet elevation."

Exactly SportserDoc, that's the road I want to get my Ryker on. And of course 7000 feet of elevation is exactly what I needed right now to escape the 111 degrees of Phx this weekend.

 

[Markubis]

How about some of these on your ramp?

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...MI-OK9xL2x6gIVSODICh2hFQ4zEAQYAiABEgKZufD_BwE

A nice sandpaper like gripping surface.

 

[JeffAZ]

Thanks Mark. I have looked at those before I installed the screw-retained metal treads. But they use an adhesive, which I don't think will hold up to rain water or the sun here in the Great Southwest.

 

[shakin_jake]

Might yours be a bottoming issue?

Any chance your Ryker is bottoming at the top of the ramp were the ramp connects to your toy hauler? Looks pretty steep to me and I had the same thing happen to me when I was loading my Ryker into a trailer the day I purchased it. Just a thought. My rear wheel spun some before making it into the trailer and at the time I thought the rear wheel wasn’t getting traction. I discovered the real reason the rear tire was spinning when I went to unload it the next day. This may not be your problem but I thought it was worth mentioning as perhaps it might help someone else. Our Rykers don’t have a lot of ground clearance. All that said, if all three wheels are on the same plane, then the above scenario wouldn’t apply to you


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.
“Character is much easier kept than recovered” - Thomas Paine

 

[JeffAZ]

Thanks Jake. No it is not bottoming out. The first Ryker rolls up the ramp frontwise without any problem. And like I said, it does load easier if I select the correct tranny mode.

The Outlaw motorhome is unique in that the rear 3 feet of the garage floor is angled down to meet the ramp, so this decreases the angle of the whole ascent from the ground. These CVT transmissions just get balkey when you try to back the vehicle up an incline. My Smart car does the same thing. It has a rear engine, so when I first got it I wanted to load it backwards, so more of its weight would be forward and maybe make the motorhome drive better, but it wouldn't go up the ramp, so I forgot about that brilliant idea.

I just need to improve the grip surface for the tire, with something that I want to deploy only when I am loading the backwards Ryker. I think I will put 2 or 3 threaded insert nuts into the rearmost area of the garage floor, and then I need some grippy material about 3 feet wide and 9 ft long (and easily stowable) to drape down the middle of the ramp that I can temporarily affix to those insert nuts. Like I said earlier, I have tried a non-fixed rubber mat, but the tire just violently spins it out of the way.

 

[JeffAZ]

OK, I'm thinking a couple of these might work, I just with they were a little wider.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NJ861WT/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=A1UMBRA5ZTBCX8&psc=1

 

[Rydernow]

As far as having to scooch the rear tire over a little bit... A single "wheel jack" works wonders in tight spaces, be it a garage or trailer.

 

[EdMat]

You might try something like this to make moving the rear tire over less of a pain. They go on sale regularly.

https://www.harborfreight.com/1250-lb-capacity-vehicle-positioning-wheel-dolly-61917.html?_br_psugg_q=wheel+dolly