My husband's polyneuropathy has progressed to where he needs a scooter to get around outside of the home. The Pride Go-Go Sport scooter we purchased is great for him. It's powerful enough to easily get up our rather steep driveway, navigates through tight areas, and disassembles into 4 components for transport....IF the caregiver is in good physical condition.
Having had a couple of back surgeries, and a ongoing spine challenges, my weight limit is less than the heaviest component. My SUV has a composite floor, prohibiting the inside lift solutions dealers have as offerings within our price range ($1,000). The hitch-mount solution we determined would work (Harmar model 065), dealers will not sell to us because we want to self install (with neighbor's help) and, we need to modify one part...which we verified with a service technician at the factory, would indeed work and be safe. There is at least one other inside lift that will work, but the dealer wants $4500 for it. The scooter only cost $1300.
We tried a DIY ramp solution, which would work, but involves so many pieces and jerryrigging to make work, it takes 20 minutes to set up, load or unload scooter. My husband, a former engineer, is discouraged and has given up.
Has anyone else experienced a similar situation and were you able to resolve for a reasonable cost?
‘The composite floor could most likely be reinforced back to the chassis rails but this option may or may not be simple (depending on the SUV).
‘Hitch mount carriers can sometimes be a problem. If the carrier, the SUV chassis and the tow hitch that connects the two together are not all designed for the load and its overhang at the rear of the vehicle, then cracking (due to fatigue) is very likely and this can result in the carrier breaking off. It is possible that this is why the dealer will not sell them the carrier.
‘I like the idea of the ramps. It is possible to buy aluminium folding ramps that are designed to load a quad bike onto the back of a ute (pick-up truck in the USA?). They are light and can fold into two or three sections to make them easier to store or transport. They also come in various lengths (obviously long ramps mean a less steep drive up them). A quick look on ebay Aust for "quad bike ramps" gave lots of results. The same search on ebay USA mainly came up with imported products. I then did a search on "folding ramps" on the US site and it gave lots more local results. Virtually all of the listings were well under $1000.
I hope this helps.’
My guess is that this is still too complicated for you, but it is at least an answer that your own engineer husband might understand. Tony has just told me that you call quad bikes ATVs, so search for ATV ramps. Yours Margaret (and Tony)