SL-C Approach angle?

[Eric in Florida]

What is the approach angle that a regular height SL-C and navigate and what is with with the front end lift option. The front overhang has me wondering as my driveway in my new house here in Florida has a 6 degree angle to keep the flood waters out. This has me concerned. One sure would hate to roll off a car a transport only to find the front end scraping unable to get into the garage

 

[Roger]

Six degrees sounds very low. I'd worry more about the drive to road and speed bumps. I don't know the angles that can be accommodated with/without the lift kit though.

 

[Roger]

Six degrees equates to a gradient of ~0.10, so, assuming a front overhang of 18" (I don't know what it actually is), you'd need the front lip to be above 1.8" off the ground.

 

[Eric McClellan]

Six degrees equates to a gradient of ~0.10, so, assuming a front overhang of 18" (I don't know what it actually is), you'd need the front lip to be above 1.8" off the ground.

I have the race splitter and the front frame is 4" frame to ground, and even with the extra splitter, i have over 2".

Barely. But it is over 2". I can fit a 2x4 under it with about 1/4" to spare.

 

[Jack]

I'm getting 9 degrees, maybe just a little more before hitting the standard front splitter. No lift kit.

 

[Eric in Florida]

Six degrees sounds very low. I'd worry more about the drive to road and speed bumps.

Your probably right about speed bumps and the lot, driveway is probably not an issue. This chart shows 6 degrees incline is 10.5% grade. If I had the overhang from contact patch I could visualize it in CAD, or even Visio as my stuff is still packed.
Slope - Degree, Gradient and Grade Converter

It's a snap to model actually but I assumed someone calculated that already?

 

[Eric in Florida]

I'm getting 9 degrees, maybe just a little more before hitting the standard front splitter. No lift kit.

Ohh perfect so you can navigate up to 9, call it 8 to be safe.
Much appreciated.
Running out of excuses to not buy one.:laugh:


Wait, where in Florida are you Jack, I just moved to Boca Raton.

 

[Jack]

Just to clarify, my driveway in Florida is 9 degrees. It can be traversed with the stock splitter (barely). Avoid speed bumps, period!

 

[Eric McClellan]

As long as you approach the driveway at a steeeeeeeeeep angle, you'll be fine.

Ask me how I know, having a 7" curb in front of my house/driveway.

 

[Larry L.]

...if you cared to do so, you could opt for doing what turned out in my case to be $25K in driveway re-grade and landscaping mods. That guarantees you'll not to have to worry about clearance no matter how little the car may have...at least in that specific location anyway.

 

[Eric in Florida]

Actually Larry yes, I have an RV gate to back yard and contemplated putting a dedicated garage there which would then mean a new circular drive with offshoot to the RV gate all regraded to accommodate what ever. Of course with a new house in my case I cant take out 10-15 years of equity so it effectively adds 20K out of pocket to the build cost. Definitely an option though, indeed.

 

[Howard Jones]

Go get a sheet of 1/2 plywood, cut it length wise into two parts and a few pieces of 2X4 and make a "As Required" ram to get your car in the driveway. This system can be as refined or as caveman as you wish. That's what I did.

You will find that most commercial driveway will not allow a standard SLC into them. You will need to find a gas station with a flat entrance and check the route before you go most other places.

You simply cannot drive these car anywhere you want. That's the way it is. The best thing to do is order the hyd lifts for the front. I wouldn't have a streetcar SLC without them.

 

[Eric in Florida]

Right on yes, lift for the front is in my list, was unsure of the rear but I suspect the front is all that is needed. Thanks all.

 

[Larry L.]

Go get a sheet of 1/2 plywood, cut it length wise into two parts and a few pieces of 2X4 and make a "As Required" ram to get your car in the driveway. This system can be as refined or as caveman as you wish. That's what I did.

That's EXACTLY what I did...at first! But, it didn't take long before I got darned t-i-r-e-d of loading my 2-section wooden 'bridge' onto my P/U truck (of necessity the bridge was pretty massive due to the area it had to span), hauling it down to the foot of my driveway, putting it in place between the street and my driveway...then parking the P/U off to one side...then walking back up the driveway to get my GT...then driving the GT back down the driveway and across the 'bridge onto the street...then parking the GT on the street at the curb...then reloading the "bridge" back onto the P/U truck so I could get both the bridge and the P/U off the street...then driving the P/U back up the driveway and parking it out of the way in back of the house...then walking back down the driveway to get into the GT and drive away...and THEN reversing the whole process upon my return!

The afore mentioned $25K was money well spent. Trust me... :evil:

 

[Shane]

Just keep in mind that none of those angles mean anything in the real world unless you are forced to hit the slope head-on. If you pull up to your driveway at an angle and can get your front tire up on the slope and then turn your wheels....as long as the driveway entrance is wide enough to complete the turn.....you can traverse a pretty steep incline. If you have a really big change in incline, you can probably do it with two short 2x8 or 2x10 boards. This is how I load GTMs on my car trailer.....bridge the transition with two 5' boards.....they give the center of the nose/splitter an instant 1.5" more clearance as soon as the front tires are up on the boards and (just pulling numbers out of my butt) if you have a 10 degree slope, the boards not only give you 1.5" more ground clearance, but effectively split that 10 degree approach into two 5 degree angles. No need for some huge cumbersome bridge. Once the car in on the trailer, I pick up the two boards and slide them under the car on the trailer.

 

[Larry L.]

No need for some huge cumbersome bridge.

...obviously, you never saw my driveway! I'd have wished you good luck using the two boards you described. You'd have needed a Sikorsky CH-54 to pull the car out of the abyss into which it fell during the attempt to cross from point 'A' to point 'B' using just those boards...because there was a turn in between...and you'd have needed to span about 15 to 17 feet! :smug2:

 

[Eric in Florida]

Wow it sounds like my challenges wold be small compared to you all! :laugh:

Thanks!

 

[Keith]

That's EXACTLY what I did...at first! But, it didn't take long before I got darned t-i-r-e-d of loading my 2-section wooden 'bridge' onto my P/U truck (of necessity the bridge was pretty massive due to the area it had to span), hauling it down to the foot of my driveway, putting it in place between the street and my driveway...then parking the P/U off to one side...then walking back up the driveway to get my GT...then driving the GT back down the driveway and across the 'bridge onto the street...then parking the GT on the street at the curb...then reloading the "bridge" back onto the P/U truck so I could get both the bridge and the P/U off the street...then driving the P/U back up the driveway and parking it out of the way in back of the house...then walking back down the driveway to get into the GT and drive away...and THEN reversing the whole process upon my return!

The afore mentioned $25K was money well spent. Trust me... :evil:

Phew! I got thin thinking about that.. Then I had a brain wave. 2 small dolly wheels and a tow bar hitch would have made that a snap...:thumbsup:

 

[Mike]

One option would be to have TKO Motorsports build a set of shocks with lifts. I am planning on running very low ride height but needed to clear things when pulling into the garage or over speed bumps. Not cheap but allows us to drive these cars with little clearance and still be able to get them in the garage.

 

[Will Campbell]

One option would be to have TKO Motorsports build a set of shocks with lifts. I am planning on running very low ride height but needed to clear things when pulling into the garage or over speed bumps. Not cheap but allows us to drive these cars with little clearance and still be able to get them in the garage.

For those that don't know, the SLC has had a hydraulic lift kit option for years; nothing needs to be built. You can check out the details at Home