Hinge joint node problem

I'm a 3d modeler on a team and we're having trouble getting a simple hinge joint to work. I haven't been able to find any documentation telling me where I need to place the nodes in the hierarchy, or if that even matters. Most of the error messages say that the engine is confusing the hinge node with the collision node. I've tried moving it around on the actual model and in the hierarchy. We're trying to get two objects , a ramp with one moving part, to work together. we'd rather avoid making an animation. I've looked at the vehicle documentation and forums but I couldn't really fine anything that applied to my problem. I'm using 3ds max, and beginning to use blender. I would really appreciate any help or suggestions. thank you.