Transporting 2 tons in a 1 ton pickup truck

"Ignoramus25581" wrote in message news:Xuadne_udaTjY0ranZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

I've hauled more than that on a F-350 dually flatbed. What's the max GVW tag on the truck say? Depending on how it's equipped, the max GVW on a F-350 can be 10,000+. Get as much of the load as possible forward in the bed----nothing screws up a pleasant drive more than a tail heavy load.

Ignoramus25581 fired this volley in news:Xuadne_udaTjY0ranZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Iggy, I've seen guys haul full pallets in a 150. The axles were on the spring stops, and I'm sure they fried their rear axle bearings before they got home... but they got out of the yard!

I routinely put 1900lb of concrete blocks in my little 1000lb limit utility trailer, and it never even grunts.

LLoyd

The 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ton designations are pretty meaningless these days. Check the actual ratings label on the door of the truck for the real ratings. A 1T SRW and DRW have different capacities for example, though they are both "1T" trucks. The door label will have the GVWR and axle ratings.

In this particular case, I thin 5,000# is pushing it a bit. If the trip is short it will probably be fine even if it is over GVWR since the components regularly deal with shock loads higher than that. If it's a DRW the cargo capacity is probably around 3k#-4k#, somewhat less for SRW. Also check if the tires are of an appropriate load range, sometimes people put tires on for looks, not load and they may not be up to the job. Personally, I'd put one pallet in the truck and the other on a trailer.

Thanks. Like I said, it was not my truck and not my idea. I could just put both pallets on my trailer id I was the person to move it.

The images that ran through my head were wheels falling off, and such.

If I was in his place, without a trailer, I would just make two trips.

My truck is a 3500 DRW, it's curb weight is just about 7,000# and it's GVWR is 10,000# so off the bat it has 3,000# cargo capacity. This isn't all there is to it either though, because the 10,000# rating is really bogus to keep it out of the commercial class that starts at 10,001#. The actual axle ratings total 12,000#, so while you might be riding on the overload springs, with 5,000# of reasonably distributed cargo and sane driving, the wheels wouldn't be falling off.

I forgot to add:

Operating over weight ratings is a bad thing for a commercial vehicle which is subject to weigh stations, more regulations and fines.

Operating over GVW with a private non-commercial vehicle, while not a great thing, isn't a huge issue and is unfortunately very common with RVs, though RVers are getting more attentive to such things and visiting the truck scales more frequently to verify their weights.

I worked at a place in the '50's that had a 2 1/2 ton stake body truck and a 2 1/2 ton van body truck. We regularly hauled 16,000 about 20 miles to another town, off-loaded, reloaded and back we came. At least once a day. I don't ever remember any suspension problems.

I figure (could be wrong), that the (1 ton) rating means that the thing has to be strong enough to handle one ton under the worst of conditions and at the highest legal speeds, around the worst corners possible to navigate. If I load it more, I can drive slower, watch for bumps, etc..

Pete Stanaitis

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Ignoramus25581 wrote:

The rating of the brakes also plays in to the GVW.

Iggi, I'm one of those insane idiots. Have a 1/2 ton Chevy Silverado. Several times I've picked up a pallet (much easier to load) of concrete pre-mix at home depot.

Total weight 4,200 lbs. 18 miles of driving over back roads at 25 mph. Have done it several times. Not worried about the tires (10ply) but pray and pray for the axle.

Ivan Vegvary

Yes, but for a pickup in particular, the braking gets better with more weight due to the much improved rear wheel traction.

I have carried 4 yards of gravel in a 1 ton truck. That's about 5000 pounds. I only went about 12 miles on back streets, and went slow.

I did it twice. Got away with it. The truck remained fine for the next

Grant

I have hauled 3700 lbs in my non-dually gas 1996 F350. Never knew it was back there.

Wow, you guys are brave. ANYWAY, the take home lesson here is that I should shut up and not go out of my way to prevent that guy from doing what he wants.

The big question is what does the door sticker give for GVRW, the weight the truck empty, then do the math. Most 1/2 ton pickups will easily haul 1500 lbs. Most 3/4 ton pickups will haul close to 3000 lbs. A one ton should easily haul. 4000 lbs, better if you can get the weight forward. A few years back I worked for a chemical company and drove a one ton Chevy van. The door sticker was 9800 lbs gross IIRC. The van weighed ~6000 lbs. The difference is 3800 lbs. I ran from Minneapolis, to Fargo ND one time with over 5000 lbs in the back. Now I admit, I felt it was over loaded, but I aired up the tires, and ran the speed limit for the 250 miles. As far as I am concerned a one ton dually should handle 5000 lbs just fine. For what ever it is worth, Chevy rates a 2008 3500 dually at 5100 lb payload. Greg

I've hauled 1500lbs of soil in a trailer. So what?

I was towing it with a 400cc Kawasaki motorcycle! Hills were a bit tricky :-)

Mark Rand RTFM

I'd say the terrain and road conditions make a difference as well. 250 miles flat and level freeway is one thing, 20 miles of dirt logging road would be quite another.

Not true, atleast in Oregon. A pickup that is loaded such that it's GVW is over 8000# can be stopped and the driver cited if the truck only has passenger car plates, like 90% do. When the average 3/4 or 1 ton p/u weighs between 6000 and 7000 lbs, that doesn't allow much for a legal load. This doesn't count a trailer, just the weight of the truck, and only if it has passenger plates. Ask me how I know this. Paul

So fix the ridiculous law behind that. A non-commercial vehicle is a non-commercial vehicle regardless of weight.

Like that's going to happen. We're talking Oregon here. Too many liberal democrats driving Beemers and Volvos to get anything rational done in the legislature.