I work with a guy who told me he put 1 1/2 cords block in a F150!! I tried to correct him and he told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. I just wish I was selling him the wood if you know what I mean. Anyways, I pick up a load of blocks in my F250SD with 6 1/2 bed, pack it in and stack it high in the middle and when I get it home and split and stack it amounts to just shy of two face cords. I WOULD NOT recommend putting that much in a truck any smaller than a 3/4 ton for safety purposes! Just my .02$.
A cord and a half in any pickup bed is darn near impossible...mass aside I don’t think you can get that much volume ontoa pickup and not have it all over the driveway when you pull out.
That said I can easily toss about 2800-3000lb into my 3/4 ton Silverado and still be under my GVWR. I’ve probably put a solid 1/2-2/3 cord into the bed and hauled it without any drama.
My wood guy uses a dump truck. I paid him $280 for a pile of Oak and Ash, split and delivered. When I stacked it, I had two stacks that measured 4’X16’...plus a little extra. So that was a “truck load”
i wasn’t sure what to expect but I think that was a fair deal.
If the wood is 16 inchs you got 1.33 cord there. No idea what the going price is in your neck of the woods...Oak only here is approaching 300 bucks a cord and mixed is 250-280, think you did good by that measure.
A cord and a half in any pickup bed is darn near impossible...mass aside I don’t think you can get that much volume ontoa pickup and not have it all over the driveway when you pull out.
That said I can easily toss about 2800-3000lb into my 3/4 ton Silverado and still be under my GVWR. I’ve probably put a solid 1/2-2/3 cord into the bed and hauled it without any drama.
Bottom line is know your equipment.
i’ve heard of oveerloading truck & bending rear axle! never seen it but almost makes sense
You’d probably never bend your axle, but I could see severe overloading snapping your springs. In order to do that to my truck I would probably have to put 3 or 4 tons in the bed, which I would never do.
Just in case you think I’m overloading my truck though, the 3/4 ton rating does not mean its rated to hold a 1500lb load...maybe it did 50 years ago, but not anymore...its just a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) classification...which is how much the truck is rated to weigh in total...truck, fluids, passengers and cargo. 3/4 ton menas 8600lb GVWR, so 8600lb - my 5600lb truck gives me about 3000lb safe and properly carrying capacity. 3/4 HD is 9200lb, 1 ton is 9600lb and so on. So my truck hauling 3000lb of whatever I put in the bed is right theer at the upper limit of its rated (and legal) capacity.
Other factors also apply such as the GAWR of each axle, but you get the idea.
You’d probably never bend your axle, but I could see severe overloading snapping your springs. In order to do that to my truck I would probably have to put 3 or 4 tons in the bed, which I would never do.
Just in case you think I’m overloading my truck though, the 3/4 ton rating does not mean its rated to hold a 1500lb load...maybe it did 50 years ago, but not anymore...its just a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) classification...which is how much the truck is rated to weigh in total...truck, fluids, passengers and cargo. 3/4 ton menas 8600lb GVWR, so 8600lb - my 5600lb truck gives me about 3000lb safe and properly carrying capacity. 3/4 HD is 9200lb, 1 ton is 9600lb and so on. So my truck hauling 3000lb of whatever I put in the bed is right theer at the upper limit of its rated (and legal) capacity.
Other factors also apply such as the GAWR of each axle, but you get the idea.
So what makes you think that your truck weighs 5600 lbs, have you actually weighed it? I have weighed my weenie half ton on several occasions and depending on fuel load run 5800 lbs with no cargo. The folks with those noce big 2500s from GM are reporting 7000 lb empty weights. This still leaves a healthy 1600 lbs of cargo capacity for you though. Oddly, a ford ranger or toyota minitruck spec out to 1500 lbs of payload capacity as well. Properly spec’d (read a rare truck) you can get your curb weight down to almost what GM lists for the truck. We’re talking 2wd, reg cab, small gas engine, etc.
I have bent my axles. I also ruined a pinion bearing in my truck’s rear end and when the men were rebuilding the axle they informed me that the axle tubes had been bent due to overloading but nod badly enough to trash the assembly. Between the pinion and bent tubes they concluded that I needed a much bigger truck.
You most certainly can bend a rear axle housing...and you can break one. And you can ruin your rear axle shaft bearings. Regardless of what you do with suspension components, it’s still the axle that has to transmit the entire load to the wheeels, tires, and the ground. The axle housing extension beyond the point of attachment of the suspension on both sides is the point of maximum bending stress. Beyond that, you’ve got the axle shaft bearings and the housing attachment to the wheels. It’s the bending strength of the rear axle housing at those points that determines the load capacity of the vehicle. Beefing up the suspension will likely improve the fully loaded ride & handling, but that’s a false indication of having more load capacity...you don’t. The only real way to increase the load capacity is to replace the entire rear axle with a stronger one. Serious off-roaders, racers, and rock crawler builders/enthusiasts do this as a matter of routine, because they understand their vehicles’ inherent structural limitations. Rick
You’d probably never bend your axle, but I could see severe overloading snapping your springs. In order to do that to my truck I would probably have to put 3 or 4 tons in the bed, which I would never do.
Just in case you think I’m overloading my truck though, the 3/4 ton rating does not mean its rated to hold a 1500lb load...maybe it did 50 years ago, but not anymore...its just a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) classification...which is how much the truck is rated to weigh in total...truck, fluids, passengers and cargo. 3/4 ton menas 8600lb GVWR, so 8600lb - my 5600lb truck gives me about 3000lb safe and properly carrying capacity. 3/4 HD is 9200lb, 1 ton is 9600lb and so on. So my truck hauling 3000lb of whatever I put in the bed is right theer at the upper limit of its rated (and legal) capacity.
Other factors also apply such as the GAWR of each axle, but you get the idea.
So what makes you think that your truck weighs 5600 lbs, have you actually weighed it? I have weighed my weenie half ton on several occasions and depending on fuel load run 5800 lbs with no cargo. The folks with those noce big 2500s from GM are reporting 7000 lb empty weights.
I have bent my axles. I also ruined a pinion bearing in my truck’s rear end and when the men were rebuilding the axle they informed me that the axle tubes had been bent due to overloading but nod badly enough to trash the assembly. Between the pinion and bent tubes they concluded that I needed a much bigger truck.
I have in fact weighed my truck on a couple dozen occasions. Our gravel pit charges by weight and they have you run over the scale before and lafter loading, weights are pirnted on the receipt...typically I come in around 5800-6000lb with myself as the sole passenger, the other major variable being how full my gas tank is.. I have seen it as low as 5600 when I stepped out and it was on fumes. Lots of possible variables out there in the trucking world that can determine weight though...could be alot of the guys you’re talking about have deisel crew cab long beds...FWIW GM no longer makes a 3/4 ton truck...they’re all 3/4HD’s now and the GVWR is now 9200 across the board, so they’re back up in the 2200lb carrying capacity if they’re coming in a 7k vehicle weight.
I agree with you though that there is not much point in a heavy duty pickup that can’t even carry 2000lb in the bed...might as well save alot of money and go get a half ton.
It may be relevant to note that my truck is a 2000 Silverado 2500 extended cab 4x4 with a 6.5’ bed and a gas 6.0 motor, so I’m probably midrange in the vehicle weight category of all the 2500 variations made that year.
Yep, can see it already, pull in a stock ranger with coil helpers, pull out a supercharged 351 (big block won’t fit) and a big chunk on the home equity loan!!! I keep looking at the supercrew ranch kings...it may be time soon! Of course I would still do the coil helpers!!!!
“I agree with you though that there is not much point in a heavy duty pickup that can’t even carry 2000lb in the bed...might as well save alot of money and go get a half ton.”
Ack, the trouble is that my half ton at 5800 empty weight and GVWR of 6200 only has a payload of 400 lbs!!! Seriously, that’s only two healthy ladies in the bed as cargo. Be very careful with half tons and cargo, they just don’t spec them out for hauling. Better for towing a trailer.
I have a ford ranger and had to replace both rear leaf springs, (the bottom leaves cracked) I think it was from over loading with wood. Now I try to be careful and not fill up the bed all the way.
So what makes you think that your truck weighs 5600 lbs, have you actually weighed it? I have weighed my weenie half ton on several occasions and depending on fuel load run 5800 lbs with no cargo. The folks with those noce big 2500s from GM are reporting 7000 lb empty weights. This still leaves a healthy 1600 lbs of cargo capacity for you though. Oddly, a ford ranger or toyota minitruck spec out to 1500 lbs of payload capacity as well. Properly spec’d (read a rare truck) you can get your curb weight down to almost what GM lists for the truck. We’re talking 2wd, reg cab, small gas engine, etc.
Yep. I have a certified scale ticket in the glove compartment of my 2500 4WD Suburban that reads 7,216 pounds. Empty except for 165 lbs of me in it.
When I went to register it for the first time the young lady said “Sir do your realize you bought a seven thousand pound truck.?”. To which I replied “Yes. I bought it by the pound.”.
Did this yesterday. This was one of the three loads I did. Almost all dead stand except for what was already cut. Guy told me I can cut all the dead stand I can haul!!!! I’ve got about two cords so far. Not bad considering it’s going for $225 a cord on the low end.
Did the same with my Tundra this week end. She can pull the load O.K. but I’m not sure how many more loads the leaf springs can take. I snapped one on my last truck.
Did the same with my Tundra this week end. She can pull the load O.K. but I’m not sure how many more loads the leaf springs can take. I snapped one on my last truck.
I’ve driven lots of Toyota trucks and the back springs are rather weak. On the ones I know I will be loading down and keeping for a few years I usually have an extra spring leaf put in the back. This gives it a much better ride and it won’t sag quite so bad. Don’t know why they don’t come from the factory with the extra spring. It has been a whining point for many years with them.
Me and my buddy think it’s due to trying to get a nice cushy ride out of your truck. You can thank american truck manufacturers for that one. The Toyota Tacoma 4X4 got bad reviews due to a stiff ride, hell ya they had a stiff ride that’s how they handle the back road of Maine. So G.M. and Ford came out with the leather and cushy ride so Toyota had to follow.
Cutting oak, I can get two rows high and three row length of about 22-24” cuts (between 21 and 24 pieces) and the springs are starting to settle. I’m thinking about 1/2 cord. Maybe a bit less, and with the fathers tacoma, I’m going about 1/3 per load with some limbs instead of the second row top and third row if that makes sense.
Rick
Rick
