!/2 ton p/u and hauling wood

[rayburn]

Alright how much wood do you guys load in your 1/2 ton pick-ups? I been loading mine up pretty good and making the thing squat. Looking in to getting some air bags to help out a little with these loads. Should have got a 3/4 ton truck. 8-/

 

[Jamess67]

Not to be a party pooper but just because you upgrade your suspension, dont forget that your axles, tires and driveline can only handle so much. If you overload your truck your risking damaging major expensive components. Also overloading your truck takes weight off your front tires leading to loss of traction in abrupt turns and breaking. Dont let saving a trip cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars or your life.

JMHO

 

[Wet1]

The axle is the leak link and air bags wont keep it from braking/twisting. Stay below the rails with heavy wood. Actually, I'd get rid of it and get a 3/4 or 1 ton... totally different beast.

 

[KarlP]

Alright how much wood do you guys load in your 1/2 ton pick-ups?

I do 3/4 of a cord with my 3/8 ton truck (Double Cab Tacoma with 6' bed ). (~1/3 cord in the bed, the rest in the utility trailer behind it.)

I think with 1/2 ton you should probably still stick to ~1/3 cord in the bed. If you want to haul more, get a higher capacity trailer...

 

[webby3650]

I have a half ton Chevy and I carry 2/3 of a cord, it squats but it drives and stops just fine. I would rather make an extra trip and get 15mpg all the rest of the time. My advice from owning both would be:If you only need it for hauling wood don't bother with 3/4 ton, if you need it for other heavy hauling get the 3/4ton.

 

[yukiginger]

Utility trailer with a ramp is the answer. The only advantage to the truck bed only is immediate scrounging - i.e., when you aren't "going out to get wood," and just happen upon some on the roadside. Then, sure, it would be nice to max out your bed capacity without being overweight. Other than that instance, a utility trailer for about $1200-$1500 brand new will greatly increase your single-haul firewood capacity. The ramp also allows you to roll up larger rounds, or hand truck them on, instead of lifting.

MarkG

 

[wccountryboy]

See what the actual payload and towing ratings are for your truck. A "1/2 ton" truck in theory has a payload rating of 1000 pounds, about 1/4 cord of green hardwood. The owners manual or dealer should be able to tell you what the actual ratings are, usualy more than 1K#s. Also, the manufacturers ratings are usualy fairly conservitive, so you may be able to get away with a little more. As mentioned, there's more to it than just suspension- drivelines, transmissions, brakes, differentials. One of these is usualy the weak link

 

[aandabooks]

Utility trailer with a ramp is the answer. The only advantage to the truck bed only is immediate scrounging - i.e., when you aren't "going out to get wood," and just happen upon some on the roadside. Then, sure, it would be nice to max out your bed capacity without being overweight. Other than that instance, a utility trailer for about $1200-$1500 brand new will greatly increase your single-haul firewood capacity. The ramp also allows you to roll up larger rounds, or hand truck them on, instead of lifting.

MarkG

+1. The bed of my truck holds the gear and some occasional wood. The trailer bears the brunt of the wood hauling duties. At $700 for the 5x10 utility trailer, it is much cheaper to replace than the truck.

 

[pybyr]

The axle is the leak link and air bags wont keep it from braking/twisting. Stay below the rails with heavy wood. Actually, I'd get rid of it and get a 3/4 or 1 ton... totally different beast.

3/4 ton trucks are great- IF you really need them on a regular (several times per week) basis. I've owned several, and still dearly miss my '06 Dodge Cummins. But unless you need that hauling capacity often, you pay a huge premium in both purchase cost and parts/ service- 1/2 ton truck parts/ service are, from what I can tell, much more affordable, because they are handled in a far larger/ mainstream way.

 

[Highbeam]

First.... nobody knows the weak link in any of the trucks except the engineer and they aren't telling. It is wrong to assume you know the weak link. My GVWR was always exceeded before any other rating.

Second.... a "half ton" has nothing to do with 1000 lbs in the context of truck designations. My last truck was a half ton chevy and had a legal payload of 400 lbs. My current one ton truck has a legal payload of 2700 lbs. I weigh my trucks to get real weights so that I know when I am breaking the law.

Third... a half cord of wood can have several different weights depending on moisture content and on species so you really need to ask how much cargo are we carrying in lbs.

My last half ton was frequently overloaded with 1500lbs of cargo or jsut under half a cord of firewood. It handled great and was sold off in great shape after 172000 miles.

Every light truck available (except maybe a dually) will max out in weight before overflowing in volume if you know how to load the bed.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Alright how much wood do you guys load in your 1/2 ton pick-ups? I been loading mine up pretty good and making the thing squat. Looking in to getting some air bags to help out a little with these loads. Should have got a 3/4 ton truck. 8-/

It depends how far I have to drive. If It wasn't far and I'd load her down and go easy.

 

[mayhem]

I have a 3/4 ton Chevy, but I'd stick with a relatively simple rule of thumb for any truck carrying a load in the bed. Load it till the rear leaf springs sag straight and stop.

I agree its not the best idea in the world to add carrying capacity to your truck by upgrading the springs with new pnes, air bags or whatever else is out there. There are alot of component differences between a 1/2 adn 3/4 ton truck...heavier springs and shocks of course, frequently a heavier duty axle, tranny, engine cooling, bigger brakes front and rear. Alot of times too the frame rails in 1/2 ton trucks are C rails and the 3/4 tons and higher are fully boxed rails, or at least boxed at the heavy load stress points. I can easily imagine a situation where an upgraded suspension could get you into severe trouble.

 

[jeff6443]

I had a company 94 f 150 4x4 I use to fly in west coast whitting (fish) ld3 container . in to phila . Phila market was close by . packed in 60 boxes . I stacked 40x60 pounds I know way overloaded
but at 2 am go slow I was a little light in the front end .when I got the 80 big diff. v 8

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Another thing you have to look at are the tires. On the tire it will tell you how much it will handle at what PSI. If you set air pressure in the tires by the owners manual or on the tag on the truck. It may have nothing to do with the rating on the tires. In fact the tires on my 91 ford explorer were supposed to be set at 28psi. I never knew why until my brother was working at a ford test track and talked to the engineers. They said the tire pressure was set low so that the tire would roll and squeal in a hard turn for a warning that it was close to rolling over.

That said three weeks ago I picked up 2000lbs of coal with my dads 02 f150 it was definitely over loaded. But right now I have 7.3l diesel engine and trans in it for my F250 which is about 1500lbs and with the tires on it at 44psi handle the load fine.

Billy

 

[drdoct]

What a bunch of wimps. Trucks were meant to be loaded. As long as the front tires can still steer it then load it. But that's with real trucks, not the $45,000 limo trucks they make now. I figure at least a Ton for a 1/2 ton... over 2 for a 1 ton. I used to haul 2-2500# pallets on my '69 f-100 back when we delivered feed. Does it get hairy sometimes?... of course. Even loaded down if your paying attention your safer than 3/4 of the teenagers running down the street dancing in their car while talking on the cell phone while smoking all at the same time. Git-R-Done was being done long before Larry the Cable guy came along down here in the south. There's hardly anything that goes wrong with a well worked truck. It's like they like it.

 

[akhilljack]

exactly what he said i have an 04 dodge 1500 with a 4.7 v8. i load it up to the top of the back window in the bed and tow my 14 foot trailer with a full cord stacked on it alone at the same time. if you guys saw the goat trail i went up and down with this combo for ten miles on a mountain side with 1-200 ft cliffs on the side before i even get to the road where i drive at 65-70 for 70 miles to get home on numerous occasions you would think those questions are rediculous. sure i would love to get my hands on an 01-02 cummins 6 speed 8ft bed 1 ton but i have a family and priorities and the 10 grand i got this truck for is all i have for a truck that most times i drive to work and back with. the funny thing is at 10 grand i can still aford to total this truck and buy another one to replace it and still have some money left to screw around with by the time i bought a 9 or 10 year old diesel thats worth a crap which is at least 19 or 20 grand. it pulls just fine and i still got 17 miles per gallon the whole way loaded down and all. i do this all the time and never have problems. Stops good, doesnt sway. if you have money to blow or if you already have a one ton use it other wise use what you got and dont get scared by "the man". thats what a truck is for dont be afraid to use it.

 

[fyrwoodguy]

you can get less than a 1/2 cord of split wood stacked into this S-10,but i would not want to go very far
the black boxes inthe background hold 1/2 cord of 2 foot stove wood each,4'x8'x2' and attatach to skidsteer loader.

you can throw a very FAT cord into this 1-ton and haul'er as far as you want......1986 454- carburetor- gas :bug:

 

[rayburn]

Yeah, I'm sure I have been overload more than few times with my half ton,but I usually don't haul more than 10 - 12 miles from home and use all the back roads and really take it easy. I would guess that i have had at Least a half a cord loaded in the bed.