Just be careful driving. With all the weight at the very back of the truck, your steering will be very light and like to wonder. Also obviously, braking takes longer. I used to help my father haul firewood from our sawmill to home and just with less than a cord of wood the front end became very light.

 

I always hauled a welder in my dad's pick-up. I know about the dynamics changing lol. Thanks for the tips though
I know that not all the weight of the 86" Quad will be on the Tailgate so that is safe

 

Also, I found these:
http://www.triworksindustries.ca/Products.htm
This is a company out of Canada so all prices are Canadian.

 

this brings me to a question I've had-

Why do newer trucks use a cable that can come apart? What happened to having 1/4" thick strips of steel that held the tailgate up, like the older trucks had? On our old 1977 GMC dually, it had the steel straps, that tailgate held just about anything...It only came off once, it somehow bounced up and came out of the hinge, but the straps held it to the truck instead of flying on the road.

 

You could so easily build something to help out your situation better than that stuff. I wouldn't be spending 3-4-500$ on something you could easily make on a saturday out in the garage.

 

these are the payload amounts from a 2004 dakota sales brochure
model maximum payload max. trailer weight

regular cab 2x4 2,150 6,600
regular cab 4x4 1,900 6,300
club cab 2x4 2,160 6,450
club cab 4X4 1,880 6,100
quad cab 2x4 1,800 6,100
quad cab 4x4 1,550 5,850

 

Mine's an 02 but my Payload is 1500lbs. I took it to a scale fully loaded, weighed it, the subtracted the weight, 2300lbs, from the GAWRR (Gross Axle Weight Rear Rating).
The only problem with building those is I only have access to a welder that does cast iron. And if I were to get another welder I'd be paying $150-$300 bucks an hour for that.

 

i dont know why theres that much of a diffrence but that info came right out of a 04 sales brochure so who knows

 

I like the ideas on that link. But I would definably try to build it myself. Good ideas tho

 

Well 50lbs isnt a huge difference.

Yeah, those are ingenious (excuse the spelling) ideas.Leave it to us damn beavers eh? haha