Took out some concrete the other day. Loaded it in the truck. looked like five or six hundred pounds. Truck sagged pretty good, but never bottomed out on the way too the dump or anything. Drove fine, just like it had a couple hundred pounds in the back, all i noticed was the 13 mpg.

Got to the dump, weighed in. That can't be right, weigh it again. Okay, maybe my truck is heavier than i though. Weigh out.

1650 pounds. Wow, i am a bad estimator. And i was very impressed for a 1/2 ton. I wouldn't do it regularly, but man i was happy. I wont worry about my trailer at all once i get my iarbags in.

just thought i would share, happy vets day. thanks to all the soldiers, sailors and marines out there. Everyone else too.

 

yea i have had quite a few cinderblocks in the back of mine and have yet to max it..... I would love to know how much weight i have had back there...

 

i know for a fact i have had 1300 lbs in the back of my 4x4, and didnt even notice. feed and hay for the horses. nothing like a good truck.

 

o i hear ya there everytime i pickup feed its like some kind of joke to this truck!!

 

2 years ago, my used 1/2 ton dodge had a great test, during huntung season in the truck bed, coming from the camp I had my 4 wheeler (about 500lbs) plus a 2-3 year old male moose in the bed. (the moose gave us about 500lbs of meat, so I guess it weighed 1200lbs. So the moose and 4 wheeler came out to about 1700lbs. 1700lbs in the bed. drove 200 miles at a speed of 60-70mph in our north eastern hills. I was amazed how a 1/2 ton truck cab took almost a full ton of weigth in the bed. I wonder how strong my 3/4 ton truck. No moose this year!!!

 

So, whats the maximum our trucks can take?

 

years ago i had a 94 f-250 4x4 x-cab 460 (gas hog). i loaded it up with cement blocks and left for work. i pulled on the scales when i got there and i had 3600lbs in there. the truck weighed 6000 empty and it weighed in at like 9650. it sagged a few inches but didn't lug the motor at all. still rode pretty good. i also had a 92 f-150 that i loaded with lumber. i don't know how much weight it was but my leafs were inverted and riding on the bump stops. i could hardly steer the thing.

 

I wouldn't exceed 1,000 pounds unless you absolutely have to. It's not about the suspension or the frame. It's about all that weight riding on the 1-3/8" thick axle shafts that roll on those cute little torrington bearings.

3/4 & 1 ton trucks use full floating axles. The weight is distributed over twice as many bearingsthat are much larger, and ride on spindles; the axle shaft doesn't bear any of it.

 

Have not really tested the Dodge in 3 years, other than my toolbox (loaded, est. 250 lbs.) and ATV (650#) it's not had much more weight than that. I did have to put in airbags though, but that's more for the fact that with the toolbox, the weight of the ATV sits back behind the rear axles.
I did do two loads of river rock for a home fountain, koi pond project at my last house a few years ago. Had a'00 1500 series Chevy Z71 at the time. Rocks were sold by weight, and I had 2200 lbs. in each load. Really pulled the back end down and I hit the bump stops going over every speed hump in my neighborhood, scraped the tailpipe backing up the driveway, but it made the 10-12 mile trip both times with no problems.