How much weight will 1500 rear axle take ?
 

I use my 06 1500 for everything, daily driver, hardcore off road,firewood hauler, sled hauler ..etc etc....
My question is, How much weight will these rear diffs take ?

I have seen how small these axles and bearings are [at the dealership], mine seems incredibly strong, I abuse the hell out of this truck, and she keeps on going with not a single failure, but, since my 3/4 ton has give up the ghost I will be using my half ton as my full time sled hauler, sled deck = 350 lbs + 2 sleds =1200 lbs= 1550 lbs payload. I'm thinking of adding air helper springs to stop sag, but, how much will these diffs really take ?

I don't know about trucks, but my 74 Monaco with a 440 had a 9.25 (same rear) that hauled around 4800 lbs with a big block pushing it for 31 years without failure.

I wouldn't be concerned with how much the diff will take more so the amount the truck is rated for. You can put 1200#'s safely in your bed. Tow 7K all the time safely.

Anything more and your going to have issu'es in the long term.

BTW:Airbag helpers were the best investment I made!

I hauled 3100 pounds of sod in my truck, it held up just fine.

I put 1,000 lbs in the back all the time. Water tanks with 125 gallons, 1000# of horse feed, cement, etc.

Payload is around 1,200#. Beyond that and the liability becomes too much. Have a wreck while overloaded and your insurance company can say "too bad".

Liability isn't a problem around here ! I don't live in a populated area, and my truck spends 90% of its life in the bush on logging roads. but, thats my point, I'm not driving up and down the highway , I'm on rough, rutted, muddy , snow covered bush roads turning big rubber. And I don't have the option of pulling a sled trailer because of the terrain, but, thanks for the responses, I guess I'll just keep beating on her until I find the breaking point !!!

Hey I went with the Air Ride air bags and love the ride and the load leveling. I had a few pic's of the install back in May. Try them out, Amazon.com has a great price on them just run a search on their site.

H-

I haven't cracked the differential, but since it's a half ton I'll assume that if you overload the truck too much the first failure mode will most likely be the axle popping a c-clip. Allowing the axle to slide out of the differential (not good) cornering with a load will cause it. Or does the RAM use a different type of rear axle?

Nope, 9.25's have been c-clip setups since 1973 (from the beginning).