how much weight will my truck carry in the bed?

[shendren]

i will be picking up 2000sf of tile for my house at the home depot tomorrow. since my truck is a 3/4 ton, does that mean i can haul 3/4ton in the bed if i spread it evenly?



thanks. scott.

 

[Partyat33]

Well, I had 38 12' sheets of 5/8" drywall in the bed of mine. That calculates to 4560 lbs. She dropped about 5". Wasn't too bad. I would not want to put in too much more though. I don't know what 2000 sf of tile weighs, but if its about 1 lb per square foot should be a piece of cake.





Dennis

 

[Deezul1]

You shouldnt have any problem with it but if it sage s way to much(not likely) come back for the rest

 

[Dkevdog]

I do a considerable amount of tile installations so I can relate to your dilema. 2000 SQ ft, depending on what type of material, could weigh in at 4000 lbs or more, but unless we're talking marble or travertine stone, you should be between 3500 and 4000. Overloaded, yes, but I have done it from time to time. Just make sure they slide the first pallet (I'm assuming there will be two) all the way to the front to get some of the weight up there.



Kev

 

[CJ Johansson]

Ton ratings

The ton rating is not a measure of how much weight your truck can carry, exactly. There's been a fair amount of debate as to where this designation really came from, from old wagon ratings to the military.



I've read that the military set the rating to be a very consrevative underestimate of the actual capacity of the truck, typically 50%, to ensure safe travel on extremely rough roads. On good roads, twice the ton rating, or the actual capacity of the truck is permitted. This is still significantly under what it'll take to break the truck.



I've often carried 55 85-90 lb hay bales on my 1-ton, which has a big heavy steel flatbed on it (truck weighs 8380 empty). That's pushing 2. 5 tons on the truck bed. It's down on the overload springs, but there's still a couple inches of travel left in the suspension. It won't take corners fast (due to the high center of gravity) and I don't presonally like going over 45MPH with that kind of load, but it does it just fine.



With a 3/4 ton, I'd probably feel safe running at 2 to 2. 5 times the ton rating, or 3000 to 3750 lbs. Just remember to give yourself extra distance to stop the extra load, you WILL notice it takes longer to get stopped.



-cj

 

[BigMike]

Assuming you're GVW is around 8800lbs and your truck unloaded weighs around 7000lbs, you technically only have a payload of 1800lbs. Now try to find someone who pays attention to that. That's been the subject of many debates here on TDR.

 

[M Barnett]

Scott, mine is a 94 3/4 ton, should be like yours and if I remember right, the payload is 2800 lbs. I once loaded my truck and weighed it, 10,000 lbs. Then hooked up to a loaded trailer and took off cross country. Truck was sitting level.

M Barnett

 

[tragicwagon]

shendren

4000 pounds should be no problem. on my current truck I loaded over 5k of 3/8 inch plate steel in it and it was still about 1/2 inch from the over load springs. on an 89 chevy dually I loaded 12,300 pounds of steel & sand and drove a little over 200 miles at 65 mph but that was back in 91 and I wont do it again,I like to think that Im smarter now. Did not hurt the truck it is still on the road today. I still like to load the wagon, but not 12k ,not any more. check your tire pressure and you will be fine with 4k.