Truck capacity in board feet?

[Mike Cruz]

HA! Weight capacities... I have put 3000 lb of mulch in the bed of my deisel Chevy HD 3/4 ton pick up....well over what it is rated for. But oddly enough, since I don't change (if anything I actually improve) the aerodynamics of it, my MPG actually stays the same...about 18 MPG.

[Paul Ryan]

Unless you have a topper (cap) installed on your pickup I wouldn't worry about load limits. A half ton will handle wood stacked up to the top of the box sides. I have had well over 3000lbs in my half ton before. It isn't what the truck was set up for and not good for the suspension. But as long as you keep it slow it can be done. The front tires were bouncing a little. Just put 50lbs of air in your tires and take it easy. Now if you are driving 100 miles I woudn't recomend it. But for 30 miles or less, you will be fine. If it is a small pickup (ranger, s-10, dakota). They have less capacity so just fill them up to the top of the bed sides. About a month ago, I cut down some dead 10-14" diameter oak trees. I gave it to my buddy for fire wood. By stacking it nice and tight we got all of the wood into his half ton ford. It DID have a topper on it and was filled to the top. That truck was squatting a little but he drove 100 miles home with that weight in it. So I wouldn't worry about wood up to the top of the box sides.

[Chris Ricker]

I brought home about 220 BF of WET cherry in the back of my F-150 the other week and it was a little over 2/3ds full. weight was not a problem.

[NICK BARBOZA]

This is about 1000 BF, mostly maple in my 3/4 ton GMC. When i bought it at auction 3 years ago it was +/-1500 BF and I did it in two trips because it was an 85 mile drive on secondary roads. but the price was right $260 for the lot!

Don't worry I didn't drive with the truck loaded like this, it was simply an exercise in garage/lumber storage re-organization!

Cheers,
NWB

[Anthony Whitesell]

Unfortunately I don't know the bdft capacity, but I can tell you (from my recent tool/truck research and purchase) that the Chevy S-10/Ford Rangers have nearly the same weight capacity (or close enough to) as the Silverado 1500/F150. The only difference is physical vehicle size and the larger engines available in the 1500/F150 class. Both classes (S-10/Ranger and 1500/F150) will haul 1500-1700 pounds in the bed. The 2500/F250 classes ups the anty to 2200-2400 pounds, just enough to haul a full yard of earth products (stone/sand/loam), opposed to wood products (mulch, chips, etc) which weigh almost half as much.

Someday someone will have to explain to me where the "1/2 ton truck" concept comes from as the 1500/F150/S-10/Ranger all haul 3/4 of a ton (1500lbs).

[Matthew Joe]

Thanks, all. The truck is an older model S-10. The wood will be a mix, but mainly kiln dried mahogany (about 150 bf) topped off with whatever kiln dried white oak I can safely transport in the truck.

The pictures and comments have been very helpful.

[Rod Sheridan]

Unfortunately I don't know the bdft capacity, but I can tell you (from my recent tool/truck research and purchase) that the Chevy S-10/Ford Rangers have nearly the same weight capacity (or close enough to) as the Silverado 1500/F150. The only difference is physical vehicle size and the larger engines available in the 1500/F150 class. Both classes (S-10/Ranger and 1500/F150) will haul 1500-1700 pounds in the bed. The 2500/F250 classes ups the anty to 2200-2400 pounds, just enough to haul a full yard of earth products (stone/sand/loam), opposed to wood products (mulch, chips, etc) which weigh almost half as much.

Someday someone will have to explain to me where the "1/2 ton truck" concept comes from as the 1500/F150/S-10/Ranger all haul 3/4 of a ton (1500lbs).

Anthony, the carying capacity of a vehicle is the difference between the GVWR (Gross Vehicle weight Rating), and the weight of the vehicle without the cargo in the bed.

Note that this includes the fuel, driver, passengers etc, so you should weigh your vehicle with a full tank of fuel, and yourself in it. Then you can do the subtraction and determine how much additional weight you can put in the truck. Start adding passengers and the cargo capacity goes down.

So once you add 150 pounds of fuel, 200 pounds of driver, 50 pounds for your tools etc that you may have in the truck, with a 1,500 pound capacity, you're at 1,100 pounds of cargo.

Note that many vehicle options such as a crew cab reduce the trucks capacity due to increased unladen weight.

regards, Rod.

[Jason Roehl]

"1/2-ton", "3/4-ton" and "1-ton" are legacy terms. They were the actual payload capacities 60+ years ago, but now are pretty much intrinsically meaningless. I have a '93 F250 extended cab truck that has a payload of somewhere around 2800 lbs., nearly double what its "3/4-ton" moniker implies. Usually, there is a pretty good jump in capability between a 1/2-ton and 3/4-ton truck within the same brand. That's when they get the better axles, a thicker or taller frame, heavier suspension, etc. The jump to a 1-ton is then either the addition of a dually rear axle and/or a slightly taller suspension package (sometimes just a block is added between the leaf springs and the axle!).

I had a '90 F150 (payload of ~1500 lbs), in which on a few occasions I put about 3000 lbs. of stone (weighed at the pit). I wouldn't recommend it. It's definitely pushing the limits on braking ability, and if your springs/shackles are old, you do run the risk of busting those, particularly in the snow/salt/rust belt of the country.

[Rick Moyer]

I know I'll regret posting this, but it is really unfair. (note: I don't mean to single anyone out, this is a general issue I have).
I own and operate a big dump truck GVWR 73,280#'s. If I get caught 5% over weight I pay a huge fine! Yet many people with pick-ups regularly exceed the gvwr. There is a reason they are rated for a certain weight; steering, braking, overheated tires, suspension, etc. When you are grossly overweight you pose a danger to yourself and others on the road. That's why the bigger trucks are so regulated, yet everyone seems to get away with even double the ratings on pick-ups!


Okay, getting down off my soapbox now.

[Rod Sheridan]

I know I'll regret posting this, but it is really unfair. (note: I don't mean to single anyone out, this is a general issue I have).
I own and operate a big dump truck GVWR 73,280#'s. If I get caught 5% over weight I pay a huge fine! Yet many people with pick-ups regularly exceed the gvwr. There is a reason they are rated for a certain weight; steering, braking, overheated tires, suspension, etc. When you are grossly overweight you pose a danger to yourself and others on the road. That's why the bigger trucks are so regulated, yet everyone seems to get away with even double the ratings on pick-ups!


Okay, getting down off my soapbox now.

Thanks for posting that Rick, it is a safety concern.......Regards, Rod.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Anthony, the carying capacity of a vehicle is the difference between the GVWR (Gross Vehicle weight Rating), and the weight of the vehicle without the cargo in the bed.

Note that this includes the fuel, driver, passengers etc, so you should weigh your vehicle with a full tank of fuel, and yourself in it. Then you can do the subtraction and determine how much additional weight you can put in the truck. Start adding passengers and the cargo capacity goes down.

So once you add 150 pounds of fuel, 200 pounds of driver, 50 pounds for your tools etc that you may have in the truck, with a 1,500 pound capacity, you're at 1,100 pounds of cargo.

Note that many vehicle options such as a crew cab reduce the trucks capacity due to increased unladen weight.

regards, Rod.

I know that's correct, but the manufacturer's are taking that (or most of it) into account and are nice enough to provide a bed payload capacity in the brochures. I was basing my comparison on those numbers. If you get the actual numbers for an S-10 and 1500 they work about the same as the payload weight listed and in the end, both come out about 200 pounds different (S-10 at 1500# and 1500 at 1700#)

[Paul Ryan]

Unfortunately I don't know the bdft capacity, but I can tell you (from my recent tool/truck research and purchase) that the Chevy S-10/Ford Rangers have nearly the same weight capacity (or close enough to) as the Silverado 1500/F150. The only difference is physical vehicle size and the larger engines available in the 1500/F150 class. Both classes (S-10/Ranger and 1500/F150) will haul 1500-1700 pounds in the bed. The 2500/F250 classes ups the anty to 2200-2400 pounds, just enough to haul a full yard of earth products (stone/sand/loam), opposed to wood products (mulch, chips, etc) which weigh almost half as much.

Someday someone will have to explain to me where the "1/2 ton truck" concept comes from as the 1500/F150/S-10/Ranger all haul 3/4 of a ton (1500lbs).

As Jason posted the weight ratings of pickup are really old about 60 years. However the 1/2 ton, 3/4, 1 ton ratings came from the weight of the frame back then. The frame back then wieghed 1000-2000lbs. Frames aren't that heavy today but are in some aspects stronger, and in some aspects weaker. More often than not when a late modle pickup is in a decent accident the frame needs to be replaced. I have helped and seen this done dozens of times. So in that way the frame is weaker. But they are designed to collapse like that. However the fully boxed hydro formed designs used today are structually much stronger than the old frames due to today's technology.

[John Keeton]

Hey Guys, you all are getting too deep into this! Haven't you seen the TV ads where they drop trucks from the sky and drive off??! Obviously, todays trucks are indestructible!

[Tom Veatch]

...
Someday someone will have to explain to me where the "1/2 ton truck" concept comes from as the 1500/F150/S-10/Ranger all haul 3/4 of a ton (1500lbs).

The max gross for my 2000 F150 is 6000 - don't recall the individual axle weights offhand - and, never having run it across any scales for the purpose, don't know the empty weight. A cursory google search turned up results in the neighborhood of 4800 to 5000 for the F150. Use your own judgement as to the reliability of those figures. But, it they are correct, that leaves a useful load of 1000 to 1200 pounds which is in the ballpark of "1/2 ton".

I have, and will continue to use 1000# (1/2 ton) as my limit for estimated load on the vehicle. I would rather make a second (or third) trip than overload the vehicle, compromise it's handling and braking performance, and put undue stress/strain on the structure. Buying another truck anytime in the foreseeable future is not in my plans, especially not to replace one damaged through my misuse.

[Ben Martin]

Yeah, Gary, but you are paying those "conifer land" prices for hardwood!

I thought up there that they gave the lumber away, competed for land with people!!