Distance between wheelwells - older trucks

I havea feeling you will have to get back to the early 80's or even the 70's to get a truck with enough distance between the wheel wells. If your looking to haul 1 ton of material on a regular basis, don't even look at the F150 Look at the F250 camper specials, or F350's, unless you like doing brakes and replacing calipers and rotors a lot. Idiots who want cars that look like trucks have ruined the light truck market. One can only hope that the high cost of fuel will correct this horrible trend.

Whitelightning

you could replace the carrying tray on your truck. I have a F350 with what we call a tray back. 8' wide by 10' long chequer plate tray with

woodee

JohnR66 wrote:

IIRC, all of the F series beds were diminsionally the same from 1980-96. I think the earlier models were narrower since they typically had narrower axles. Your most cost effective solution may be to get a trailer with brakes which would be my choice because of the easier loading/unloading especially if this is not an everyday task.

Lugnut

What bugs me is these full sized p'ups with only 5.5 foot beds. One dealer had no 8' bed F150s, only F250s. If someone wanted a lower cost truck with more than 6.5', it is the 7 foot bed ranger or nothing.

The F250 is a bit costly for what I was needing. I don't have far to haul, once a month 5 miles from the supplier. Mainly city streets so I can drive slower. I'm working with the supplier to see if they will deliver and I get help unloading! The stuff is plexiglas sheets I use for my fabricating business. 4x8 foot sheets only 10" high stack weighs 2000 pounds! John

why is there no other option that a 'style-side' as we call them ? I saw a new F250 extra cab (whatever the official name for it is) with a 8' tray. The most common is a steel base with aluminium drop-down sides.

woodee

JohnR66 wrote:

I'm confused. All models of the F Series trucks are wider than any Ranger that was ever built.

Have you thought of building a rack that could carry the sheet metal on edge, like they carry glass? It seems to me that the load you want to carry is top-heavy, and yo need to find a way to get the COG much lower.

Your dealer is full of s*it. You can get a standard cab F150 (half-ton, by the way) with a long bed that measures either 7 or 8 ft.(I forget which, and only one or the other can be had). The 5.5 ft bed comes on the 4-door cab pick ups, and you can not get the long bed in those trucks.

An over loaded truck is an overloaded truck, no matter how far you're going. If you happen to wreck your truck, and another car or two, the over loaded truck will cost you way more than you saved on getting a lesser truck. You need a 1-ton truck if you need to haul 2000 pounds.

I must be missing something. From an 02 catalog, the standard cab F150 has a Max payload of 3150lbs. This weight includes the passengers and fuel. Why wouldn't the F150 be able to handle the load? What does 1 ton truck mean? is that an axle loading thing? Please educate me! John

What he has now is a Ranger with a rack built to elevate his load above the level of the fenders to accommodate the width ot his product. He is sometimes overloading his current truck with weight. He is looking for a truck that can handle both the weight and carry his product flat on the floor between the wheel wells instead of a rack over the wheel wells.

Lowering the CG is exactly why he wants to haul the weight flat on the floor if he can find a vehicle wide enough.

Lugnut

On Sun, 11 Jun 2006 03:36:38 +0000, JohnR66 rearranged some electrons to form:

It doesn't mean anything, anymore. The payload & axle ratings determine the capacity.

Okay, now all 8 are firing. The space between the wheel wells is only about

Seems to me that he's a candidate for a flat bed truck where he can mount tool boxes on the sides. This will solve lots of problems all at the same time.

I don't know that even a flatbed would accomplish this. Most I see in my neck of the woods have the bed level well above the tires and probably as hig as the load would be in his ranger or other vehicle with a rack to raise the load. I have seen a couple of utlility bodies built with the bed lower but, they have wheel wells to accommodate the tires. As such they are not true flatbeds. Those wheel wells may not be far enough apart to offer much help. I still think the best solution for an occasional load like this that must be hauled would be a 5x10 or larger trailer with brakes. He still has full use of the truck between loads.

Lugnut

It doesn't mean anything. You should try to avoid thinking in terms of "one ton truck". That's a very badly outdated concept.

In 1940, a one ton truck would carry one ton. Not any more. These days, you could put a ton on a toyota.

Yeah, the trailer would solve a lot of problems. Of course, he'd have to learn how to drive it, and that creates it's own sets of problems unless he's already been over that bridge.

Dually! That'll do it. Let's have him buy a new dually flatbed. ;-)