Need some hauling info please

Know anybody at the local fire station that has a water truck? Maybe they could deliver some to you.

Consider this, the M149, Trailer, Water, 400 gallon, in slang a water buffalo was designed to be pulled behind a 2 1/2 ton truck or larger. It was forbidden to pull it behind M880 5/4 ton truck because when the water started sloshing around it would push the truck all over the place.

water tanks are always smooth bore, no baffles, so that 4150 pounds is constantly moving, and when you try to stop it sloshes foreword pushing you foreword. Too fast in a turn and your going over. I wouldn't even trust an F-350 with that kind of a load. Nor would I trust the bed of a pick up truck to provide a secure tie down, that kind of weight needs to be connected directly to a very stout frame. Remember the 4150 lbs is static weight.

Whitelightning

If you're making a very very short dash over level pavement, you might risk it with an F150. Real risky not to mention real scary too. The 150 will not turn or break predictably. with heavy side to side sway ...like an amusement ride. No Joke.

The F150 tries may actually blow before you move. No Joke.

Consider the F350, DRW if you can manage. Gross weight on the rear axel may exceed 6000lbs with the water. SRWs means 3000 lb per tire. thats a LOAD RANGE E tire that may not even be available on the F250s.

4000 lbs in the bed of an F350 will even cause the 1-ton pick up it to squat hard. The voice of experience. Add overloads to the rear springs like the Firestone air bags to get a 5000 lb gross weight rating on the rear axel. The truck will handle much more safely and maybe even break in a straight line!!!

It all depends on how far you need to go and how good your road is.

Good luck, Phil

A lot of people in my area haul those round green water tanks that have a flat bottom and domed top in 3/4 ton trucks all the time. Just make sure it is totally full so you don't get the sloshing, and slow down som for sharp corners. I've seen them hauled on sturdy trailers, too.

I would suggest the F-250 diesel. It has the torque to move the load easily, and the load capacity to repeatedly handle a load weight of that size without having to maximize the output on the suspension system. An F-150 while ample would end up sagging in the rearend and require spring replacement far sooner than the F-250. Here is a chart of towing capacities, keep in mind the actual dead weight capacity vs the towing capacity is about

50-75% of the towing capacity. You need to keep in mind that if you are hauling an 8,800lb trailer that the tongue weight is usually 10-15% of the weight with 5th-wheels being about 25% . So if an 8,800lb trailer causes the F-150 springs to sag drastically, imagine what 4,000lbs of water right over the axle will do. You will also notice that the highest towing capacity in the chart is the diesel engine and ranges from 10,000-14,500lbs with a manual transmission.

PWK

I've driven forestry trucks for a fire department with 125 - 150 gallon tanks with baffles. We use a F-350. You're talking 3 to 4 times the weight. If you put this on a heavy enough trailer, it might work, but you're going to have 2 tons moving all over the place (called 'surge'). Two tons pushing on any pickup truck will cause the truck to move, sometimes in ways you can't anticipate.

I have a CDL with tank endorsement, and have hauled over 5,000 gallons. The more fluid you have, the more push you have on a truck. When you have a surge slamming against the front of the tank when you're trying to stop your vehicle, and running out of room, you learn what 'out of control' means. Without baffles, I wouldn't run that amount of water with less than a six-wheeler, probably a two ton.

I'd think about picking up a used tanker, especially from a fire department. Our department just sold one with a 1,000 gallon tank and less than a 100,000 miles for $5,000. Do not buy an old oil tanker, as the surge will rip the tank to pieces.

Jim Clark-Dawe

Same here.. When you live in a town of 1,000 people and most use wells, well in the midwest about 3/4 of the way through the summer you see the water trucks really start comin up to the treatment plant. They drive around in

1/2 tons, and 3/4tons, but like I said in my previous post, the 1/2tons really start sagging in the rear even unloaded after about the 3rd or 4th trip with it.

Just follow Jaspers adivce and you should be good. Seen it done too many years to count now. Just make sure you get the tank FULL. No more than 6" from the top.

A sturdy F250 or E350 SRW woud handle it axle wise because they have a

4 ton capacity rear axle. You might have to add a leaf to some 250's and as far as tires, 265R16 "E" tires (which come on most SRW 1 tons) have a load capcity of 3580 lbs per tire and would handle you required load safely

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

One that will hold a 2.5 ton payload, neither of those you mentioned can. Look at an F-450 at minimum, or buy a trailer to mount the tank to.

Talk about over kill......

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

I agree. An F-250 is more than enough truck to haul 4k.

4K pounds that doesn't move, yeah, 4K pounds that can move any which way is another story

Whitelightning

The standard payload rating of a current F250 is 3200 pounds, he's talking about hauling over two tons in an older model with a lower rating.

If he was towing this load, a 250 would be fine, but my impression was the OP was going to load 500 pounds of water in the truck, in which case he would be seriously overloading a 250.

Whoops, I meant 500 gallons...

A full tank of water doesn't move. I agree, a partial tank is a pain to drive around. Been there, done that with a 2500 gal. tank on a properly sized truck. Better to dump the entire load and refill as needed.

I knew what you meant. . But still, we can't always go by what the book says. We must use real world experience.

Exactly why I bought an F-450 and regularly haul 8000 pounds on the bed and tow 15,000 pound trailers...

16,000 GVWR Max Payload 9100 26,000 GCWR

It is damn easy to forget about the extra weight and trailers, because I have more than enough truck (especially brakes) for the job...

:-)

When the nice officer stops you, checks the GVWR against what you are hauling, and cites you for overload, you can add that to the real world experience.