When did this happen?

The F-150 was NEVER a 3/4 ton truck it was a heavy half-ton. the F-250 was always the Ford 3/4 ton.

Dave S(Texas)

Dave S(Texas)

You have to do the math. The regular cab pickup can carry 3 people and at

166 lbs each and a loaded truck at 1000 lbs you get your 3/4 ton. Besides people have been over loading trucks for as long as there have been trucks. So who's to say what the load limit is. I know you have seen one of these trucks with their rear bumpers an inch off the ground and tires that look low on air. As long as the axle does not brake "keep loading it on".

Here's a clue for you, read the fine print, the payload includes operator, passenger and gear, not in addition to.

What you said there was never the case. the F-150 was never a 3/4 ton truck. The 100 in F-100 doesn't mean 1000 lbs. You've assumed facts not in evidence as many people do.

AND the payload for a "half-ton" truck was never just 1000 lbs. It was just jargon coined by the public and it stuck.

The 150 is a half-ton, the 250 is 3/4 ton, and the 350 is 1 ton. The 450 is a 1.5 ton.

Dave S(Texas)

I think you meant to type the F-150 is now 1.5 tons (3000 pounds). Trucks have gotten much larger in size over the last 50 years, and much much heavier, and the GVWR's are much higher. Probably double what they were 50 years ago.

That's a great question. I know that the F150's with 3000 lb payload came out in 04, and of course that's optional. The 1980-96 body style had payload #'s all over the place, dut to the different truck weights, and so we just have to pick something. The 4x4's during that period tended to have payloads around 1800 lb. I will venture to guess that a '56 F-100 had a payload of a half ton. Between there must have been some steps up in GVWR.

No, you're wrong. The half ton truck was orignially a truck rated to carry half a ton. You're just not old enough to remember.

Oh, I'm plenty old.....

Back then people didn't get so damn anal about the capacity. They just did what they had to do and went on. Hell, I've had over a half ton in a ranger without problems.

The cargo and passenger capacity is the truck's rated GVWR minus it's curb weight (includes oil, fluids, water and fuel).

The '05 F-350 PSD that I just traded had a cargo capacity of over 4000 lbs. (2 ton).

RCE

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net sed:

Let's see if I can figure this out. According to the data plate on my '02 F150 Supercab FX4, my GVWR is 6500lb.

GVWR is Gross Vehicle Weight Rating - The max permissible total weight of vehicle, occupants, optional equipment and cargo.

So, I need to know what my truck weighs. Lesee ... Shirley it'll be under specs in the owner's manual ... Nope. Ah! There's a section on vehicle loading with instructions on calculating the load I can haul ...

"Weigh your vehicle as you customarily operate the vehicle without cargo."

Feh! Till I know what she weighs empty, I don't know her capacity. But, apparently, the lawyers are getting paid.

Only 1/2 Ton? I had 1600 pounds of seed peanuts and chemicals on my Fathers old Ranger two weeks ago. I had a ton of the same stuff on my Frontier. No problem driving either - although I would not want to go cross country loaded that way. I've actually had a ton of stuff on a Ranger but don't recommend it. Even my old 1992 F150 could haul 3000 lbs, but again, I would not recommend going far that way.

The funniest thing that ever happened to me loading a truck was when I was buying sand. One of the local sand companies would sell you a "pick-up load" for a fixed price. No promise of weight, just "a load." I was building a large sand box. I stopped by at the sand dealer and got one load in my Ranger. The guy running the place used a huge CAT loader. He got a small load in the bucket and carefully dumped sand into the bed of the truck. I guess he watched the height of the bed and stopped when he judged it was "enough." Later in the day I needed another load. The guy that loaded me the first time was busy, so he sent another guy out to load me. Apparently this guy did not know what to do. He ran the loader into the pile and completely filled the bucket. Just as he was about to dump the whole mess on my truck, the first guy realized what was about to happen and ran out of the office screaming and waving frantically. He chased the other guy out of the loader, dumped most of the load back on the pile and then carefully loaded my truck as before. I've always wondered what would have happened if the first guy had dumped that whole load on my Ranger. I suspect the sand company would have bought me a new truck, but I'll never know.

Ed

Take a look at the information available at

( ). Ford provides base weights for all models, plus adds/subtracts for opitons. With this information you can, in theory, figure out the empty weight, except you also need to include you, your personal gear, passengers, the passengers gear, mud on the frame memebers, gas in the tank, etc., etc., etc. Probably faster to find the scales... Ed

"C. E. White" sed:

Thanks! Great stuff! So ...

GVWR 6500 Base curb wt 4774 Accys 495 My weight 190 Addtl Capacity 1041

Course, these dont take everything into account. Hell, my trailer hitch has gotta weigh 41 lbs. So, I can haul ~1000 lbs.

I guess it depends on how you define payload. Maximum Payload Rating for my truck is 1725 lbs. I guess one could call that a 3/4 ton p/u. Course, once you add up accys, occupants, tools, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, tow cables, jumper cables, fishing gear, and yes, mud on the frame members, what you can put in the bed is closer to a half ton.

The empty weight is sometimes on the title. Don't know how accurate that is though. The local quarry or landfill will tell you. It MIGHT be in the owners manual, 'course if you're like most people, you don't have that.

"Steve Barker" sed:

I got the owner's manual from

and no, it doesn't have the curb weight. Too many variables I reckon.

I saw an idiot put a traction motor from a large road engine in a F250. It actually buckled the truck so the cab was smashed into the bed. Was working at Union Pacific in the loco shop when it happened.

Al

Wow, how much does one of those weigh?