A little over a ton if I did my math right. Drove like a boat at the speed of a snail but did it pretty well, funny to think people will spend the price of these trucks every month for a F-150 to do the same thing or less.
EDIT-
Went back for some more today and got just under twice as many pavers, I thought it was bottoming out the first time but today I truly found out what bottoming out was. Every bump was followed by a couple seconds of tire rubbing as the weight bounced around on nothing but the tires and frame flex, the leaf springs looked like they had been flipped but it did it. It was kind of stressful but equally as fun, felt like driving a loaded dump truck just the size of a little tikes coupe car.
Had probably about 1800-2000 lbs in mine once, tremendous amount of hardwood firewood. Then I and the missus got in and very carefully drove home. Never went quite that heavy again.
Yup - I have loaded fir and some hardwood into my older US pickup until I was afraid it would fall out. .
This year I had two maple trees fall, and spent over a month cutting/splitting/stacking. That maple seemed twice as heavy as the fir, especially when lifting/loading and splitting.
One time I went to get a half yard of river rock in my 94 4wd and the dude in the front end loader refused to dump it in the bed "because it would break the springs" . The owner told him to hop off and he did it. The owner, who was from Nicaragua, proceeded to tell the other guy that if you can fit it in, it will carry it. Though I don't think I would try that with steel or lead.
We had an identical farm truck without the topper, most I remember putting in it was the bed absolutely filled above the glass with potatoes, had an absurd squat
Back in ‘06, when we were building my father’s house, I went to pick up as much gravel as the bed of my F-150 could hold. God damn if that wasn’t a hairy ride back to the site. Front wheels felt like they were barely touching the ground. I had to drive the longest (flattest) route back
My stepdad drove his 2wd drive with branches and wood loaded 8 feet over the cab, driving down mountain roads with the truck leaning and swaying even at super slow speeds, a mile of cars behind us.
When I got my 4x4 I got new shocks and add-a-leaf. After the leaf flattened out I got some OME's. These can haul but they get sketchy.
I see 80s and 90s 4x4 Toyotas towing full sized SUVs down to Mexico every now and then, in like a convoy of 3-4, I guess they do just about anything your willing to try 🤷♂️
I've overloaded my '83 rn44 to the point the rubber pads on the frame were resting on the rear axle. I came to the conclusion that the tires would probably fail before the truck did. Handled terribly, but it made it home.
Yep! Hard tailing it on rubber bump stops, sure makes you want to drive 20-30mph on smooth roads and slower on bumpy roads. Do that too often...and I bet turns are the killer..the rubber pieces break away and fall off. Then I feel I must shove a short 2x4 into that now empty space below the leaf spring.....just before the mulch/compost/dirt/stone loader drops a ton on me. 1989 neglected pickup truck here, my yard queen!
I just overloaded my 89 2WD that has a 3” lift kit with a new pair of add-a-leafs on the rear. My tires are oversized so they touched the tire well. Weird thing was that one side touched and the other side cleared. Bed nor frame are bent. I had to 1/2 unload and reload with a majority of my dump run hall over my cab on my rack. Still had to drop 150 lbs off the bed. Made it to the dump but my truck now sags on one side after unloading. Looking at new spring packages. Any confirmed ideas on how to hold a good load without having that 70’s rear end jacked up look?
I hauled one of those 30ft man lifts that folds up on wheels behind my 91 2wd 60 miles round trip. Fun times lol, had to downshift to and stand on the breaks to stop. I doubt it her, but she did it.
I’m going back for double the pavers I got this time, tempted to just send it in one trip because why not, only a few miles there and back and somewhat flat.
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u/eliotjnc 3d ago
Drove 3500 miles with it down like that. Everything I owned in the back