Actual payload of my '13 f-250

[labs4life]

Been having a battle with a co-worker about whether a 250 had enough payload for a fifth wheel with a dry pin weight of 1900 lbs. I said he needed to step to a 350 DRW. He doesn't want to and is trying to justify.

I weighed my truck today and with 3/4 tank of fuel and my 230lb butt, we came to a grand total of 7948. He kept saying 3k lb payload and I was telling him truck people do the same as camper people, weigh things to make the numbers look better, ie dry or no fluids etc.

[hankpage]

Always best to weigh it .... now look at the door sticker and deduct your present weight from the stickers GVWR and that will be your payload .... be sure to deduct the weight of the hitch if it was not in the truck when you weighed it. Hope this helps, Hank

[SAD]

Two schools of thought on this...

1) use GVWR - Head to scales and get your hitch-in-bed-dog-cooler-in-back-fuel-in-tank-wife-inseat weight and subtract the two... THAT is your payload.

2) use GAWR Rear - Get the weight as indicated above - be sure to get a front/rear axle weight... GAWR Rear minus empty rear axle weight = payload.

I tend to fall somewhere between the two schools of thought... For a 250/350SRW, I see no reason to be afraid of doing #2 above.

[labs4life]

I have 10k gvw so the payload is 2100 ish pounds instead of the 3k as listed on the sticker. No problem for me and my TT, just think the 5er he was looking at would be well over with a pin weight dry of 2168 actually!! He said he should be just fine!!

[Festus2]

Originally Posted by labs4life

No problem for me and my TT, just think the 5er he was looking at would be well over with a pin weight dry of 2168 actually!! He said he should be just fine!!

How many times have we heard that same comment ..... "I'll be just fine" on this and other forums? Sometimes, it doesn't matter how much evidence and other data you present, the person's mind is already made up. It's almost a waste of time and energy to try to show him otherwise.

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by labs4life

I have 10k gvw so the payload is 2100 ish pounds instead of the 3k as listed on the sticker. No problem for me and my TT, just think the 5er he was looking at would be well over with a pin weight dry of 2168 actually!! He said he should be just fine!!

Fully agree. Pin weights north of 1,800# or so are using up most of the payload capacity of a SRW pickup in the F250 product line.

MY '12 F250's door sticker says I've got 2,508# of payload capacity based just on tire ratings. The truck is 4x4, SuperCab, 142" wb, 6.7L diesel, and has the 10K# GVWR option. Ford's payload chart says I should have between 2,760# and 2,860# of payload depending on options. Obviously, the tires are the limiting factor. The same truck in an F350 configuration (still SRW) can have a payload up to 3,880#. There are chassis and tire options that can take payload north of 4K#.

DRW F350 is not listed in the 142" WB, but the 158" WB has payload above 5,400# with all the other basics the same.

Looking at all that surely suggests to me that the F250 is probably not the best choice for a fiver with a 1,900# pin. A comparable F350 with the right options can add up to 1,500# of payload beyond the F250, and the price difference between the two is minimal. The F350 is a much, much better and safer choice.

Here's a link to the chart: https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas...Pickups_SB.pdf

[michael]

Bigger is always better humm that's why I keep putting on weight. lol

[Ken / Claudia]

I had a 96 F 250 xcab long box 4x4 7.3 engine. I checked the wt. and as I recall 6800 lbs. GVWR was 8800 lbs. I got a in box camper with 10 ft floor, I checked the loaded wt. and the camper with gear etc was 3400lbs. I needed to toss the 8 plys tires and got 10 ply tires and air bags than to have the truck ride level. I lived with that combo until I could afford the current F350. I don't advise gong over the GVWRs but, I did with upgrades to the truck and it drove and handled fine. I would not have if it was unsafe.

[mecfd67]

Originally Posted by michael

Bigger is always better humm that's why I keep putting on weight. lol

Funny my DW says the same thing

[Javi]

Indeed, the limiting factor for the '12 & '13 F-250 is the tires... My '12 172" WB has a stickered payload of 2629 lbs... however... running it across a scale full of fuel and ready to travel with DW et la... I have only 2081lbs to payload... now looking at the axle ratings and tire ratings... I have slightly under 3K left on the rear and about 700 left on the front...

Tires are rated at 3160 each... and rear axle is rated for 6100, although the same axle in the 350 is rated for more...

I've found a nice 5'er (Cougar 333MKS) that has a dry pin of less than 1700 lbs and a GVWR of 12K so I see no reason that my F-250 wouldn't haul it...

Would a 350 DRW be better...??? Darn tootin'.... but I'm not going to take a hit on the truck just cause... I'll drive it a couple more years and then trade for a dually...

I think the OP is marginal on using the F250 with a dry pin of 2K but depending on his axle load ready to travel, it isn't impossible with a little effort... and maybe a little more tire..

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by Javi

I've found a nice 5'er (Cougar 333MKS) that has a dry pin of less than 1700 lbs and a GVWR of 12K so I see no reason that my F-250 wouldn't haul it...

Would a 350 DRW be better...??? Darn tootin'.... but I'm not going to take a hit on the truck just cause... I'll drive it a couple more years and then trade for a dually...

Pretty much the same numbers as my 326MKS. Tows nice so far. The real test is in 3 weeks when we take it out for its first real jaunt through the Adirondack Mountains.

[fla-gypsy]

If bigger were better;

I would be "The most interesting man in the world". Sadly it is not true

[Bob Landry]

Originally Posted by Festus2

How many times have we heard that same comment ..... "I'll be just fine" on this and other forums? Sometimes, it doesn't matter how much evidence and other data you present, the person's mind is already made up. It's almost a waste of time and energy to try to show him otherwise.

How true. Unfortunately, by the time we read a post here by someone asking ,"Can my truck pull this?", it's often already a done deal and the guy is just looking for someone to tell him that it will work and he didn't get sucked in by a slick salesman.

[Bob Landry]

Steve,
I'm just getting into the self-education thing about fivers and capacities. Is the rear axle rating determined by the combined rating of the rear tires, so that even if the axle itself were rated higher, it's still limited by the rating of the tires?

[labs4life]

Originally Posted by Bob Landry

Steve,
I'm just getting into the self-education thing about fivers and capacities. Is the rear axle rating determined by the combined rating of the rear tires, so that even if the axle itself were rated higher, it's still limited by the rating of the tires?

I believe that is the case. Javi stated his 250 had tire ratings of 3160 each and the rear axle was rated for 6100. In this case the axle is limiting. I believe I am right, but I have been wrong before......

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by Bob Landry

Steve,
I'm just getting into the self-education thing about fivers and capacities. Is the rear axle rating determined by the combined rating of the rear tires, so that even if the axle itself were rated higher, it's still limited by the rating of the tires?

There's a yellow sticker on my driver's door frame next to the Safety Compliance Certificate. That sticker is for the tires I have on the truck and states a limit of 2,508# payload but that is at 65 PSI. The tires are marked 3,840# each at max of 80 PSI, but that number has to include the curb weight plus the payload. The rear axle is rated 6,100# GAWR and the front at 5,200# GAWR. The curb weight of my truck (per Ford) is 7,216# and I have the 10,000# GWVR option. So, 10,000 minus 7,216 equal 2,784# of permissable payload.

At 80 PSI, the rear tires can supposedly handle 7,680#, but the axle is rated at 6,100#. That's limit #1. (Ford's chart says the front axle curb weight is 4,385# and the rear is 2,831# which added together equals 7,216#.)

If we subtract 2,831# rear curb weight from the 6,100# GAWR, we come up with a possible available axle load of 3,269#. But Ford says the GVWR can't exceed 10,000# which brings us back to the 2,784# max. So, if it were possible to concentrate all the payload on the rear axle, we could do it because we are within all other limits at 80 psi.

So, at my daily driver tire pressure of 65 PSI, the 2,508# seems realistic. But it does suggest that I should air up the rears to 80 PSI before dragging the Cougar down the highway.

Whew! I think I got all the numbers down correctly. The curb weights that I used are pulled from the same chart that I referenced previously: https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas...Pickups_SB.pdf

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by Bob Landry

Steve,
I'm just getting into the self-education thing about fivers and capacities. Is the rear axle rating determined by the combined rating of the rear tires, so that even if the axle itself were rated higher, it's still limited by the rating of the tires?

Bob, I apologize that I did not actually answer your question in my previous post even though I pulled up a bunch of numbers and calculations.

The short answer is that the limiting factor is always the lowest maximum number. In the case of my truck, the tires can handle more than the axle is rated for. And theoretically, the axle can handle more than the truck is rated for, so the GVWR minus the curb weight becomes the limiting factor.

[Javi]

The weakest link will always be the determining limit... If you believe that the GVWR is the most important then in my case the 10,000 lbs would be the limit... But if you're like me and think the GAWR is the limiting factor, then the 6100 would be the limit, since my tires exceed that number...

So if I weigh my truck loaded with all passengers and gear ready to camp.. and I have 700 lbs left on the front and 2900 lbs left on the rear... as long as I don't exceed either I consider it all good...

Now I would not want to max it out, but I wouldn't be afraid to put 2500 lbs on the truck... especially on a 5th wheel as the weight will not all go to the rear axle a portion will flow forward... and as long as it was less than 700 lbs... I wouldn't worry... even though it would be 500 or so over the GVWR...

You're mileage may vary depending on the miles you might tow and the road conditions....

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by Javi

The weakest link will always be the determining limit... If you believe that the GVWR is the most important then in my case the 10,000 lbs would be the limit... But if you're like me and think the GAWR is the limiting factor, then the 6100 would be the limit, since my tires exceed that number...

So if I weigh my truck loaded with all passengers and gear ready to camp.. and I have 700 lbs left on the front and 2900 lbs left on the rear... as long as I don't exceed either I consider it all good...

Now I would not want to max it out, but I wouldn't be afraid to put 2500 lbs on the truck... especially on a 5th wheel as the weight will not all go to the rear axle a portion will flow forward... and as long as it was less than 700 lbs... I wouldn't worry... even though it would be 500 or so over the GVWR...

You're mileage may vary depending on the miles you might tow and the road conditions....

I don't think you are wrong to use the rear axle GAWR instead of the GVWR. Your truck is similar enough to mine that we're pretty much talking apples to apples except for your 8' bed. And I would not hesitate to move into that 500# difference if necessary. Luckily, the Cougar's pin is factory rated at 1,565# so even loaded, I've got plenty of payload to spare. You're looking at the 333MKS, and those numbers are very similar to my 326MKS.

The best thing that someone new to towing fifth wheelers or travel trailers can do is to educate themselves to the point where they clearly understand the numbers and calculations that we've just discussed. Then they can pull their own numbers into the mix and, hopefully, end up with a clear and fairly accurate picture of their combination.

[byrdr1]

Originally Posted by michael

Bigger is always better humm that's why I keep putting on weight. lol

NOW thats funny right there!
I dont care who you are!