# How do I interpret this vague payload capacity chart for my truck? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560 "2019-12-29T20:31:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/1 "2019-12-29T20:31:10Z")
I dove my venerable 2000 F150 to the tile store yesterday to pick up a palette of tile. I asked the guy there if he knew how much it weighed, and he said “sure!” and whipped out his pocket computer, and punched in a query, and said “1,600 lbs."). Now, an F150 is a “half-ton” pickup, so I figured that it’s good for a minimum of 1,000 lbs, and that there was probably some room to exceed that, especially if I drove slowly and carefully, so I told him to go ahead and load it. When the forklift put the load on the bed, it was partially on the tailgate, and the truck looked like the car in the Flintstones - I thought the front end might come off the ground! But, when he pushed it up to the cab, it was riding low, but not too bad. We made it home OK, and I decided to look up the specs. [This](https://www.fordf150.net/specs/99tow.php) site says 1,555 lbs with a maximin of 2,375 lbs. So, what does that mean? Did I exceed the rated capacity? What happens if you put 2,376 lbs in the bed - does it snap in half? Anyone know this figure is arrived at, and how to read the table? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/2 "2019-12-29T20:36:55Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I dove my venerable 2000 F150 to the tile store yesterday to pick up a palette of tile. I asked the guy there if he knew how much it weighed, and he said “sure!” and whipped out his pocket computer, and punched in a query, and said “1,600 lbs."). Now, an F150 is a “half-ton” pickup, so I figured that it’s good for a minimum of 1,000 lbs, and that there was probably some room to exceed that, especially if I drove slowly and carefully, so I told him to go ahead and load it. When the forklift put the load on the bed, it was partially on the tailgate, and the truck looked like the car in the Flintstones - I thought the front end might come off the ground! But, when he pushed it up to the cab, it was riding low, but not too bad. We made it home OK, and I decided to look up the specs. > > [This](https://www.fordf150.net/specs/99tow.php) site says 1,555 lbs with a maximin of 2,375 lbs. So, what does that mean? Did I exceed the rated capacity? What happens if you put 2,376 lbs in the bed - does it snap in half? > > Anyone know this figure is arrived at, and how to read the table? subtract your trucks curb weight from the GVWR, and you have your maximum payload capacity. Your curb weight depends on the model, cab style, and powertrain/drive. payload includes occupants, BTW. if you’re asking how the manufacturers determine payload capability, well, there’s a number of factors. How much the suspension can physically hold up, how the truck accelerates and brakes when fully loaded, and of course they have to keep the GVWR under 8,500 lbs if they want to keep it a -150 (Class 2a) rating. but no, you won’t snap the thing in two if you’re 1 lb over the rating, but if you do break something you can’t go to the manufacturer and complain. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/3 "2019-12-29T20:45:16Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > subtract your trucks curb weight from the GVWR, and you have your maximum payload capacity. Your curb weight depends on the model, cab style, and powertrain/drive. > > payload includes occupants, BTW. > > if you’re asking how the manufacturers determine payload capability, well, there’s a number of factors. How much the suspension can physically hold up, how the truck accelerates and brakes when fully loaded, and of course they have to keep the GVWR under 8,500 lbs if they want to keep it a -150 (Class 2a) rating. > > but no, you won’t snap the thing in two if you’re 1 lb over the rating, but if you do break something you can’t go to the manufacturer and complain. Door sticker says GVWR of 5,600 lbs but conveniently doesn’t note the curb weight. One source on the web says 3,900 lbs, so I probably exceed it’s rating by 300 lbs or a bit more (my wife and I, and a bunch of tools). I’d still love to know where those figures came from in the first chart I linked to. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/4 "2019-12-29T20:53:35Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Door sticker says GVWR of 5,600 lbs but conveniently doesn’t note the curb weight. One source on the web says 3,900 lbs, so I probably exceed it’s rating by 300 lbs or a bit more (my wife and I, and a bunch of tools). > > I’d still love to know where those figures came from in the first chart I linked to. the manufacturer, most likely. The brochures usually have those exact tables in them. if you can find a brochure for the 2000 F-150 and look up the weights, you can suss it out. If you find the line for your cab style, bed length, engine/trans combo, and whether it’s 4x2 or 4x4 you’ll probably be within 50-75 lbs of your truck’s curb weight. if they _don’t_ list curb weight explicitly, then just subtract payload from the GVWR for your truck’s configuration. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/5 "2019-12-29T22:09:35Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > What happens if you put 2,376 lbs in the bed - does it snap in half? In the old days – and you can still occasionally see old trucks where this has happened – you permanently bent the leaf springs at the back, leaving (typically) one side sagging a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/6 "2019-12-29T22:17:06Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > In the old days – and you can still occasionally see old trucks where this has happened – you permanently bent the leaf springs at the back, leaving (typically) one side sagging a bit. It didn’t happen when you just put the load on, it happened when you went over bumps, and spring springs, as springs do, but doesn’t come all the way back again. So the weight that actually causes permanent deformation depends on how fast you go over how much of a bump. Another thing that could happen was bursting the seals on your shock absorbers. A modern car is probably designed to use less steel, and to be safer in an accident, and perhaps the difference between ruining your suspension and bending the frame is smaller. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/7 "2019-12-29T22:27:27Z")
> **[Truck camper "recipe for disaster" folds down on the street](https://www.rvtravel.com/truck-camper-recipe-for-disaster-folds-down-on-the-street/)** > > By Russ and Tiña De Maris Take a short-bed pickup, add a long-box truck camper, add a little highway bounce and the result? It looks like an origami ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/8 "2019-12-29T23:35:27Z")
Tires are rated for loads too. I hired a landscaper for a job and we discussed picking up landscape blocks and top soil. His F250 truck was rated for the weight. But, he didn’t have the rated tires. Had to make two trips. It cost me extra because the business was 20 miles away. That meant two 40 mile round trips. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/9 "2019-12-30T00:00:15Z")
Tire ratings. The charts are at the end of the article. [https://www.discounttire.com/learn/load-range-load-index](https://www.discounttire.com/learn/load-range-load-index) > [@](#): > > You’ll find one of these classifications, the load range, listed on the tire sidewall represented by a letter. This letter code gives you a comparative idea of the tire’s toughness; helping you understand how much air your tire can hold, how much weight it can carry, and it provides a relative measure of the tire’s durability. Tires with higher load ranges carry heavier loads. > > Load range is based on an older measurement called “ply rating.” All tires are constructed of rubber and cord layers referred to as “plies.” Historically, more plies gave a tire a larger load carrying capacity, so manufacturers would count a tire’s plies and use this number to denote carrying capacity. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-interpret-this-vague-payload-capacity-chart-for-my-truck/845560/10 "2019-12-30T00:23:56Z")
My first pickup was a 1974 F100. No F-150s back then. I added a shell to protect stuff as most folks do. With my wife and I on board and a 3/4 tank of gas my remaining cargo capacity was 400 pounds. I stopped at a weigh station and asked him to weigh it, so I know it was as accurate as anything else/