Dear Forum Members,
I would very much appreciate your help on choosing the right truck for my horse shoeing business.
So I bought the wrong truck first and paid what my parents called my apprenticeship fee - ha ha. I need at least 2500 lbs, preferably 2800 lbs payload capacity and bought a Toyota Tundra since it is so much bigger than my Tacoma - hehem - yes I was that naive - but then I got a little smarter and looked into stuff, like my GVWR on the Tundra is 6050 lbs (from the door sticker) and I drove it over several scales to get a good number for the curb weight and it came to 5000 lbs with full gas tank and me (140 lbs driver) (truck has 4WD, off-road package, towing package) - about 1000 lbs payload left - so my dream of using this truck was history.
I would like to stay within the manufacturer's specs because I sleep better at night that way. I would also like to stay under 10,000 lbs since I heard that the over 10,000 has more taxes on it and want to use my truck for business.
So now I am thinking an F250 would do the job nicely, if I can find one that is rated at a GVWR that is 2500 lbs higher than its curb weight.
I don't have monies to buy a new one and am looking at used ones, oh, older than 2004 seem to be affordable for me, but that is not a hard number.
So my question to you all: would you be able to give me some pointers to say what year and model (super duty, XL, XLT,...????) I should look for?
My hard requirements are: can carry 2500 lbs permanently mounted (accoding to manufacturer), 8 foot bed, 4WD, single rear axle.
My nice-to-have list included: super cab, cloth bench seats, off-road package and towing package (so it has the extra tranny cooler and springs, etc. to help with the big permanent load), gas engine.
I looked around a bit already but it is hard to see the GVWR and curb weight in the sales ads and I know some of you out there have the answers as to what year and model would do the trick and it would be great go shopping for the right truck with that information!
Thank you all so much in advance!

 

If you actually want to use the GVWR, good luck. In that case, you should pop for a small trailer and keep the Tundra as you'll be close in most of them.

 

Go for any F-250 Super Duty (they are all Super Duty 99+). As you will have a load permanently mounted of 2500 lbs, and you want a gas engine, I would look for the 6.8 V10 engine. 05+ will have a 3V which will make more power, but the 2V (99-04) is still a capable and well made engine. All Super Duty trucks have the "towing package", even if they didn't ship from the factory with a hitch. A SuperCab XLT will get you the basics in power amenities, including a cloth front bench seat in some models. You should be able to find plenty of long bed, SuperCab, 4x4 trucks around. The GVWR for a SC 250 will be 8800 lbs, so you will have around 2500 in "payload".
If you need even more, you could go to a SRW F-350 for additional payload capacity.

 

what gives the f350 higher payload capacity? Just the higher lift blocks so it sits level under heavier loads?

 

Essentially. Ford rates the 350 about 500 lbs more in payload compared to the 250.

 

2800lb ???
I had close to it on my El Camino years ago. Not really comfortable, but made the 14 miles run to dump yard.
You have to understand that GVW is legal issue not technical capacity. My Ford has legally 5000 lb payload, while I have 10,000 on it all the time.
What is total tire ratings on your Tundra?

 

F250's can max out at 10K GVWR, depending on which cab and which engine you get it could weigh up to mid 7K's so it should work for what you want, although I wouldn't rule out a F350 it'll handle the weight better.

 

Welcome to FTE Tiger. I second the advice above. Stick around the forum to learn tons more, and good luck with your business.

 

look at f350s my f250 is a short bed V8 4x4 ex-cab curbs at 6460 and sticker says gvwa 8800=2340 payload sooo look for f350

 

True, and when you go with the diesel, super crew cab, and 4X4, the weight of the vehicle goes up, and the payload capability goes down. Of course, my payload is still a lot higher than my last truck was in the same configuration, and the last one was gasoline.

 

so would I be right in assuming a diesel would have a lower legal payload than the same truck with a gasser since the diesel engine weighs so much more?

 

If it is configured the same as the gas version, yes. However, the diesel tows a trailer a lot easier, especially at altitude...

 

yup you are wright

 

thats just silly, so the truck with the smallest engine gets to haul the most? Way to go Uncle Sam.

 

newer trucks have a higher gvwr because they have bigger brakes