I have read through this post and find it very interesting based on what I am going through right now.
My 2016 F250 6.2 Lariat FX4 CC has a payload rating of 2500 lbs. I have the 275/70 R18E tires on my truck. I also have the camper package on mine. I did order it with the 5th wheel and gooseneck prep kit which I know lowers my payload rating but by what amount I don't know.
My neighbor has a 2016 F350 6.7 Platinum with the 20 inch wheels and his payload rating is 1000 lbs greater than mine.
We recently had our trucks side by side as he bought my Roll-n-Lock because I am purchasing a slide in truck camper and we were switching it over to his truck. We got to looking at the rear end of both our trucks and they look exactly the same. Same spring pack and everything. The only difference is he has the 20 inch tires.
This brings be to my point of my truck camper purchase. I talked at length with my truck camper dealer who has been in the business for 45 years about it. The dry weight of my truck camper with be 2500 lbs, same as my payload capacity so I know I will be over that with the camper wet. I questioned him at length about this and he told me number one, that he would never put me in a camper that my truck would not handle and two, the payload capacities on these trucks are very, very conservative.
He put Torklift Stableload (uppers) on my truck as well as airbags. I also am going with the Torklift International tie downs with fast guns and did put a Torklift International Super hitch on it as well because I will haul my two ATV's on an open utility trailer at times.

For quite awhile I have been questioning if I had "enough" truck for this camper, even though it is not considered a "heavy" camper. After reading through a lot of different posts on this site I am coming to the realization that my truck will be just fine as long as I don't overload my axles and have good E rated tires, which I do.
I don't think from reading these posts that there is any difference between the same truck in an F250 versus F350 other than the badge on the body and the sticker on the door jam, in which the numbers seem to be all over the place.
So, I am going to enjoy my new camper when it comes in next month and not get all uptight over what the door sticker says.

By the way, a buddy of mine bought a 3500 Chevy Duramax Crew Cab long box dually and he is overweight with his camper, go figure!
I will say that one thing I don't like about the upper Stableloads is that when I am empty they will slap the upper overload spring when hitting bumps and that is a little annoying but I can live with it.
This is just my two cents but you guys are making me feel a lot better about the "weight" issue.

 

Thanks for this. I spent today on a mission trying to find the exact weight ratings of my 20x8 wheels...crawled under it looking on the back side of the rims...called Ford Customer Service...called three dealerships...chatted on line with people who sell wheels... nobody could give me a number. Sounds like your friend's 350 has wheels similar enough to mine that I'm gonna forget about it.

During my calls to dealerships, I've been told three times that what we all suspect and uncover here is true -- there are no differences between the F-250 and F-350 that cannot be easily overcome by upgrading suspension. I've told them all my story (that I want to load 7,000# on the rear axle) and all three said I would be fine.

I asked all three if I would see any benefit if I traded for an F350. All three said absolutely not, unless I went to a DRW, then absolutely yes.

WyoBull, I think you may have gotten some F-350 suspension parts with your camper package. I can't tell you what to do, I'm just the guy who bought an F-250 and then decided he wanted a 15,500# fiver, but with your camper package (and your stable loads and your airbags) I can't imagine there is any issue with 2,500# of camper payload.

 

WyoBull,
If the Upper Stableloads bother you when unloaded because they are on and off the upper overload springs I would recommend you change to the Lower Stableloads. I found them to actually work much better (in my case) for towing my 5th wheel.

 

Gary,
They were going to put on the lower Stableloads as well but said there was not enough room between the lower leaf and the one above it.

 

I always assumed if you don't need the payload you get the 250. If payload is an importance and exceeds the 250 you bump up to the 350. But you hit a point you exceed the specs of the tires and need the DRW.

 

Rates you are worried about are on the tires not the rims.

 

What I find infuriating about payload ratings, is Ford specs 65lbs
rear inflation on the 250 vs. 80 in the 350. Artificially LOWERING the 250 payload ratings.

 

Again, gather information via broad based searches. Take nothing for granted. Listen to opinions, but give the most credence to what is in print as therein lies the tale. Making intelligent decisions is often more a matter of resolve and time than brilliance.

My two cents worth,

Steve

 

Never heard of that. Got rid of the MD plates last week, thankfully.

 

Should/may be stamped on the inside of the rim. Next time the tire is off....

 

For anyone following this thread, it LITERALLY took ALL DAY, but I found it in the 2016 spec document. My wheels are fine, just like everybody told me...




Same thing for 2017, but the wheels are named differently...

 

A bit of housekeeping. At this point, most agree the rear leaf springs are the only difference in the F-250 and the F-350 (regarding their ability to accept payload). The Sterling 10.5 rear axle is rated almost 10k, the tires and wheels both over 7k. In the stock (not HD) version of the F-250 the weak point is the springs. I wanted to document that here for posterity as well.

I thought it would be interesting to compare to the 2016 numbers as well (as everything keeps getting bigger...if I could find out what the 2016 F-350's were running to get to a 7k GAWR then I'd have something to go by. So if I'm reading this correctly, the 2016 F-350 got to 7k on the springs with 4.75" thickness and 349/654/1174 deflection lbs.




But the stock 2017 F-250 has a measly 3.12" thickness and a 325/760 deflection lbs rating. So that 'suspension' difference is a real difference as far as I can tell.




Luckily, it seems it's an easy and inexpensive problem to solve:

2011-2017 Ford F250, F350 2wd 4wd - 2500 lbs Helper Springs - LP-25 [Progressive] (pair) [2511] | $325.95 | SD Truck Springs | Leaf Springs, Helper Springs and Suspension Parts

2011-2017 Ford F250, F350 2wd 4wd - 3500 lbs Helper Springs - LP-35 [Progressive] (pair) [3511] | $342.95 | SD Truck Springs | Leaf Springs, Helper Springs and Suspension Parts

Or, one could simply replace the OEM springs completely with something matching the F-350.

However, (and this is my personal opinion) running with the Ford spec tire pressure of 60lbs in the rear tires, and these springs are a deal breaker for significantly exceeding the sticker (if one were so inclined); and people who don't study this might just either break their truck or cause accidents.

Finally, for me, 7,000# becomes the hard limit of what I put on my rear axle due to the hard limit of the wheels. At 7,000 I have very little margin left on the rims. Am I contradicting myself by setting a personal limit on one weight rating (the rims) while scoffing at others? For me, I believe the F-250 is derated on paper in an effort to market it to:

- people don't want to pay a higher fee for registration and inspection
- people who may fall subject to a CDL
- people who are intimidated by buying an F-350 and think it's too much truck
- people like me who didn't know any better -- a new thread coming on that...

Versus, I believe the weight ratings that are attached to the individual components that are on my truck -- especially when they are on the F-350 with the higher ratings.

 

Robert,

The amount of work you have done on this topic is exemplary to the point of obsession.

In the simplest sense, I think Ford markets what sells. I can find darn few F250s on dealer lots in anything other than short beds unless it is a standard cab XL. There are almost no F350 DRWs. And I have never seen a single F350 SRW on a dealer's lot.

I don't want to come across as cynical, but how many folks outside of the very few in this forum even think about the issues you raise here? It is no different for trucks than RVs. Folks are more likely to choose a truck based on trim packages than weight ratings, in my opinion. Maybe on the second buy, but never on the first.

Steve

 

Thank you! Yeah, I tend to bite down really hard on topics I'm passionate about.

And I think you're right about marketing what they sell. It's part of the problem, really. How much nicer would it be if they had all these trucks sitting on a lot so you could try them all, easily?

Wow. Thank you. Because you just saved me a potential huge mistake on my eventual RV purchase. I'm going to have to do this kind of work up front and not only concentrate on features / trim-packages. I can't believe I didn't draw that conclusion already, but really appreciate your experience and advice.


And we must have been thinking along the same line, because I just wrote a post about how I got where I am (which is basically looking for features at the expense of everything else.... sigh...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post16846729

 

Great thread, just to add a bit of irrelevant information (for most of you) here in the UK we have weight breaks for licensing, registration & testing. Under 3500kg (7700lb) can be driven by anyone, over requires a commercial licence, unless you're an old fart like me where we got gifted up to 7500kg. This meant that alot of trucks imported from across the pond got down rated to make them more attractive to sell. The downside being that they then have such a small payload left that they can never be used as a truck!
You guys are so lucky that you don't have to worry too much about getting weighed & are able to just go with what you feel happy with, here they will check all your weights, axle, tyre load, GVWR & GTWR. I think you are allowed 10% over with a warning & a fine, over that is a prohibition notice.
As to the original question, I'm sure it is purely down to the different requirements for commercial uses. There was a time when trucks were just for work, same here, then they started making crew/double cabs & someone thought "let's spec this up & add some $xxxx" the rest as they say is history!