What's the difference in the three? Is it the weight of the vehicle or how much weight the vehicle can haul? I keep having people try to tell me mine is a 3/4 ton but I darn well know it's a 1/2 ton. My truck weights just a little over 6200 lbs which is over a ton. I'm just a little confused. Can someone help me figure this out??


Robert

1978 F-150 4x4 Stepside 351M

Please don't pull out in front of me! The last thing I want to do is play identify the pieces with you or your car.

 

What is in your truck that makes it weigh that much. My 1970 F-100 weighs in at 3950. I know you have 4WD but I doubt that weighs over 2000 lbs. My 390 is also slightlt heavier than yours.

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-Oct-01 AT 05:24 PM (EST)[/font][p]Steel...??? I dunno. It's a shortbed too (flareside model). On top of that it has a WOODEN floor for a bed! My father's '94 F-150 is like that and his is a full length 4x4. His truck actually out weights mine by about 100lbs!! Go figure....

Robert

1978 F-150 4x4 Stepside 351M

Please don't pull out in front of me! The last thing I want to do is play identify the pieces with you or your car.

 

The usual designation is F150 1/2 ton, F250 3/4 ton, F350 1 ton. There are some slight variations but in general these numbers will identify the chassis rating. BTW this is also true for Chevy and Dodge in general, 1500, 2500, 3500, are their designators.

Note that 1/2, 3/4, 1 ton does not necessarily mean that is the actual weight you can carry in your truck. The more important ratings of capacity are The GAWR(Gross Axle weight Rating(front/Rear), GVWR(Gross Vehicle Weight Rating). From these ratings you can determine how much weight can be over each axle and how much the entire vehicle, plus load, passengers etc can weigh. Usually you can find this info on the door post or some other sticker in the truck. BTW GCWR(Gross Combined vehicle Weight Rating) is usually important only when you tow and I think is only listed in the manual.

The differences between the trucks include the frame, wheels, tires, axles, wheel bearings, gears, brakes etc. The heavier rated truck will have heavier rated components. The engine and transmission are only part of the story, you need to take into consideration all those other parts. For example the 351 can be found I think in all three models, the other factors are what makes the difference on the ratings. Plus the heavier rated components usually weigh more. That is usually why a 150 weighs less than a 250 which weighs less than a 350, assuming similar features etc. FWIW, my 94 F250 4x4, 460, E4OD, supercab, longbed, with canopy weighs almost exactly 8,000 with gas, my two small boys, wife and myself.

Check the sticker and or the owner's manual to be sure.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Brings back some memories.. I bought my truck in 1991 and had to have it weighed before registering cause of out of state tags. It wieghed 4300 lbs with 2 tires off the scale.. It is a 73 Ford F-250 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive with 1949 Ford F-1 Body. Not sure where all the weight is. But i do know there is a lot more metal in those older bodys... I'm not really sure what the differences are myself.. But, you can definitely tell the difference by looking at the frames and differentials.

 

> My truck weights just a little over 6200 lbs which is over a ton.

I was wondering - did you weigh your truck on a scale, or is that the GVW number of the truck? I was just wondering because I used to have a '78 Bronco 4x4 w/the 351M, and it weighed a touch over 5,000 pounds on a scale (empty, no driver) - and that's with a 6" lift and 33s. I'm just thinking that a shortbed F150 and a Bronco would weigh within a couple hundred pounds of each other.

If it's the GVW you're looking at, then that's actually the maximum *loaded* weight of the vehicle - and you would subtract your load capacity from that to get the approximate weight of the vehicle when unloaded. Ballpark estimates are:

1/2 ton (F150): 6,000 lb. GVW
3/4 ton (F250): 8,600 lb. GVW
1 ton (F250): 10,000 lb. GVW

Like I said, these are only ballpark estimates. Anyway, so if you have a 1/2 ton that weighs 4,500 lbs. empty then you can carry a maximum of 1,500 pounds. Or, a 3/4 ton that weighs 6,500 pounds can carry a maximum of 2,100 pounds. This is why when you get more options (A/C, ext. cab, 4x4, bigger engine, etc.) you generally end up reducing the carrying capacity of your truck - because weight added to the truck reduces the weight you can carry. If you look at new F150s, for example, the 2wd can carry more than the 4x4, the regular cab can carry more than the extended cab, and so on.

The designations like 1/2-ton and 1-ton really don't make any sense anymore - most 1/2-tons can haul more than that (mine can carry 1650 lbs, for example), and 1-tons definitely can haul more than a ton. At this point, all the ratings are is a general way to rank the capacities of the trucks - which is why the automakers are tending to call them by the numbers more often nowadays (like F150, F250, F350). Nowadays, the biggest jump is between the "1/2-ton" and the "3/4-ton" - they are entirely different trucks for Ford and Chevy, though Dodge does still use a lot of the same parts for both. The 1/2-tons are basically built to be cars - nice ride, good handling - and the 3/4-tons are built to work. However, it wasn't that way years back...and your '78 F150 has more in common with a modern SuperDuty F250 than it does with a modern light-duty F150. I have an '01 F150, and I tend to refer to it as my "Tinkertoy Truck" because of how lightly it's built - your '78 is easily twice as much truck. My old 1/2-ton '70s-era pickups hauled 3,000-4,000 pounds in the bed on many occasions...but I think the new one would probably break in half if I tried that. Of course, I'm not brave enough to try it, so I don't know for sure.

To make a long story short, if you have a F150 it is technically a 1/2-ton truck...but that doesn't really mean much.

LK

 

My recent experiences talking to 4X4 people have brought these designations in to the forefront.

Most of the folks I talked to said that the frames were essentially alike, but the suspension components were what made all the difference. It is entirely possible to end up with a hybrid, in the course of modification...

For example, an F-100 with a DANA 60 axle set, but still retaining the springs and shock mounts of a half ton...
Where would that fit in?

Using "Blocks" instead of taller leaf springs would create a weakness in the suspension, but if it's a play truck it may not matter in the long run.

Dealing from a 2 wheel drive perspective on the other hand - if I put a 5 ton axle and leafs in the back, and drop in taller spring coils up front - NOW what is it???

But the essence of the deal is what the axles can handle, and they have a number of specific weight ratings as someone already said

>=o)

 

I have a 1965 Ford Pickup Facts and Features book from the FTE store. I recall something that, at least in 65, the F250 had a heavier duty frame as the book (I think thats where I saw it) gives stress modulus and other technical terms for the F100 vs F250 frames and the numbers are substantially higher for the 250, like 20 to 30 percent or so.

 

It looks like time for a new designation system for trucks. There are 1/2 tons that are really larger than 1 tons. trucks with 6 lug axles or 8, dual-wheeled and single F350s, etc. Gets pretty confusing. I've had a truck salesman tell me that it takes a new F450 to replace an old F350.

 

This will confuse things, my truck has the usual f100 nameplates, but actually is a F101 model, which was a lighter-duty special order model (mine's a 1966) Check your VIN plate to truely know your truck! If you have any more questions, you may want to post them in the section for your truck.

 

i'm glad you mentioned that LK! about 2 years ago i took my 1/2 ton 4x4 to the rock quarry to get a load of stone. got an empty weight then got loaded, i knew it was probally heavy by looking at how far the truck was looking on the springs and when i got a heavy weight it was right at 3,200 pounds. i was kind of nervous i never had that much in before but it drove great just alittle lite on the front tires but drove home about 10 miles with no problems. so these old turcks will haul a load!......... about decerning different truck models,,,, what makes up the f-150's thru the f-350's is the steel thickness of the frames also . the 1-tons have a heavier thicker frame than a 1/2 ton. so just by switching a 1-ton drive train under a smaller 1/2 ton DOES NOT make it a 1-ton. sure you might have a bullet proof drive train but you still lacking the frame strength of the 1-ton... CJ.........................

 

I wanted a good strong truck, 4x4 and made by Ford - in '96 when I bought it, they did not have what I wanted, so they took a 350 crew cab, beefed up everything in the manufacture, and called it a 450. My suspension is way bigger than the F350, but everything else looks much the same, It is rated as able to carry 10K on the beast or 20K towing. technically the beast is rated with a GCVW of 29K so is subject to a CDL. Unloaded, with 65 gallons of fuel it weighs in at 10,107 pounds. Add tools, me and other junk and it gets heavy.

Wm
http://wsphotofews.excite.com/032/Mp/Wb/5M/EN89478.jpg
'96 F450 Custom Crewcab 4x4 Flatbed, Powerstroke, Banks Powerpack, Chip, Tranny control,Aux tranny, engine worked giving 340 hp and 660lb ft torque

 

I looked up what I refered to in my earlier post and thought I'd post it. The "1965-66 Ford F-100 F250 Illustrated Facts and Features Manual" says that both the F100 and F250 have 36,000 pound per square inch yeild strength steel in the frame, though I would assume the 250 had a greater cross section which may be what this next number relates to: Section Modulus for the F100 was 2.98; for the F250 was 3.71; and for the F250 4X4 was 4.74--there, apparently, is the real strength difference for the heavier trucks. Any engineers out there, please explain section modulus to me? I work with a bunch of civil engineers who apparently don't know. Need a mechanical engineer.

 

A pity my father isn't available to ask, he was an aircraft engineer...

"Modulus" (and/or "Young's Modulus") is a means of calculating both tensile strength and elasticity in various materials and structures. Among other things it takes into account not only the material used (in the case of a truck frame, what grade of steel), but also the thickness, the shape of the beams, and any crossmembers.

For a frame section, it would be a factor expressing the rigidety of the entire structure of the frame with these factors taken into account.

Obviously the higher the number, the stronger the frame...

So the frames ARE NOT the same from one "F" number to the next, even though they may have mount points and such located in the same positions.

~ This discussion has given me a great deal of food for thought!

 

"Modulus" (and/or "Young's Modulus") is a means of calculating both tensile strength and elasticity in various materials and structures. Among other things it takes into account not only the material used (in the case of a truck frame, what grade of steel), but also the thickness, the shape of the beams, and any crossmembers."

That's kinda like Stress/Strain applications, right? where you can graph the stress and strain to show two curves, one tensile strength and one elasticity, and plot how much force is needed to break a material. We study that same topic when dealing with rock structures (I'm an Enviro Geology major at Northeastern) and you can plot how much force a rock can take before it breaks down, as well as the elasticity of a rock and how much it can "bend" under stress before shearing. Interesting stuff.

Ryan