'87 F-150 GVW & Curb Weight (UPDATE!)
 

OK, guys, I now know the curb weight of Big Red with about 8 gallons of gas in one tank, the other one empty (it's dead anyway).

It's 3900 pounds, squarely on the nose.

I say that with confidence, since I just took my three-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter to the doctor, where they weighed in at 45 and 25 pounds, respectively, and I pegged the scale at 190 at my last doctor's visit, and that matters because the landfill scale showed the truck's unloaded weight (including the three of us) at 4160 lbs. Subtract us, you get the 3900.

So, with Big Red's meager 4900# GVWR, I don't have a hefty payload. But in my research on the matter, it turns out that neither did a lot of other half-ton trucks up until the first F-150, Chevy "Big 10" and Dodge D-150 came out in the mid-'70s to get around the looming emissions standards, which didn't affect 6000+ GVWR trucks until '79 or later. That isn't to say people weren't loading above and beyond the GVWR! (Trust me on that one ... from experience!)

I will say that we had a nice, smooth, steady ride across town to the landfill, what with all the crap I was taking to dispose of from the garage clean out & renovation process. The rear end was barely lower than normal, so I must have some pretty decent springs under there.

So...GVWR of 4900# minus the 3900# curb weight equals 1000#. Sounds like a half-ton to me. ;)

Yep. That's what it is, all right! :-D

To be honest, I'm not real worried about overloading the truck, as I so seldom do the really serious hauling like I did today. I guess I just need to clean out the garage more than once every four years ... :rolleyes:

my 93 extended cab says 6050lbs. I think the truck weights about 4500lbs at most, so i have 1550lbs payload. Does that sound right to anyone?

That sounds about right.

You'd be surprised how much weight the extended cab adds to the truck. I too have a 93 extended cab with a GVWR of 6050#. And like jnewkirk have recently been to the scales to drop a load. The truck with me in it (170#), a few tools (30#), and a fiberglass top (200#) was 5160 lbs. So with one tank full it's sitting at 4750# curb weight. Pull that from the 6050# GVWR and your looking at 1300#. I've got the 5.0 V8 with E4OD 2WD set up.

So, you're pretty close.

Ya, it all mathematically makes sense. But the 4900# that jnewkik's trucks gvwr is then the supercab jumps to 6050#. It suck a big jump that i would expect.

I'v never had it on a scale so i have no idea what its weight is. With tool box and headache and the super bumper, im sure my truck weights a ton more then the 4500# i mentioned earlier, But the numbers i figured were for a stock truck with out all the stuff.

And it always amazes me how quickly things add up and your payload is full. haha

When you break it down, it really isn't that big of a jump. Payload is completely different than towing ability. The curb weight jumps by 1150# on a Supercab, but the majority of that is made up in the extra weight added to the truck by the extension - which is roughly 800-900 lbs. So, the payload is really only increased by roughly 200-300# depending on the truck. Given his truck and my truck have the exact same setup regarding drivetrain and engine, I'm not entirely sure why I get an extra 300# payload just because I have the supercab. I'm sure there's a logical reason to it, I've just never looked into it.

Anyone got any ideas?

Well with a supercab you do have room for upto 3 more small people, and the longer frame distributes the weight differently. That could be some of the reasons for the higher payload.

Just a thought,
Any Other Ideas