Originally Posted by
NLPRacing
I am definitely sticking with stock sized tires. It has 3.73 gears, so I don't think I need to go any smaller. I believe these things are under-rated. I spent some time under it this weekend replacing the front brakes and doing an oil change. For starters, these brakes are HUGE, at least 14" and it has huge dual piston calipers. The brakes had over 80,000 miles on them, but still had about 20% of the pad left. I only changed them due to a shimmy under braking. Now that it has new pads & rotors, the shimmy is gone. Then when you look at the frame, it's so over built. It's tubular from the front to rear bumpers and the cross-members are huge as well. It's a much more substantial looking frame than what's under the latest F150 that's rated for over 11,000 pounds. My only disappointment with it is the shock/spring design. It's set-up like a strut with a coil-over spring which doesn't allow for aftermarket air bags.
I fully agree. If you compare a modern 1/2 ton chassis today, so a 3/4 ton chassis from the 80's, you'll easily see which one is built tougher! (not the old 3/4 ton)
The frame is NOT the limiting factor at all, in terms of both payload AND tow capacity. Even my Explorer is overbuilt for its 5000lbs tow rating. Look at the Jeep wrangler vs military J8 - same frame, almost triple the payload!
The rear suspension really does limit things, again, as is my explorer. Not much you can do, expect a slight improvement by taking off the heavy spare tire (70 lbs behind the axle) and putting it on the back of the trailer, hence the 70lbs becomes part of the GCWR, instead of valuable tongue weight...