I'm wondering what the safe limit is for the amount of weight the tail gate can suppport ?

I need to get some 4x8 sheets of dry-wall and instead of leaving the tail gate down i'd rather have it up and support the pieces, but at 50-60 pounds a sheet I'm somewhat concerned about how many sheets the tail gate can support without causing issues.

 

Keep in mind, the weight will be evenly distrubuted. How many sheets are you talking?

 

I don't have an exact answer. I have rested two 3/4IN sheets of treated plywood on mine before the way you are talking, and had no problems. As I'm sure you know, 3/4" treated plywood is very heavy. If I were doing it, I would probably do only 4 at a time. That's just what I would feel comfortable with.

 

need atleast 10 sheets of 1/2

 

If I'm understanding your question, you want to have 10 sheets of drywall, the front edge in the bed and the back end resting on top of a closed tailgate. First off, how are you planning on not having the drywall crack or break in the middle while transporting? Second is you are subjecting the tailgate and hinges to stress they probably were not designed to take.

I'd either drop the tailgate or most home centers have a flatbed that can be rented by the hour. To me it's not worth the potential damage you could do but that's my opinion.

If you're worried about them sliding, take a strap clamp and hook it to one side on the tiedown bracket. bring it out, under the load then up diagonal over the top and to the opposite side and hook it down. You could even use two and go opposite directions. I've done that in the past several times with bigger loads than that without a problem.

My opinion.

 

My tailgate has held 20 sheets and about a dozen 2x4s in one trip. The tailgate held and I do recommend putting a few boards under the load to prevent cracking. The only problem is the height of the sheets when you need to remove them, I'm 5'18" and I struggled with the first couple of sheets.

 

I do things like this all the time and have no issues what so ever. I look at it as the tailgate can support more when it is closed and locked then when it is lower. I just think that if it was lower it would put more stress on the gate and hinges. Where while its closed and locked it just becomes part of the bed. All I would do is add 3 - 2x4's under the load or even 1x4's would work to support the center for transport.

 

Yeah, you can easily tote 10 sheest like you want, but buy some 2x4s and place them under the sheet rock.

Better yet, drop the tailgate, lay the sheetrock in, and take a tie down strap or two and run from side to side with the strap running over or under the end of the sheets on the way to the other side.

Just thinking .... when I built my house in 1990-91, I had a contractor do the basement and then I did the sill / floor joists / subflooring before we started with the logs. The 2 X 12s for the double band and joist were delivered from the saw mill, but I hauled 35 sheets of 1/2" plywood propped up on my tailgate just like the OP describes as I had at the time, a 16" wide heavy locking tool box at the front of the bed of my '77.

It worked great that day as when I backed up nearest the band there at the carport end which was then just fill, the height helped in unloading one sheet at a time as I put them down. But no way I'ld try that unsupported with sheetrock.

 

I'm pretty sure it will hold at least 400lbs while down. Myself and a 200lb buddy can sit on mine with it down with no problems. It should hold a crap loat of weight while up.

 

To do some quick math, using my truck as an example, with a 6.5' bed. With tailgate down, 81.25% of the weight will be in the bed, leaving 18.75% on the tailgate. If you load 1,000 pounds worth of sheetrock in the truck, only 182.5 would be on the tailgate. That equates to about 0.1264 pounds per square inch over the entire tailgate. 182 pounds is nothing, since when I stand on the tailgate (I'm 185 pounds), it doesn't budge at all, and that weight is concentrated on the two foot prints, not spread across the entire tailgate.

I certainly would not hesitate loading 10 sheets of plywood in the bed, with tailgate down so it all sits nice and flat and doesn't break, and securing it all really well so it doesn't move around at all, while underway.

Note: Changed the 7.7 lbs per sq ft 0.1264. Number transposed. This makes it even more do-able. LOL

 

Wow, that is a lot of math, but it makes since.