I've got a question regarding the axle rating on my truck. I have a 2011 F-350 crew cab Lariat 4x4 with the 6.2 gasser and I am very happy with the truck. (especially because I received my title on Wednesday last week, it's mine now!) Stopped at the Cat scale on the way home from our weekend camping trip because we were loaded down pretty good (all of our gear, full tank of fuel, my wife & I, my two kids, plus my sons friend that went with us) and wanted to get a weight prior to our big camping vacation in two weeks. I am pulling a 2012 Laredo 303TG. The scale showed my gross weight at 17,080 lbs. I figured that I needed to add some tension to my weight distribution bars to put more on the front axle and my scale slip showed that to be the case. The front axle was 4,200. Drive axle was 5,400 and my trailer axles showed 7,400.

My question is due to this info - the ford manual lists the front axle rating at 6,000 lbs. and the rear axle at 7,280.

Finally, here is my question...

Per the sticker on the door pillar:
Front GAWR = 4,800 (but notes at 65 psi)
Rear GAWR = 6,730 @ 80 psi

Per the yellow sticker, my maximum cargo = 3,517 lbs.
My tires note a maximum weight capacity of 3,415 @ 80 psi.


Is the reason that the sticker on my door pillar shows only 4,800 lbs for the front axle, because it was rated at 65 psi in the tires?

I have been running 75 psi in my front tires and 80 in the rear. Per my numbers, I seem to have plenty of extra capacity all around EXCEPT for the front axle rated at 65 psi. I still have 1,100 lbs of capacity to hit the GVWR of 10,800 lbs too, I just want to make sure that I am not over thinking this and I don't want to exceed my front axle weight rating by adding tension to my bars to transfer some of the drive axle weight to the front axle and also back to the trailer. I am also guessing that this would mean that I likely have plenty of tongue weight? :-) I know I screwed up by not unhooking and weighing wihout the weight dist. hooked up and then without the trailer hooked up, but as soon as I pulled onto the scale, two trucks pulled in behind me.

Thanks for any input you can provide!

 

You should be ok with those weights. I had up to 19,000 total weight when I go camping. I put a golf cart in the bed and tow a 312BH Outback. Try to keep 10-15% tongue weight and the truck will handle better. Mine is a lot better with the golf cart in the bed then without. I do use a WD hitch with sway control too. I don't have my exact scale numbers in front of me, but when I get home I will post them for you. Next time try to get some more weights, fully connected with hitch, connected without hitch, and the trailer disconnected. This way you can see how much each piece weighs and you see how much weight you are moving to the front.

Your tires show 3415 @80 psi, that is per tire, so you can have 6830 on the rear axles before going over the tire rating.

 

The limiting factor on the front axle rating is not the tires, its the live axle suspension and/or the axle itself. The door sticker has 65 lbs air in the front for ride quality since you'll never be close to the capacity of the front tires at max pressure.

A properly setup weight distributing hitch controls rear end sag, so is the rear dropping between 1 and 2"? If so you're probably good. I would not worry about getting the front axle up to max capacity,because then the rear may be underloaded.