Hey Guys,

I tried searching but couldn't come up with anything. Does anyone know what the limit for weight in the bed is? I need to haul a couple bedloads worth of gravel up to my property, but my dad is convinced if I try to load any gravel into my truck (which is 100% stock), I'm going to max out the leafs and damage something. Thoughts/opinions/Go away you clueless whippersnapper remarks?

Also, and here's something else I'm wondering: if you think I will be maxing out my suspension, would I be better off trying to upgrade the back-end of my '66 to handle the weight, or selling it and looking for a F250 or F350 that's a generation or two newer?

 

Your truck should have a warranty plate with the GVWR on it. Your rear axle, if a 9", is probably good for 3300 lbs, based on some warranty plate searches I did. Given that you already have the weight of the truck on it, you are probably safe to put 1000lbs, maybe a little more, in the bed.

Thus 1/4 to 1/2 yard of gravel, depending on what kind of gravel, would be the max.

I see people all the time with gravel completely filling pickup beds, and mounded up to boot. Don't be that guy.

If you are going to haul much gravel, an F350 with DRW and a dump bed would be a better choice.

You can put LT tires and beefier springs on your F100, but the axle and frame then become the weak points and they will bend and break.

 

They will handle the weight, these are pretty stout trucks. How are your 50 year old brake hoses, lines, cylinders, etc getting along, though?

 

Thank you for the feedback. My reason for asking was that while I know these have a GVWR tag on them, I trust those like I trust the horsepower rating.

It'll probably be 2-5 bedloads worth (and I wouldn't mound it up, I would want to cover it with a tarp), but then there'll always be the occasional load of sod or dirt.

The engine itself was swapped in the late eighties for a rebuilt 352, so the engine hoses and such should be about thirty years old, tops? Brake lines I'm not sure about. I need to reshoe the drums, I know that.

 

Can't say about where you are, but there way tooo many gravel hauling dump trucks in this area to even think about hauling it in your pickup. Besides you will have to shovel it all out. Get some quotes for the haul.


John

 

The information on your warranty plate had to make the government happy back in the day - it had to be accurate. That's one reason why the horsepower rating on the warranty plate for the 352 was 172 (NET) when on the air cleaner it said the horsepower was 208 (GROSS). Assuming your GVW rating is 5000 pounds (and there's a chance it may not be) then you should be able to put half a ton (@ 1000 pounds) of cargo in your bed - 50 years ago. Your frame and axle may not be as strong today as they were then. Better to err on the safe side.

 

30 years ago my grandpa tried such a feat with his 65 f100 352 435np 9" and it did haul the load but it destroyed his axle bearings and bent his springs so i learned through his mistakes.... but i would venture to say if you had a trailer (even a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup bed trailer) it would be a lot easier on your truck to drag the load than to hold it.....(i have my picture on the wall of fame at a local scrap yard selling 16,600 lbs of scrap iron on 1 load with my 66 and a trailer) it was a hell of a time stopping i had to use compression and gears the load was way more than my brakes could stop and the only reason why i did it is my buddy's truck broke down halfway there and he said he would give me $300 to pull it the rest of the way in

 

6,800 rated GVW, weighs ~7,500 empty plus ~9,000 lbs. of concrete equals 9,700 lbs. over rated GVW.

 

RedNeck - your F250 is a heavier duty truck to start with than his F100. Obviously you got away with being way overweight so it worked for you. My point is simply to weigh (no pun intended) the potential cost and time lost to you (or in this case, to him) if he hurts his truck by overloading it, versus making a few more trips and not overloading it. To each his own.

 

I agree completely. My hobby/pastime is pushing the limits of everything and then building it stronger when it gives.

 

Smokenchoken brings up a good point.

Have the wheel and axle bearings been inspected and/or replaced? In the .mil it's every six months. How many months since 1966? See where I'm goin' with that?

The seals will start to leak on the rear axle and that usually gets some attention. But any truck this age should have them replaced or at minimum inspected. Heavy loads, excessive tire pressures, etc just pounds bearings.

 

Zackly why I posted what I did earlier. There are a few small 6 wheel dump trucks if access is an issue to humongous multiaxle rigs here.

Don't take a chance on a big repair afterwards until you have at least got some quotes.



John

 

Pretty sure Tedster was referring to the brake hoses--the weak point in our brake systems. There are three--two in front and one in the rear. When old, they can burst or collapse. They're also pretty cheap to replace.

Back in the mid-80's, I loaded up a bunch of books & furniture in a 64 F-100 and headed upstate towing a 58 Ford behind. Got about, oh, 250 miles or so before a kingpin failed.

I still keep that pin on my desk as a reminder.

~Steve

 

A long-wide bed can carry about 2 cubic yards of material.
A single cubic yard of dry gravel, or half a load, will weigh in the neighborhood of 3,000 pounds. (Figures are approximate for type of gravel.)
A Ford 9" rear axle is rated only at 3,300 pounds. A half-load - one cubic yard - of wet gravel can easily exceed that.
Should you have a D44 rear axle, it is rated at about 4,000 pounds. You do the math.

And that is just the payload, not including the weight of the vehicle itself.

Are your brakes fully capable of handling this load? Especially on a hill - going DOWN? Do you still have the single-pot master cylinder? When were the rubber hoses last replaced?
Steering in good repair, no wandering?
What are the load rating of your tires, and are they free from any cuts or dry rot, especially in the sidewalls?
Are the transmission and clutch in good shape?

In my own not-so-humble opinion on this, the drawbacks and possible dangers are not worth the savings in hauling it yourself.

Just my opinion, based on the experience I had when I tried this many years ago. It cost me more, a lot more than the delivery fees. And, the truck I had back then was a Camper Special, designed to handle more weight than the stock F-100.

John - Banjo -

 

I'll give a call to see if any of the local places have smaller dump trucks. My driveway is currently too narrow to get a semi-rig one down it. If only unimogs a were more affordable...