I think knowing the weight of what a truck is supposed to carry is good. I also think we get carried away with this. I say this because I know I have over loaded trucks many times. When I was a kid my dad had a Ford F100. We put caddie racks on it and would stack fire wood to the top above the cab. We did this every year for many years. The springs would not hold the weight so dad put 4x4's over the axle so the frame would set down on them. Now we only traveled a few miles each way, but never a problem. My uncle had a 1967 f250 ,he put 5 ton of gravel on it. Now that was a problem. As he drove the wheel studs started breaking off. He stopped before he lost a wheel. I had a 1979 ford supper cab F250 that I loaned to my dad to haul gravel with. He was hauling 4 ton at a time ,made several trips with it without problems. I had a 3/4 ton chevy custom van that I pulled a 35ft TT that weighed 9200 lbs ,done that for a couple years without issue.That little 305 would only pull the hills about 15 to 20 mph. I you could say I been there and done that. In those days nobody ever heard about tow ratings or even knew if the vehicals were rated. So from experience I think we over think tow ratings and load capacities at times. Now don't get me wrong , now days I do think about how much weight will my truck carry or pull,but in the back of my mind ,I know it will do more and do it safely than it's rated for.

 

My dad pulled this from around 2004 to 2016. That's a 1/2 truck. It has 1 ton brakes and air bags. He never went to the mountains with it and never over 3hrs from home. At 72 years old he said I'm not pulling that big camper anymore and traded it for a smaller TT. He still has the truck and it has over 13000 miles on it .engine and granny has never been a part. He did lose a ring and pinion on the way home with the smaller camper.

 

You can do as you wish, I try to stay within the limits because the world is saturated with lawyers.

 

That truck looks similar to my current truck,
The original owner set mine up to pull a fifth wheel from the dealership, did good on everything but the 4r70. I try not to go over gvw but I don't worry much about it. I've always owned Ford trucks, they seem to do the job.

 

To my mind, the problem is not "Can I get away with this OK?". It's "What happens if I'm in an accident, and during the investigation they determine I was grossly, illegally overweight?".

Will I be arrested? Will I go to prison? Will my insurance company use that as an excuse to deny my claim? Will I lose all my savings and investments in a lawsuit?

"My Dad used to . . ." ain't gonna cut it if the **** hits the fan.

 

This is analogous to saying, "I once went 140 MPH on the interstate and nothing bad happened, so we shouldn't have speed limits anymore."

 

Yeah, I think we over think weights. It should be fairly simple to agree on what's reasonable but for some reason it's not and people get their underwear in a bunch over it.

I'm all for anyone who wants to massively overload and drive as fast as possible as long as they do it off road and on closed courses. And realize once a vehicle is treated that way it won't likely ever be as safe as it should be for public roads. Lots of guys want to see what a truck can do and that's why we have mud runs, truck pulls, drag strips, and demolition derbies. Keep the fun stuff at those places and keep it safe in public places.

 

Just like seeing trucks being over weight, I have the same concern with trucks that has been lifted. Agree or not, if a truck is over weight, or modified with larger tires and a raised center of gravity, either will all have an affect on the trucks original engineered performance in an emergency situation. The trucks factory tire specification on the door jamb are there for the same reason as the weight ratings are. So, by all of this over weight interoperation, in an accident, the at fault liability of say, a person that ran a stop sign be no more guilty than the driver of a altered or over weight truck. The altered or over weight vehicle wasn't able to stop, or perform as it was originally intended. The driver that ran the stop sign .. that was just an accident. I imagine a good attorney could also argued using the LAST CLEAR CHANCE LAW. That would mean a modified trucks insurance company won't pay anymore than if a truck was over weight, and the driver of the altered vehicle would be at fault. If a death was involved the driver would then be arrested and charged with Involuntary Manslaughter.
It is a Juries responsible for a yes, or a no, a Voluntary or Non Voluntary verdict.
I assume at the end of the day, there really wouldn't be a difference. Intensional is guilty.

 

OP's post is a prime reason for clearly stated weight limits, diligent compliance, reasonable enforcement efforts, and criminal penalties for accidents caused by such Tom-Foolery.

 

Shouldn't it be in everyone's interest to travel safely without exceeding mechanical and legal limits?

This is not about looking good, or saving money. I am not the weight police. When you put a camper on your truck, you will usually be at or above the truck's design capacity, for a longer trip and an extended period of time. Most pickup trucks are made for pulling much more than carrying loads. Single rear wheel trucks are severely limited in what their rear axles can carry on just two tires. A dually can distribute the same load on four tires and gives you more options.

You can cheat on the law, but you can not cheat on the law of physics.

All overloading can become a legal problem if law enforcement chooses to have a closer look.

Some overloading can be physically safe - as long as you really, really know what you are doing. If you know for sure that an axle is de-rated for a non-physical reason (marketing, registration, tax) reason, you can probably drive safely. My old truck was de-rated to a GVWR of 3500 kgs for registration reasons in Germany. Technically, it could have weighed up to 4200 kgs. In the range between 3500 and 4200, I would be technically safe - but still legally overweight. Combined front and rear axle ratings may usually somewhat safely exceed the GVWR as long as the axles themselves are not overloaded.

Technical differences between trucks with different payloads may be difficult to detect. Did you know that Ford makes the F150 frame in different metal thicknesses depending on the application? Which of them do you have on your truck?

There are some components I would never overload significantly. Tires can and will fail catastrophically, and you do not want to find out about this barrelling down an interstate at 70mph with an overloaded truck.
Rims can do the same. Other components probably pose less of a risk. It they are used outside specification, they will wear out faster, but a wheel bearing probably will not fail catastrophically without warning. Same goes for all axle and drivetrain components, the engine and transmission. or the truck frame. You may get away with it, you may not.

Weight distribution is at least as important as the GVW. A well distributed load with a low COG will handle better than a tail-and-top-heavy TC with an AC and extra load on the roof.

I knew one guy who ran a Lance camper on a 1500 series crew cab truck. His truck had about every modification you can imagine. It still just handled barely "OK", and he had many repais done. In the end, he traded it for a 3500 SRW.
Many modifications make the truck handle better with a specific load - but they do not necessarily increase the payload capabilities. You can add spring leafs, air bags, stabilizers all you want, and your truck may handle the camper a lot better afterwards. If you know for sure that the 3500 version of your truck has the same axle, brakes and frame, just one additional leaf in the rear - then by all means go for it. Your tire ratings may still not be enough, though...

There is a matching camper for most trucks. Just be safe.

 

Really simple. Either you follow the manufacturers' ratings or you use some other rationale of your own personal design. Most often when I have seen this discussion folks have already made up their minds which side they are on.

 

Can we agree that "Load it until something breaks, then take off a little" is not a good rationale?

 

Actually I thought that was a widely accepted mantra.

 

 

In my 1/2 ton truck I thought I could get away with being overweight on the tongue but under on what the trailer actually weighed for short trips in town. Nope. I broke something on the truck and it cost me a few hundred dollars to fix it. It could have been a LOT worse.