As mentioned above, certain places have additional registration fees and restrictions for 1-ton trucks. It makes it difficult and expensive to buy an F-350/3500 in those areas.

Otherwise, a 3/4-ton diesel is a purchase for a very specific need. It's a combination that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. You can quickly research and see tons of payload stickers online of actual trucks that range in the 1,800 - 2,400 lbs. That's not much more than a regular F-150 and less than an HDPP F-150. If you're loading up an RV and things like that, it's going to be a nail-biter for payload on a 3/4-ton diesel.

Considering that the frame and most of the suspension is the same, there isn't really any size, driveability, or other considerations that would make a 1-ton worse than a 3/4-ton ... other than the aforementioned cost of ownership in some areas. Similarly, the price difference is about $1,200. If you add the HD Tow package to the F-250, then the price difference is about $50.

I think the F-250 gasser is a great option. F-250 diesel just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Cheers.

 

I did it! After using our 3500 HD dually flat bed as a daily driver for a little over 3 years I bought a '17 F-250 Lariat CCSB, SWB, 6.7, pretty much loaded out. Truck is in my sig. It never occurred to me the payload would be only about 2100#. the first time i hooked up the gooseneck to the truck it squatted it pretty bad. About that time I became a forum member and one of the first threads I saw was about the payload stickers. Damn, it hadn't occurred to me that the payload would be an issue. This was my first heavy duty pickup truck, but I have a lot of experience pulling trailers, from small boat trailers, semi-trailers, and car trailers. The truck did fine pulling the loads but there were times when I am sure it was loaded past stated capacity. I kept it about 18 months (53k miles) and then got the F-350 in my sig. The 350 definitely squats less but otherwise there isn't a lot of difference. They both had the same tires. The trailers have excellent brakes so there wasn't ever a braking issues. Most recently I bought a 40' gooseneck and now the F-350 is too light in the **** so I have an F-550 on the way. And so it goes. Like speakerfritz stated, no matter how much truck you have..... Good luck

 

Honestly, I'm surprised by the responses I'm getting here. I expected a lot more "that's your own fault, idiot" than I've received.

Sounds about right.

That's really the thing that frustrated me once I took the time to understand GVWR. The only real difference here is springs and a sticker. Springs can easily be remedied (add a leaf and make sure to stay within the wheel, tire, and axle ratings), but the show stopper here is that there seems to be no way to legally get the sticker changed.

 

It pays big dividends to do your homework before you plop down $50 k plus for one of these trucks. Mistakes can be costly.

 

I have been down this same road and wish that at the time I ordered my previous truck that one, I would have been more knowledgeable about payloads etc. and two, that my salesman would have been more knowledgeable about what he was selling in order to help guide me down the right path.

I ordered a 2016 F250 Super Duty Lariat with the 6.2 gas engine. My plan was to put a slide in truck camper on the truck. The truck camper wet weighs 3700 lbs. When the truck came in the payload sticker read 2496 lbs. When we went to pick up the camper several months after having the truck the dealer said it was no problem, the truck would handle the camper just fine. I was questioning in my mind at that point that what they were saying was not making a lot of sense.

I started educating myself and soon realized that while yes, the truck could physically handle it, what if I got in an accident? What if I got in an accident and it was not even my fault? The first thing I thought of was the attorneys flocking in and begin looking at all the numbers like payload, axle ratings, tire ratings, camper weight etc.. It did not take long to realize that even though the truck may be able to handle the camper, the numbers just did not work.

My wife and I had a long, hard discussion about it and made a decision to trade in our near new truck with only 10,000 miles on it for a truck capable of legally handling the camper. We ended up with a 2017 F350 XLT with the 6.2 gas engine and payload of 4226 lbs. I am now comfortable driving down the road knowing my setup is legal and safe. That situation cost me $6000 dollars to make the upgrade so it was an expensive lesson learned but one I am now happy I did.

I think it is important for each of us to become more educated in this area but I also believe the truck camper dealers and truck dealers have a responsibility here as well.

 

F250 Gasser for the win!

 

The F250 gasser is a great truck in the right application!

 

^^ Yes! ^^ I went from a CPO 2015 F150 to the current truck in my sig. Best choice we ever made, even though we took a ~$4,000 hit to upgrade. The dealer was motivated because no one wanted the gas dually. Me? When I saw the payload sticker with a capacity of 6,114 pounds, I was sold. I kinda chewed on my salesman about not making me aware of the F150's crap payload, so he showed me this one and made me a decent deal. Lesson learned.

 

You are looking at in strictly on paper, with that numbers mind set. For some of us, for personal use, not commercial. It's all about the needs/wants. i need 4 doors bc of family. I wanted the diesel bc of the weight of 5th wheel. I need the shorter truck for turning radius for everyday use. Ease of parallel parking downtown, in parking garages, in almost any parking spot in the city. Also, softer springs, it rides a tab better. Granted, the sticker on the truck says it's over loaded. But it pulls and stops just fine.

 

All the same things are available also in a F-350 SRW. Sounds like the softer springs is the only difference you wanted? Not the higher GVWR/GCWR or the upgraded hydroboost braking system.

 

Exactly! If my truck dealer sales person would have listened better to what I was telling him, we possibly could have avoided what ultimately cost me more money. Had I been more educated I would have ordered the first truck based on the ultimate goal of maximizing my payload. Definitely an expensive lesson learned but now I know.

 

You are stuck with 6,340lbs rear GAWR with the F250 6.7 and F250/350 SRW 6.2. Its the axle and surpassing that can cause premature wear and failure. Its on the white sticker.

When buying I looked at getting a 350 SRW and 10,000 gvwr option as its a work truck. Decided to just get the 250 though. Read some threads and people are saying they are ok pulling 16,000 goosenecks and another where a guy weighed the truck with family inside and still had over 3,000 lbs available on the rear axle and was actually about peaked out on the front GAWR (prompted me to get HD front suspension option).

Only have a couple thousand miles on the truck but if I remember next time I drive past a truck stop I’ll fill up and weigh it. I think you can deduct the driver weight at 150lbs and the actual hitch weight if you want to hone it down exactly.

If you do that you can then do some estimating and reregister the truck to a higher weight if you have a guilty conscience. You can use a sharpie to mark over the yellow payload sticker. On our work trucks I put labels on the dash on how much it can haul, haul with our different trailers, and what fuel type.

 

It's not really the GAWR that's causing problems, here. I've got plenty of margin on the rear axle. It's the GVWR that's the limiting factor.

I'm not aware of any provision in the law (at least in TX) that suggests that I can reregister to a higher weight than the GVWR on the door sticker. I'd do that in a heartbeat if I could.

 

I’m in Texas and you can register it down to the empty weight and up higher. I’m not sure but you can go to either 26,000 or 70,000 max but you would need to look at the laws.

We use to have a dumptruck without airbrakes that was registered to 10,000 because it only went on the road to fill up or from site to site empty. Just a small single axle gas truck like 6 or 8 yards.

 

Also are you doing commercial or RV? They might not count a camper or travel trailer against registered GVWR if its personal use. I would check the laws.

Outside of the white sticker rating on the doorjamb ford advertises recommenced GCWR and recommend max towing weights on their website.