I have a 1988 f 250 xlt lariat rwd. I need to know how much weight I can carry in the bed. And is my 250 a HD because of the 7.5 liter/460 cid V-8 in it.

 

What is the GVWR on the drivers door pillar? If it is above 8600lbs the truck is HD.

Legal cargo capacity is GVWR - Curb weight.

 

The door is missing the sticker, the person I bought it from said it was upro and the gwvr was 10k. I'm just a little lost and dont want to break my truck with my first load of gravel lol.

 

It isn't 10,000 lbs. I think F-250HD was over 8,400 (that was the limit the EPA had put on vehicles to require a catalytic converter). The GVWR on my '85 F-250HD was 8,600. A few seconds on Google told me that an '88 could be up to 8,800 lbs. So it's in that range.

You don't say what cab so I'll assume regular cab. Empty weight is likely between 5,500 lbs and 6,000 lbs, but that's just my guess. Take it to a scale if you want to know for real. But payload is likely somewhere between 2,400 and 3,300 lbs.

 

No idea what "upro" means. Do you know what rear axle it has? Is it the semi float or full floating version? Single or dually?

 

A 3/4 ton truck will have a capacity of about 4000 lbs. for the bed. A one ton can have about 6,000 lbs in the bed. Sandy

 

I believe it is an extended cab, I have 2 doors. Behind the front seats is a bench seat. I have no idea about the axels, sorry. Thanks for the help everyone. Single wheels.

 

you will be limited to what springs you have vs tires also. 235/85-16's in SRW can hold around 3,350lbs per tire, your rear axle is good to 9.500lbs as per Sterling, the only other "variable" is the spring pack and that can be upgraded. Go to a scale and weigh the truck. The "sticker" was for warranty purposes and is NOT a valid weight limit per DOT. All DOT cares about is axle and tire capacities.

 

Sort of hijacking, but does anybody know the exact differences between light duty(6,800) and heavy duty (8,600) F-250's?

 

Different frame is the biggest. Semi-float vs full-float rear axle is most obvious. I'm sure springs are different. I'm sure there are more.

 

The frames are different?? I figured that would be the one thing that is the same. I recently acquired a 6800 GVWR F-250 and have been thinking about bringing it up to HD specs. If the frame isn't up to snuff, might as well not bother.

 

People have posted pics showing the F250LD is that of the F150's with crumple zones and all, up at the front bumper.The rear brake shoes are a bit smaller on the semi-float rear axle too.There isn't anything you can do make a F250LD anything other than what really is and that's a F150HD.You can't make one a F250HD/F350 platform.

 

I see. Would that apply to an 88 ? Those did not have crumple zones as I recall.

 

Yeah that was a 9th gen version.However,I don't see why Ford would of used the larger frame on the earlier gens either since the truck simply wouldn't be capable of utilizing it for anything.I'm sure they're based on the F150 too.I see in your sig,you've got a '97HD so all you have too is measure both your frame thicknesses with a caliper and you'll know for sure but it kinda has to be the F150 frame or Ford would of sold needless steel and businesses don't give free stuff.

 

Revisionist history.

First of all, no such thing as an F-250LD. There's an F-250 and an F-250HD.

Second, up through the '98 model year the F-250 was the 3/4 ton truck, just like the F-100 was the (discontinued) 1/2 ton truck. In the '70s Ford came out with the heavy duty 1/2 ton (called F-150) to get around EPA regulations applying to vehicles under something like 6000 lbs GVWR. Then the EPA bumped the limit up to 8,400 lbs so in the '80s Ford came out with a heavy duty 3/4 ton (called, imaginatively enough, F-250HD). But if it wasn't for the EPA there probably never would've been an F-250HD and we'd all remember that a 3/4 ton truck is actually lighter duty than a 1 ton.

For what it's worth, in '99 the F-250 was renamed F-150 7700 (it had shared the new F-150 body style in '97 and '98) and the F-250HD was rebranded as F-250 SuperDuty.


Back to the OP, yes, significant differences in frames between the F-250 and F-250HD. I don't know about crumple zones (certainly might be), but the HD frames are from a thicker material. Actually, the F-250HD is way closer to an F-350. Same frames, same rear axles, same rear springs, same brakes. I don't know about the 2WDs but if you do a solid axle swap on a 4WD F-250HD and put taller lift blocks in the rear to level it out you have all the same parts as an F-350.

Of course it's still an F-250HD on paper, and while mountainkowboy is pretty confident that the DOT doesn't care about weight ratings, I've heard the opposite a lot more times. I know with heavy trucks a big part of what the government cares about is what the truck is licensed for. If you aren't paying taxes to carry 80,000 lbs you aren't allowed to carry 80,000 lbs. At least in Minnesota an F-250HD is licensed differently than an F-350, and I wouldn't have any confidence that a weigh station would be interested in your arguments that, sure it's licensed as an F-250HD, but really it's the same as an F-350. I've also heard people say that they've tried to get an F-250HD with a solid axle swap re-licensed as an F-350 and haven't been able to.

I don't know how licensing and weight limits would affect an F-250 at a weigh station. As long as you aren't up into F-350 territory the licensing is the same (in Minnesota). But if you are over your GVWR and do get a ticket, it was mountainkowboy that said you'd be safe, not me!