Yes, I'm a noob.

What's the difference between a light and heavy duty truck?

I just bought a '95 Ford F250 XLT extended cab 4x4. Is that light or heavy?

Thanks.

 

light dutys are your 1500s and so fullsizes. Heavy duty is the 2500s. Super dutys are your 3500s. Your F-250 is heavy duty.

-Grant

 

oh, forgot to add, light dutys are only fullsizes. No rangers or nothing like that. All manufacturerers use this. Dodge, Chevy the whole works.

 

not true. they had light duty F250's. they had usually a 300, or 302. The HD's had the 300, 351, diesel, 460. the light duty trucks also had a semi floating rear axle and the light duty 5spd.

 

Oops, yeah I just know dodge's use the 2500 is heavy duty. Don't know how Ford works it. Thought they were all the same. Sorry.

 

F-250 is a Superduty. Some configurations are comparable to F350's, since '05 they share the same frame......

 

By the true meaning of light trucks it would be anything 1 ton and below. A medium truck is like a Kodiak or F-650.

 

Wow! Now I'm really confused.

At least it wasn't a totally stupid question.

 

How about this:

Light duty is your personal vehicle, or daily driver.

Heavy duty is the work horse. This is what you want to haul your tools, trailers, and other junk.

Mike

 

Simple

Light duty = pick-ups, big and small even if they are work trucks
Medium duty = F-650/F-750/GM Kodiak/International 4100-4400
Heavy duty = Semi-tractors

That's the real classes but there is a lot of slang out there. Superduties are called heavy a lot of the time but they aren't. Go google medium trucks and heavy trucks, you'll see.

 

This accurate and in line with OEM auto industry terminology. Ford, GM, and Dodge full size trucks are considered "light vehicles" along with passenger cars.

But within the full-sized, light vehicle truck category, some trucks are called "light duty" and some are called "heavy duty".

I pretty sure now that my truck is "heavy duty" due to its engine size, GVW, wheelbase, suspension and the fact that I could roll over just about anything short of a Hummer. But it would be interesting to know how that line between "light" and "heavy" duty (light vehicle) trucks is drawn.

 

> What's the difference between a light and heavy duty truck

Gross vehicle weight.

General rule of thumb in the truck world,

8600-14400 GVW light duty 15"-16.5" rims
14440-25999 GVW med. duty 17-19" rims
26001-100,000 heavy duty (class 7/8) 20"-24.5" rims

Within the light duty category, generally anything 8600 GVW and over is considered heavy duty or "1 ton" by Ford, Chevy, Dodge, etc.

 

As a rule of thumb I always considered 1/2 ton trucks as light duty and 3/4 and larger heavy duty...but that's just my own opinion.

 

I figure it this way. If you can insure it on your personal lines auto policy, it is light duty. If not, it is a heavy duty. (generally 1 ton or less)

 

You'll have to look at your sticker on the driver's door jam. Under 8600 lbs. GVW = light duty F250. Over 8600 lbs. GVW = heavy-duty F250.