Bed Weight
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Senior User
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Bed Weight
Looking for a solution to water roughly 400 trees over 5 acres.
Been advised that a particular water container weighs in at roughly 2150 pounds.
Can my 96 Ford half ton handle this kind of weight?
Been advised that a particular water container weighs in at roughly 2150 pounds.
Can my 96 Ford half ton handle this kind of weight?
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Joined: May 2010
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well, a 'half-ton' pickup means you can safely haul one-half of a ton, or 1,000lbs in the bed.
I've hauled 1,200lbs in the bed of my half-ton, no problems. I'm sure you could put more in, but I wouldn't recommend it.
I've hauled 1,200lbs in the bed of my half-ton, no problems. I'm sure you could put more in, but I wouldn't recommend it.
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From: Almost Heaven
Mean Jean, with all do respect, you're pushing your old truck too hard. Hauling 1,000 lbs is going to wear things out fast. I've hauled 1,000 lbs before and I was worried about my suspension standing up to the task.
Mean Jean, if you were just going to be crawling over your farm and not actually driving on the highways with this kind of load consistantly, I would feel safer about it - but I still say that's too much for an F-150 truck on a daily basis.
I would suggest beefing up your suspension. You can replace your tired rear leaves with 3/4 ton leave springs and make sure your brakes are in good order.
Mean Jean, if you were just going to be crawling over your farm and not actually driving on the highways with this kind of load consistantly, I would feel safer about it - but I still say that's too much for an F-150 truck on a daily basis.
I would suggest beefing up your suspension. You can replace your tired rear leaves with 3/4 ton leave springs and make sure your brakes are in good order.
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From: Lakeland
Also you have to consider breaking power. That's alot of water weight sloshing around in the back. As was said in a previous post, if you're creeping around the farm, that's ok, low speed, long stopping distances, use your gears. If it's Highway driving, look seriously at some kind of brake upgrades also.
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I asked about the 250 gallon container in a different forum I frequent.
1 guy with experiece says the water sloshing around back and forth is like the equivalent of a 250 pound dude rocking the truck back and forth.
Something I would not have considered myself.
1 guy with experiece says the water sloshing around back and forth is like the equivalent of a 250 pound dude rocking the truck back and forth.
Something I would not have considered myself.
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From: Lakeland
Well, actually, the weight of 250gallons of water is just over 1 ton. I'd consider helper springs at the least for the rear end just to keep the bed off the axles.
Figure 1 gallon of water weighs about 8lbs. That's alot. Doing it like you plan to, you shouldn't have much issue. You may just need to change your service interval to more than the usual 3000 mile.
Figure 1 gallon of water weighs about 8lbs. That's alot. Doing it like you plan to, you shouldn't have much issue. You may just need to change your service interval to more than the usual 3000 mile.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2007
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From: Almost Heaven
You know, ideally, you would want to upgrade your
* Brakes
* Rear leave springs
* Gear Ratio
None of these are really needed if you don't plan on driving much past second gear and certainly not driving on the road.. But, they would extend the life of your truck. The heavier leave springs would protect your whole truck and save the suspension; the brakes are obvious. The gear ratio would relieve a lot of the stress off the transmission and warrent you better fuel mileage (for low speed heavy hauling, which is what you're wanting to do).
Have you thought about buying an inexpensive F-250? It would be great if you got one with a 300 and ZF-5 speed and 4.10 gear. That would be perfect for what you need. Pretty much any F-250 would fit the bill. Like I said, the main thing here is the braking and suspension.
I'm enjoying the banter!
* Brakes
* Rear leave springs
* Gear Ratio
None of these are really needed if you don't plan on driving much past second gear and certainly not driving on the road.. But, they would extend the life of your truck. The heavier leave springs would protect your whole truck and save the suspension; the brakes are obvious. The gear ratio would relieve a lot of the stress off the transmission and warrent you better fuel mileage (for low speed heavy hauling, which is what you're wanting to do).
Have you thought about buying an inexpensive F-250? It would be great if you got one with a 300 and ZF-5 speed and 4.10 gear. That would be perfect for what you need. Pretty much any F-250 would fit the bill. Like I said, the main thing here is the braking and suspension.
I'm enjoying the banter!
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watering trees
I as well am enjoying the banter. My wife says I am putting too much thought into this issue, I'm all for research.
Consider this:
Won't be getting out of 1st gear.
Won't be going faster than 3 mph.
Won't be travelling more that 1 mile collective.
This will all take place on 5 acres of grass. Upgrading parts would be over kill.
Worst case scenario I will move 2 (50 gallon) barrels at a time for roughly 800 pounds.
I am looking for advise on another particular problem. I'm installing a buried dog fence, the kind where a wire is buried.
Needs to be buried roughly 2 inches deep. My first method was as follows:
-Bolted a mower blade to the bucket of my tractor.
-Drive in a straight-ish line to dig a trench.
This worked fine on flat property. I've since moved on to a wavy part of property and this method no longer works.
New method is as follows:
-Attach 4 lags bolts into a railway tie with 3 inches of bolt exposed.
-Drag tie behind truck/tractor.
This should score the earth enough to leave a trench deep and wide enough for the buried wire.
I will know tomorrow am when I try this out.
Will advise.
Consider this:
Won't be getting out of 1st gear.
Won't be going faster than 3 mph.
Won't be travelling more that 1 mile collective.
This will all take place on 5 acres of grass. Upgrading parts would be over kill.
Worst case scenario I will move 2 (50 gallon) barrels at a time for roughly 800 pounds.
I am looking for advise on another particular problem. I'm installing a buried dog fence, the kind where a wire is buried.
Needs to be buried roughly 2 inches deep. My first method was as follows:
-Bolted a mower blade to the bucket of my tractor.
-Drive in a straight-ish line to dig a trench.
This worked fine on flat property. I've since moved on to a wavy part of property and this method no longer works.
New method is as follows:
-Attach 4 lags bolts into a railway tie with 3 inches of bolt exposed.
-Drag tie behind truck/tractor.
This should score the earth enough to leave a trench deep and wide enough for the buried wire.
I will know tomorrow am when I try this out.
Will advise.