I been really working 1980 f150 l6 since I got running good. The other week I loaded up 1200 lbs of bagged concrete, filled it to the brim with cedar mulch.. all was good. Today however I ordered 3 yards of topsoil to be picked up a yard at a time. The first load did the figuring for the next two. The payloader with 3 yrd bucket nearly loaded his bucket and bagan dumping (i guess he thought he was doing me a favour by giving me nearly 3 yrds on the first load) By the time he was empty and I was full I had approx. 3 inches of rear fender hiding the top of my tire. the leaf springs were strait and I was worried. I made it across town for the delivery, and made sure the next loads were lighter. The engine easily performed but the rear suspension struggled. Tommorrow a 1000 sq ft. of sod will weigh in. Would adding a leaf with loads like these just put excess pressure on the axle causing it to fail? Are there other options for handling loads of this weight?

 

My factory manual rates the diff at 1500kg, ~3300lb. 750kg in the back of mine had enough weight to make the tyres just scrape on the underside of the tray on corners and on bumps. I got some airbags and installed them and have since carried 1000kg tray loads, plus a 750kg load towed in a trailer with no problems. Firestone airbags are supposedly one of the best if you go looking.

 

I had 2500lbs. of wood pellets in that back of an F100...crushed the wheel bearings.

 

i once had 2700lbs. of scrap metal in the back of my 150. moved without a problem and stopped just as good. axle seemed fine as well as the suspension. it was horrible on gas mileage though.

 

The first thing to go will probably be wheel bearings. An extreme failure would be a broken axle/housing. This is why they are referred to as "half-tons". If you'll notice, trucks with higher weight capacities have "full floating axles." (with the big hub sticking through the wheel)

What this means is that the axle housing is designed to carry the load, and not the axle shaft. All the axle shaft does is turn the wheel. In a semi-floating system, (like in an F-150) the axle shaft carries the weight. The bearings in a semi-floating system are not designed to handle the weight that a full floating system is designed to carry.

 

I had two tractor buckets full of mulch in mine, so go figure. The bed was low and it was at that moment I realized I really, really needed to inflate my tires. Good thing I only live a quarter mile from the greenhouse...

 

Overloads will solve your suspension problem, but there will be other weakspots. I've carried close to a ton of mulch before, had no problems. Got pictures in my gallery.

 

16ft trailer full o firnature and house crap.... hitch was scraping against the ground and the I6 did fine... only moved it about a mile to where it was going.... I wasent aware they were going to pull the trailer with my truck instead of the chevy 1500 we had (we diddent care if we tore that POS up and it was bought to be a work truck) i was pissed...
i think my bearings might be going out but i just replaced them when i did my shocks, less than a year ago.. i've done almost no pulling since then.... i hear a humming noise on and off when i'm on the highway and it gets worse in the rain... when i mean on and off it sounds like a celing fan when you first turn it on...
if you're gonna be doing alot of heavy lifting with that truck i'd consider doing a axle swap from a bigger truck... if its 4wd be sure the ratio is the same as the old one

 

My dad had a 81 F150 that he put 3400 in and it did not hurt it, and he had a 98 ranger
I4 that he put 3200 in, but I think it is a stupid thing to do with out a full flouting axle.

 

Speaking of Rangers,the previous owner of my old 2000 4cyl Ranger used to pull horse trailers with it.Ultimately,it screwed up the transmission.It made the tranny jolt when it went into 2nd,and eventually,the tranny went out,right in the middle of a turn,which caused me to wreck into a tree.I also noticed that the previous owner had put blocks on the rear leaf springs,probably cause it was squatting in the rear from all the weight.1/4 ton trucks aren't supposed to carry that kind of weight.

 

I agree 100%

 

Well I have an 85 F-150 {avatar} and it has its 4th I6 in it at the time, getting ready to change over to a 302. With the tool boxes on it and my custom bumpers front and rear plus the tools I carry the old truck "curb" weights around 5300lbs. I have hauled a little over 3,000lbs of scrap metal in it, 30 miles to the scrap yard. I have also hauled fire wood {railroad tie ends} 16 miles from mill to house and it weighed more than the scrap{ the truck set lower,springs more strait, so more weight} and it handled it very well. I had to keep speed around 40-45 with the wood because roads are very bumpy.
I have also went to the scrap yard once with the truck loaded and a 16ft tandum trailer behind it{trailer weighs around 1100lbs} and went across the scales at a little over 11,500lbs. No trouble with the bearings,etc. so far. I am going to change over to a 9" rear end as this one and the truck have around 500,000 + miles on it and i think the rear is getting worn a little. If you are going to haul heavy, a heavyer axel would be better because of the floating axel as well as heavyer brakes. I never drive mine too fast when loaded because it is just a 1/2 ton and the brakes are smaller. People too often try to live and drive at the speed of a computer, take things a little slower and enjoy life.
Just in case any one is curious, I have some photo's of the old truck loaded with the fire wood, I would post one here if I can figure out how, Mike

 

I wish I had the money to part out my 90 f350 that I sold to buy this 80 150. It had semi floating axle. To bad about the 351w and the body though. To much electronics for me anyway. I think I'll stick to smaller loads or maybe a trailer in the future.

 

why pull the 300 and go for a 302?

 

Here is a pic of the old truck with a load of fire wood on it. I am changing to a 302 because I was able to get one cheap and the old 6 is just about done, goes thru oil badly and rattles,etc. I got the 302 for less than I could begin to rebuild the 6, I just hope it will handle the truck.

<a href="http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee85/IrishMike_photos/?action=view&current=worktruck0001Small.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee85/IrishMike_photos/worktruck0001Small.jpg" border="0" alt="1985 ford with approx 4,000lbs of wood"></a>