Payload Ratings are a farce

Ralph Cramden wrote:

BB_TX wrote:
Ford specs have about a dozen different payload ratings each for the F250, F350 SRW, and the F350 DRW. Cab, bed, engine, even tire size, affect the payload rating. And the difference between the low and high of each is significant. Your salesman probably picked the F250 configuration with the highest rating and passed that off as the rating for all F250s.

Maybe I am missing the issue? I have never had a dealer slap handcuffs on me and lock me in a room until I signed the sales agreement. If you're not happy with the numbers on a certain new vehicle, why buy it, because the combinations are almost unlimited no matter who the manufacturer is, and at worst it will cost you a little more and possibly / most likely, some wait time.

Personally I would have no issue ordering a vehicle and if something was not as I expected when it came in telling the dealer to stick it. I guess if you signed some type of binding agreement beforehand, then thats a different story, but for the life of me I don't know why anyone would do that with anything.

Furthermore, while sitting at the campsite the week before, during, and the week after the holiday I did an unofficial, unscientific, and inebriated survey of what came in to a state park campground, and what left, as well as what I noticed while driving around the local area. I would say its over 80% 1/2 ton trucks towing TT's @ or in excess of 30', and a fair amount of 5ers to boot. And throw in the mix a lot of mid size SUV's towing all kinds of TT's some @ 29'-30'. The only place people worry about payloads is on this and other RV boards. The vast majority of the RV towing public think payload is when you cash your paycheck at the bank and they hand you a load of money. Despite the state park having 280 sites, and 4 or 5 other parks in the general area with probably over 2000+ sites total, I did not see one breakdown or one rig in splinters along any of the roads. I did smell some burning brakes from time to time going down the mountain.

Those unofficial surveys are just that "unofficial"
It really depends on where you are at. Go to a local state park and you will find lots of vehicles that reflect the people did not travel very far to get there.
Go to a destination park and you will find vehicles that reflect these people traveled a long way.
Vehicle size and type will be the result of how you camp and how far you travel. The farther from home you travel the more concerned you will become about your towing parameters.