Looks like we have some resolution. My view is: the attitude and ability of the driver is more important than any load rating. Case in point: When I was much (did I say much?) younger I once had no qualms about towing a horse trailer with two 1100 pound horses (they were big) with my 1966 Toyota Land Cruiser rag top up into the High Sierra. I'm not sure what the tow rating was but no matter, the trailer gross was at least 5K pounds. No power. No gears. Short wheel base. No trailer brakes. With the tail wagging the dog, the rig got to swaying so bad on Hwy 395, over and over, I had to push the poor L.C.'s drum brakes to the edge to recover. We went up Nine Mile Canyon and the L.C. was so over loaded, the road so steep, I had to pull it into low range, on pavement to keep going. Oh yes, smell the ozone! You can live close to the edge. You can do that when you are young.
********************************************************
One issue that keeps coming up is the marching on of truck technology, and our ability to stay up with it. The old monikers of 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, or one ton are not as accurate as they once were. Old concepts die hard. Of old, the term 1/2 ton, aka: F150 or 1500 fit in a rather narrow band of load capacity and similar handling characteristics. I remember my brother in law building up a 1955 Ford F-1. Currently, there is a rather broad range of overlap of capacity between the trucks. Now with Ford in the undisputed lead in stretching the carrying capacity of their F-150, both ways, the old numbers simply do not apply as to load rating. What about Dodge's 30K pound towing capacity on their 3500? Does that fit in the one ton category? We need a more accurate nomenclature.
Several on here have mentioned using "1 series, 2 series, and 3 series, and of course 4 and 5 series" to more accurately corral trucks of the same general ilk.
I'm up for that. This is my 2 series Dodge short bed, with small Lance hard side when they both were young in June of 2002. No suspension upgrades. In fact, no upgrades at all (unless you include the running boards) I am on a dry lake in the Owens Valley just east of Mount Whitney.

regards, as always, jefe