F250 Payload Capacity
I am looking at buying a used F250 but the door sticker seems to have a lot lower payload than I thought it would have. The truck fits the price range my wife and I are in. We are looking at a 1995 Ha...
Forum Discussion
adamis wrote:
Grab the popcorn indeed. These discussions are great when they come up every couple of months. Nothing seems to get a good lively discussion going more than weight capacity of a truck. To YellowLighting... There are lots of good opinions on both sides of the argument here. Do your research and go with what you feel comfortable with in the end.
My own two cents... Yup, you could get an SRW and worry about the weight police, tire ratings, axle ratings, whether you can afford to bring that extra piece of equipment, telling the Mrs to leave the kitchen sink or the ironing board behind (not kidding, actually had a family friend who's wife packed a full size ironing board for a trip they were taking in a station wagon). Or, get a dually and don't stress about the rest.
I would venture to guess that many of the people who have an SRW probably bought the truck long before they thought about buying a camper. Keeping the truck made financial or emotional sense and as BigFootFord has proven, with the right upgrades you can go hundreds of thousands of miles worry free.
On the otherhand... If you are still in the market for a truck and if you really intend to put a LOT of miles on it with the camper then skip the SRW and go for the dually. About the only two negatives I can think of for a dually are the higher operating cost (2 extra tires) and the higher upfront cost. What you get in return is a truck designed specifically to carry your expected payload without a lot of upgrades and peace of mind having an extra tire in case of a rear blowout. When it comes to registration fees, register it as an RV (if allowed) if you intend to keep the camper on full time (or remove it but don't have a need to carry payload) and that will knock a lot off your fees.
Thank you for your insight. After extensive research, I feel I have a better understanding on Ford's configurations and why they rate their trucks like they do. It's essentially just spring rate and tire capacity. I'm not concerned about registration fees. I am concerned about whether the truck could handle the camper we want and about the stated payload capacity, in the instance of a legal run in if the vehicle could be proven to have been overweight.
The recent F350 I found with a 3720lbs capacity will work just fine for everything I am concerned about.
I appreciate everyone's response. It was all very helpful.
