Pickup Decisions...
When buying a heavy beasty pickup, are you more concerned about it's age or it's mileage? Would you prefer a 95 with 75,000 miles over a 2004 with 130,000? Useful life for gas vs. diesel? For me...
Forum Discussion
wintersun wrote:
You do not lose payload with the diesel engine. 100% of the engine's weight is on the front wheels. More than 95% of the weight of a camper or other load in the bed is carried by the rear wheel. I have a diesel pickup and at the CAT scales my 3400 lb. camper shows as adding 100 lbs. to the front wheels and 3300 lbs. on the rear wheels.
People get confused by the GVWR which is a rating classification done for DOT and your state DMV. The manufacturer provides a payload rating that takes into account a passenger load and for every seat in the cab a 150 lb. deduction is made. That is why the regular cab trucks have the highest payload ratings.
My truck has a front suspension designed to handle the weigh of the diesel engine (and a snow plow). The rear axle and wheel bearings supports up to 10,900 lbs. so the weakest link is the tires and or the leaf springs. Both items are easily upgraded, unlike air bags and ABS braking.
Newer trucks are likely to have stronger and stiffer frames, better brakes, better engine cooling, and other engineering improvements. It is also much easier to find aftermarket equipment for newer trucks.
I agree with this. My truck with camper fully loaded wet only adds 300 lbs. on front axle the rest sits on back axle. Sometimes only 200 lbs. depending on extra gear.
