This whole payload thing has my drawers in a wad. How can my wife's Saturn Outlook have a higher payload than my FX4 Crew Cab. That just seems ridiculous. At least mine is 1195. If I had found 750 or so on my door jam, I think I may have flipped... I use this truck for towing a boat while hauling my growing family, 1195 lbs. is pushing it. Our Outlook can tow 6000 lbs and has a payload of 1588 lbs. It just doesn't seem logical to me that a mid-size SUV is more capable than a full size truck. What gives? Does anyone know the requirements verbage of the "Tread Act." Does the payload on that sticker mean the weight it can carry and still go off-road, not drop below specified ground clearance, etc.? We seem to need more details about this sticker.

 

I think that number is the total weight carrying capacity without exceeding the GVWR.

 

Shocking isn't it? It's strange to think a Honda Accord can carry more payload than some configurations of an '09 F150 screw.

I did understand there was a trade-off between luxury and payload capacity and I settled for slightly more luxury over the payload capacity.

 

ditto that.

 

It is stupid but we all know what will handle the weight better no matter what they say it can carry. Even my wifes mazda can carry more than my F150 but i know for a fact i could double that in my f150 and it still cope better than the mazda. Put 5 people in her car and you will know about it. Put 5 people in your truck and you wouldnt even know they were in it.

 

Just curious about what the weak link is if you do overload your truck. Tire blowout? axle snap? shock mounts? leafs? All of the above?

 

To be honest i bet you could load up one of these trucks so much that the frame would bottom out before anything failed. The tires are prob the weekest link but even then they are rated well below what they can really carry. I seen some trucks so loaded up that the hitch is sparking as it's going down the road. The laws governing what you can and cant carry are prob as old as stopping distance laws which as far as i know are still based on the model T but i could be wrong. Some idiot sits in a room and tells us whats safe to carry in out trucks when he has never driven one in his life.

 

I've seen a family of 20 loaded in a datsun pickup in baja with a trailer towing a couple cows

 

I want to know the same thing... and I agree with the sentiment that any 1/2 ton pick up can more competently carry 2000 lbs. than a Honda Accord or Saturn, or everything else that is rated above it... I don't understand. I have looked some at the Tread Act and while not solely about tires, it sure does talk a lot about tires. I wonder if that contributes? And the Tread Act was brought about when Ford and Firestone put the "Maypop" tires on the Exploders...

 

super size that load!

http://www.greatlakes4x4.com/showthread.php?t=131752

 

Thats exactly what im geting at. What it can handle and what they say it can handle are 2 totally different things.

What i still dont understand is why my bro in laws 09 expy el which is kitted out with almost the exact same options as my truck but had the extra weight of the extra rows of seats and extra cabin space has a 1500lb payload rateing. My truck uptil the rear doors is the exact same but after that his has loads of extra weight mine dont have and he still has that payload. Nothing seems to add up when you work it out.

 

Take that payload sticker and throw it away. Your payload (real payload) is your GVWR (7200#) minus your curb weight. If your curb weight is 5800# you have 1400# of payload left. Please keep in mind that anything you put in the bed or in the cab will take away from your payload. This includes, people, animals, fuel, trailer hitch, ect. The tread act was put into place when Firestone and Ford collided in 2000. It is a bunch of legal crap that protect Ford from another Class action law suit.I have said it before, I will say it again, there is not another vehicle on the road with this STUPID sticker on the door jamb. The sticker also has no pertinent information about the vehicle or the configuration. The only thing it has any information about is the size of the tires, including the spare.Also, in my manual, as well as every other owners manual I have seen, there is a decrease for oversized wheels. For example: If the F-150 come with 17" wheels standard, and you get the optional 18" wheels, your payload capacity is reduced by 500#. 20" wheels would drop it further. This is largely due to the tires and the rolling and stopping resistance that the larger wheels create. I think that sticker is a bunch of hooey! I would load the truck up and make sure you don't go over the GVWR of the truck itself and the tire and axle capacity. Have a good time towing your travel trailer, or utility trailer or boat. You are not going to disintegrate the truck. It will do what you need it to do within reason and it will do it well. I tow 8000# plus with my 04 Lariat. I have no issues and I have towed almost 30,000 miles with this truck. I did upgrade the tires because the P series tires that they put on these trucks are a complete joke! 2 ply tires on a PU...... absurd! They could of at least put a load C tire on it. But that would require them to remove the tread act sticker.

 

That says it all.

I think I am going to pay the $7 for a scale ticket at the truck stop just to see for myself.

 

It still seems a lot of people dont understand this sticker. The sticker is the correct payload to how your truck it optioned. Ford ajusts each trucks sticker to suit it options. "It has nothing to do with tire rateing The payloads are what they are by law but we all know that these things can handle a lot more than the nannys who right these laws say. Some people have already weight there trucks and they are pretty much spot on what the sticker says. A guy on here has a lariat that weights a couple of pound under 6000lb and his payload is 1200lb roughly. GVWR-CURB=PAYLOAD STICKER AMOUNT Again this has nothing to do with tire rateing.

 

A slightly optioned screw FX4 should have a payload capacity of 1100-1200 lbs (estimate based from my KR). But I feel for some of those fully optioned Plats. Their payload capacity is under 800 lbs. A family of four (assuming family isn't obese), full tank of gas, fido in the back and a cooler gets close to the payload capacity, if not slightly over.

Overloading a truck becomes problematic when you get stopped by a LEO or become involved in an accident or damage something on the truck from the overloaded condition.