A Challenge - How Obese is your Rig?

[takesiteasy]

I posted this in the Pop-up Campers sub-forum a while back and thought I would repost here.

I stopped at the truck scale at the start of my last trip. I was curious. My camper is a modified ATC shell model- shorter and narrower than a normal Bobcat. It has a furnace and propane tank and two small storage boxes built out of plywood (you can see the details here). I have a Dometic CF50 fridge bolted in under the cab-forward window. I have a 10 gal. Frontrunner footwell water tank that was empty. I was carrying 2 gallons of water in the camper. At the time of weighing, the camper was fully loaded with 200 lbs of food, gear and clothing, the dog was in the truck but no people. The gas tank was 5 gallons shy of full. I have D-rated tires that I figure add about 50 pounds total over OEM tires and an extra battery that adds another 50 lbs.

Here are the results:

Axle	Actual	Toyota Spec	Difference
Front	2560 lbs	GAWR 2755 lbs	195 lbs under limit
Rear	2920	GAWR 3110	190 under
Total	5480	GVWR 5350	130 over

I figure adding two people (350 lbs ), 8 more gallons of water (64 lbs) and 5 gallons of gas (30 lbs) would put me at an additional 444 lbs for a total fully loaded weight of 5924 lbs (ignoring the two empty fuel cans hanging on the back). This is 574 lbs over the GVWR, or 10.7% high.:Wow1: I was surprised since my camper is bare bones. We carry pretty minimal gear. I don't know how I would get the weight down to the GVWR. At least we are close to the individual axle ratings. The truck handles fine and doesn't seem overloaded. There is still capacity in the stock suspension with the TSB rear springs. Braking, acceleration and cornering are all good.

 

[Jeep]

Nice CRD Grand!

This is a cool thread. It is shocking how quickly a vehicle can exceed GVW. A Jeep Wrangler in particular, which has only a 1,050 payload. Two occupants, a front bumper/winch and a little gear and you are there. By contrast, by 1995 Discovery has a 1,600 lb payload. The VDJ78s can carry a metric ton!

Very much so. It is a good indicator of how much the vehicles we drive cannot carry. Considering what we see on out local highways, 3/4 ton trucks with 38' trailers and a 2nd trailer in tow with a couple of sxs's or quads, or a boat a lot of times being pulled by a largely inexperienced driver. I see quite a few wrecks every year, I don't wonder why.

 

[NC_IslandRunner]

My 04 TrailBlazer gvwr- 5750 lbs loaded to camp/wheel with me and a full tank of gas is 5700 lbs.

 

[Chris Cordes]

Hmmm only time I weighed my truck I was at 6080 pounds i believe. That was with full gear a German shepherd UCP/ ARB bumper winch roof tent etc. After that I took off almost all the extra stuff and built a trailer and I'm happily lean and under Max weight

 

[wADVr]

My XJ lists the GVWR at 4850lbs. Have rolled the scale with 2 adults and gear for a winter weekend at 4400lbs.

Said XJ was equipped with 33s, winch bumper, winch, sliders and spares, tools etc.

Have been in a lot heavier XJs though, over 5400 for a weeklong rubicon vacation.

 

[mkitchen]

Geez, nice going Lance!

It's bad enough that I know that I am overweight, now you want me to find out if either of my trucks are fat too! What the heck you trying to do, totally ruin my life. Next, someone is going to have me weighing my bicycles and having me upgrade to carbon fiber.

Nope, no siree, just ain't going to do it. I am staying away from the scales. Me and my trucks, so just stop causing all this fuss.

Mikey (or if Lance has his way, it will be Chubby Mikey and his fat trucks)

 

[1leglance]

Hey Mikey you can just called me Jenny "Overlander" Craig
I have owned rigs that top 11,000 lbs and were 10ft tall so I know about the big boy world!

But I have also seen the suspension & drivetrain damage, increased tire wear, harsh ride and more that come from overweight rigs. I figure it is way easier to shrink our scale slips than waistlines

The tough part for me is packing less, and building less on to my rig. But in the end it is fun to know I am running lighter in my old iron than a new LR4

 

[Ozrockrat]

Not wanting to start WW3 here but a lot of the problems are caused by the way "TRUCKS" in the USA are really cars with a bed on the back. Take the example of a Hilux versus a Tacoma. Tacoma payload 1350 lbs Hilux 2300 lbs (1040 kg) both single cab well back.

 

[locrwln]

Not wanting to start WW3 here but a lot of the problems are caused by the way "TRUCKS" in the USA are really cars with a bed on the back. Take the example of a Hilux versus a Tacoma. Tacoma payload 1350 lbs Hilux 2300 lbs (1040 kg) both single cab well back.

Excluding your example, do you have any more?? I wouldn't consider a Tacoma vs. Hilux to be representative of other trucks in the USA. Pretty much any modern full-size truck from any of the makers is far from being a "car with a bed on the back." Even the "1/2ton" models exceed the GVWR's of 3/4t from just a few years ago. Again, both my ford f350 and my current 2500hd were GVWR rated on the tire ratings, whereas the rear axles (GAWR) are rated at 10-11k respectively. And the front axles were (GAWR) rated in the 6k range. Seems pretty stout to me and very un-car like...

Jack

 

[stioc]

Haven't weighed it but here are my approx calcs.

Curb weight 4300lbs
Gvwr 5300lbs
Payload 1000lbs

Two adults, one kid, one dog 400lbs
8 gals of water 65lbs
Camping stuff, food, etc 200lbs
Roof rack 60lbs
Rock Sliders 80lbs
Added rolling weight from Duratrecs 40lbs

Approx 900lbs total. So still within the original payload specs and with the upgraded suspension i probably have a few extra lbs I can add. Also with 250hp/265tq (stock) power hasn't been an issue. So far so good but as a minimalist I try to travel light.

 

[Jeep]

Excluding your example, do you have any more?? I wouldn't consider a Tacoma vs. Hilux to be representative of other trucks in the USA. Pretty much any modern full-size truck from any of the makers is far from being a "car with a bed on the back." Even the "1/2ton" models exceed the GVWR's of 3/4t from just a few years ago. Again, both my ford f350 and my current 2500hd were GVWR rated on the tire ratings, whereas the rear axles (GAWR) are rated at 10-11k respectively. And the front axles were (GAWR) rated in the 6k range. Seems pretty stout to me and very un-car like...

Jack

There are some points of merit on both sides, 3/4 ton and up are stout trucks. We have a lot of high capacity rated 1/2 tons exactly as you state with more capacity than some of the earlier 3/4 tons but that is where I think some clever marketing is more at play. We have several trailers, but one of our trailers tows incredibly well, it's a 20' Haulmark enclosed with 6000 lb axles. This trailer has been towed by several vehicles we or our employees own, the load is either 4-6 motorcycles, a jeep, or a roadster and this is what we have discovered:

2004 Dodge 2500-don't even know this thing is behind you, Cummins engine fuel economy drops minimally.
2006 F-250-same as above, tows great, V-10 fuel economy drops minimally as well (bad to start with, doesn't get much worse with load)
2012 F-150-Tows ok but you don't feel planted on the road, ruts or wind move the back end around, fuel economy drops to single digit.
2011 Raptor-Better than the F-150 for towing, fuel economy drops the same.
2008 Tahoe-almost scary, good power but sway bars are absolutely mandatory and that was with the trailer empty.
2012 Dode 1500-Hemi, tons of power, towing characteristics were between the F-150 and the Tahoe, sway bars mandatory.

That leads me to lean towards the 1/2 tons being over rated, the 3/4 ton and up on par with stout. You jest need a bigger truck for bigger loads.

 

[Ozrockrat]

Excluding your example, do you have any more?? I wouldn't consider a Tacoma vs. Hilux to be representative of other trucks in the USA. Pretty much any modern full-size truck from any of the makers is far from being a "car with a bed on the back." Even the "1/2ton" models exceed the GVWR's of 3/4t from just a few years ago. Again, both my ford f350 and my current 2500hd were GVWR rated on the tire ratings, whereas the rear axles (GAWR) are rated at 10-11k respectively. And the front axles were (GAWR) rated in the 6k range. Seems pretty stout to me and very un-car like...

Jack

Again no WW3. The current hilux 2.5 liter gas dual cab has the same payload as a dual cab F250 (no where near as comfortable). I am basing my comments on both the rated capacity and my experience in managing fleets on mine sites around the world. There is a good reason why we ran landcruisers and hiluxes instead of the cheaper US domestic trucks. We could not get good reliable service life out of the US domestic trucks. In fact we tested the HUMVEEs left over from the 1st gulf war and they did not survive either (but I am sure the guys well and truly tested them beyond normal use).

As for my "car like" comment: Ford use basically the same chassis/cab from for some of their trucks and SUV's (Excursion/F150). The truck cab size and comfort level either exceeds or is on par with most cars. The ride comfort is the same. Compare this to a hilux or landcruiser and you don't get car like comfort or ride. Give me the choice between a US domestic truck and a landcruiser trayback for a trip of over 50 miles and I will pick the US product anytime. Make that a few hundred miles of bush track carrying all my camping and work gear and I will take the cruiser.

Now here is a photo of my personal cruiser. 5500lb payload with a 4.2 liter gas engine. 200 liter fuel capacity and it needs every bit of it

 

[Wallache]

Great, all we need is to someone to complain about the lack of small displacement diesels available in the US, and we'll have a complete thread derailment, ExPo style.

 

[SSF556]

Great, all we need is to someone to complain about the lack of small displacement diesels available in the US, and we'll have a complete thread derailment, ExPo style.

I would complain but since I have a small displacement diesel in my Grand Cherokee I will step aside

: )


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[stioc]

Guys take the build quality and tonnage discussions to a different thread please. Let's compare the typical payloads of the expo trucks