Need help on picking a 3/4 ton

[Deleted member 9101]

@Buliwyf has mentioned it several times.



Do you toss stuff in there with reckless abandon. or are you careful?

Example: can you jack hammer out a concrete driveway, then toss the chunks in there? or do you have to walk over every time and place them down carefully. Asking for a friend...

Well...I have honestly never abused a truck to that extent so I can't say...lol. A front loader drops in the gravel and it has not made a single dent and I have don't it 3 times.

If its that much of a concern, get a rubber bed mat and you don't have to worry.

 

[Explorerinil]

@Buliwyf has mentioned it several times.



Do you toss stuff in there with reckless abandon. or are you careful?

Example: can you jack hammer out a concrete driveway, then toss the chunks in there? or do you have to walk over every time and place them down carefully. Asking for a friend...

My 04 ram, we were throwing concrete pieces in the bed, you could see dents all over the bottom of the bed. I wouldn’t do that to any newer truck, espically one made of aluminum. I could punch a hole in the bed of a ford truck with a piece of concrete... and very easily.

 

[Clutch]

I dont know, but it cannot be worse than the steel sheetmetal on the 2011-2016 trucks

Talk about thin! I feel like if I lean an elbow on it it will leave a dent.

Our old trucks from the 70's...sure they would dent, but it took some effort. We beat the living crap out of those poor things. Not sure the bodies on the new trucks would last as long under such abuse.

Seems like there is this constant push of making the trucks have more power, better payloads and towing. But the bodies are getting pretty fricken weak.

 

[Buliwyf]

How well does the bed hold up to hauling firewood, load of gravel, pallets of tile, etc?

Can you toss logs in there like the trucks of the 50's, 60's, and 70's...and not worry. Or do you have place objects in there like handling a delicate soufflé?

I tossed a sawed up dead tree in mine. 100# chunks of wood. My Rhino liner isn't new looking any more. It has a couple rough spots I'll roll some Kyrlon across. The Rhino liner is at least 1/4" thick, so my bed is a bit tougher than stock. When you pick up a new Ford, I've heard more than a few people recommend going straight to Line-X. But we've been doing that for years anyway. No big deal.

Going through lazy yuppy car washes pressure washes the under side of the truck a bit too much. There's a connector near the spare tire, pack it with dielectric grease if you're too much of a sissy to wash your own truck. If you don't, your "platinum'' will decide to open up the tailgate at 80mph, while your radio changes stations to distract you, dumping all your cargo on the road (that you should have strapped down)

I don't have any dings, but Murphy's Law + expensive Al or SS bodies + grocery store = ? I don't risk any bad karma, I put my carts away.

 

[Clutch]

Well...I have honestly never abused a truck to that extent so I can't say...lol. A front loader drops in the gravel and it has not made a single dent and I have don't it 3 times.

If its that much of a concern, get a rubber bed mat and you don't have to worry.

So won't last long if you're doing a lot of construction work with it then? I used to work with a landscaper, that had an early 70's GMC...he refused to buy a new truck since you can't toss stuff in the bed without much care. We would toss firewood, concrete, gravel...whatnot in that thing...and it wouldn't even flinch.

Heck, he used to break up bags of ice for the cooler on the corner of the cab...don't think you could do that with the new trucks without denting the hell out of it.

That truck is still going too!

 

[Deleted member 9101]

So won't last long if you're doing a lot of construction work with it then? I used to work with a landscaper, that had an early 70's GMC...he refused to buy a new truck since you can't toss stuff in the bed without much care. We would toss firewood, concrete, gravel...whatnot in that thing...and it wouldn't even flinch.

Heck, he used to break up bags of ice for the cooler on the corner of the cab...don't think you could do that with the new trucks without denting the hell out of it.

That truck is still going too!

Yeah... I have never treated a truck like that nor will I ever. I have had work trucks for many years, and being a responsible adult I take care of them. There is zero reason to toss stuff in the bed with reckless abandon.

Like I said before, no dents from a front end loader dropping gravel into it. Other than that I try not to trash my vehicles.

 

[Explorerinil]

So won't last long if you're doing a lot of construction work with it then? I used to work with a landscaper, that had an early 70's GMC...he refused to buy a new truck since you can't toss stuff in the bed without much care. We would toss firewood, concrete, gravel...whatnot in that thing...and it wouldn't even flinch.

Heck, he used to break up bags of ice for the cooler on the corner of the cab...don't think you could do that with the new trucks without denting the hell out of it.

That truck is still going too!

Square body gm vehicles in my opinion are the best trucks ever made. I spent allot of time around them growing up, they are very solid, easy to work on and run no madder what. My buddies dad had a 79 Chevy that he refused to get rid of, 350, 400 trans, 205 transfer case, 14 bolt rear d60 front... the only thing that killed that truck was fire. It burnt to the ground a couple years ago in his driveway, he couldn’t put the fire out. You could see what looked like a mushroom cloud around his house from a few miles away when that thing was on fire. Those 38 inch groound hog tires had a ton of rubber in them.

 

[Clutch]

There's a connector near the spare tire, pack it with dielectric grease if you're too much of a sissy to wash your own truck.

I use stock pond water and a 5 horse Honda 3" pump, is that ok for washing trucks?

Yeah... I have never treated a truck like that nor will I ever. I have had work trucks for many years, and being a responsible adult I take care of them. There is zero reason to toss stuff in the bed with reckless abandon.

Like I said before, no dents from a front end loader dropping gravel into it. Other than that I try not to trash my vehicles.

We took care of our vehicles mechanically...didn't care too much about the bodies though. Best thing to do is to remove the bed altogether and replace it with a heavy gauge steel flatbed or dump body, that is if you really want to use it for work. Stock beds are rather useless.

 

[Explorerinil]

I use stock pond water and a 5 horse Honda 3" pump, is that ok for washing trucks?



We took care of our vehicles mechanically...didn't care too much about the bodies though. Best thing to do is to remove the bed altogether and replace it with a heavy gauge steel flatbed or dump body, that is if you really want to use it for work. Stock beds are rather useless.

I think you need to look at gov planet for your next vehicle, not the big three!

 

[Deleted member 9101]

We took care of our vehicles mechanically...didn't care too much about the bodies though. Best thing to do is to remove the bed altogether and replace it with a heavy gauge steel flatbed or dump body, that is if you really want to use it for work. Stock beds are rather useless.

Yeah... I didn't write a check for my truck to turn around and best on it and ruin its resale value....lol.

I have done slabs, ICF walls, roofing, and trim work...never once did I feel the need for a flat bed.

 

[Clutch]

Square body gm vehicles in my opinion are the best trucks ever made. I spent allot of time around them growing up, they are very solid, easy to work on and run no madder what. My buddies dad had a 79 Chevy that he refused to get rid of, 350, 400 trans, 205 transfer case, 14 bolt rear d60 front... the only thing that killed that truck was fire. It burnt to the ground a couple years ago in his driveway, he couldn’t put the fire out. You could see what looked like a mushroom cloud around his house from a few miles away when that thing was on fire. Those 38 inch groound hog tires had a ton of rubber in them.

We had mostly Fords, but my grandfather did have a mid 70's Heavy Half Chevy there for couple years. The C70 dump we had was pretty burly too. Would yank around our skidsteers like they weren't even back there.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

I think you need to look at gov planet for your next vehicle, not the big three!

CUCV's are still available.

 

[Clutch]

I think you need to look at gov planet for your next vehicle, not the big three!

Ha ha!

I have been looking at Idaho Motor Pool that is just about 20 minutes up the road from us.

My wife says we need one of these, who am I to argue?

Yeah... I didn't write a check for my truck to turn around and best on it and ruin its resale value....lol.

I have done slabs, ICF walls, roofing, and trim work...never once did I feel the need for a flat bed.

You don't buy a truck for resale value...you buy a truck to use it! Run it into the ground, then rebuild it, and keep on using it! When you finally use it for all it's worth, you haul to the scrap yard and get $300 for it.

We used to sell fake rock (Eldorado Stone IIRC) and do installs. Flatbeds make for loading so much easier, especially side loading with a forklift, can fit more materials too.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Ha ha!

I have been looking at Idaho Motor Pool that is just about 20 minutes up the road from us.

My wife says we need one of these, who am I to argue?

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You don't buy a truck for resale value...you buy a truck to use it! Run it into the ground, then rebuild it, and keep on using it! When you finally use it for all it's worth, you haul to the scrap yard and get $300 for it.

I put 40-50k a year on my work truck... that was paid for by the tax payers of the State of Florida. The last thing I am going to do is "run it into the ground."

Even when I bought my own work trucks, I took care if them. You wouldn't trash your tools or equipment... why trash the truck that hauls them?

 

[Clutch]

I put 40-50k a year on my work truck... that was paid for by the tax payers of the State of Florida. The last thing I am going to do is "run it into the ground."

Even when I bought my own work trucks, I took care if them. You wouldn't trash your tools or equipment... why trash the truck that hauls them?

Is it too much to ask for a vehicle to take some abuse? One thing taking a sledgehammer to a fender, quite another wanting it to withstand some logs, rocks and bricks what-have-you being tossed into the bed without the fear of tearing a hole in the bed. Often you don't have time to be careful, and just need to get the job done.

Shoot, there was this one pool job and my uncle sent my cousin with me to jack hammer out the bottom of a 20X40'. His worthless ass wouldn't do any of the work...I had to jackhammer the whole pool by myself, then toss the chunks of concrete on the deck...then wheel barrow them over a couple hundred feet to the truck...the last thing I need to worry about is if the bed can withstand the impact.