Payload and overloading of half ton trucks for work

Joined
Jul 14, 2020
Messages
2,026
I've been curious for a while how much weight I'm carrying in my 2005 Silverado 1500 extended cab 4x4. Yesterday I had to pick up a 396lb order of rebar at the local scrap metal facility.

I pulled my truck, loaded with surveying gear (minus all my wood stakes and a couple things I removed to make room for the rebar order) onto the scales that you have to go across when you enter and leave the facility. When I picked up the paperwork from the attendant inside I asked him if I could find out what my truck weighs to see if it's overloaded. He looked at his screen and said it's just over 6400 lbs/ (that's without me in it - roughly another 170 lbs with my winter gear and boots on).

Once I picked up the load and left I checked the weight rating of the truck and it is exactly 6400 lbs (1310 lbs of payload). So I was about 15 pounds over without me in the truck or the load I took back to the office. After doing the math and adding me and the rebar order I was almost 600 lbs over on that drive to the office.

I will attempt to streamline some of the extras in the truck to get it closer to where it needs to be. I'm not really worried, but I thought it was interesting because there are guys on the surveying forum who only use 3/4 tons and then other guys that say they don't understand why we would need anything more than a midsize truck. By my calculations I'm normally driving around at about 6600lbs with me in the truck. Occasionally I have a 150 lb passenger for the day on top of that.

At almost 7000 lbs the truck felt very heavy (similar to driving a loaded cube van which I've done in the past) but the ride quality was extra smooth and handling didn't seem too effected, though I was definitely going around corners slower and braking earlier.
 
You'll get the payload police weighing in on this but IMO you're fine especially since you have the common sense to take it slow. The mfg payload ratings are very conservative for light duty pickups due to rollover risk and driver stupidity. As long as you don't have a "Carolina Squat" the truck will carry the load safely as long as the operator is also safety oriented.

Consider the Honda Odyssey minivan, with an 1800 lb payload - much lighter suspension, but the center of gravity (with 7 people plus the luggage) is probably 2 feet closer to the pavement.
 
I've been curious for a while how much weight I'm carrying in my 2005 Silverado 1500 extended cab 4x4. Yesterday I had to pick up a 396lb order of rebar at the local scrap metal facility.

A 2005 is nearly 20 years old. Modern trucks have gotten a bit better in the GVWR and payload regards.

My 2020 crew cab Silverado 1500 has a 7100 lb GVWR, with 1863 lbs of that available for payload. This is a pretty run-of-the-mill V8 crew cab truck. I'm imagine an extended cab would probably have the same GVWR, with maybe a bit more payload due to less curb weight.

So, in a current 1500, your weights would be within spec.

I looked at a 2021 Sierra 1500 with a max tow package, also a crew cab. GVWR on that truck was 7300 lbs with a 1954 lbs payload.

You even have to be careful with some 2500 trucks when it comes to payload. Diesels weigh a (literal) ton and suck away all the payload. A mega cab Ram 2500 with a Cummins has a payload just about even with a Ram 1500, Ford and GM diesel trucks are a little better, but not much.
 
You'll get the payload police weighing in on this but IMO you're fine especially since you have the common sense to take it slow. The mfg payload ratings are very conservative for light duty pickups due to rollover risk and driver stupidity. As long as you don't have a "Carolina Squat" the truck will carry the load safely as long as the operator is also safety oriented.

Consider the Honda Odyssey minivan, with an 1800 lb payload - much lighter suspension, but the center of gravity (with 7 people plus the luggage) is probably 2 feet closer to the pavement.
The squat wasn't really even noticeable... likely because of the extra leafs. Thanks for your input.
 
600 over & driving safely should work just fine. Get you a pair of airbags or airshocks to level it out a bit if it's sagging bad.
 
I don’t enjoy driving overloaded. It’s too nerve racking for me. Not enjoyable. But if you and the vehicle can handle it, then it’s not a big deal.

Keep in mind with any company vehicle, if you hit someone the lawyers are coming out regardless of the situation. And they’re gonna breakdown and scrutinize every decision made, including driving overloaded. Maybe it matters, maybe it doesn’t. Personal vehicle it’s probably way less relevant. But we live in a litigious society and people will sue over just about anything. Only you can decide your comfort with risk.
 
Last edited:
The max payload is likely calculated with a safety factor of some percentage.
So, in a practical sense if you are within 5% of it and driving safely with equipment in good working order and a recognition of the risk you are probably ok.

But like you and others have pointed out, most people have no concept of this and what's safe.
So, best to be within the weight limits, no exceptions.
 
Thread after thread, post after post on BITOG about how automakers are so cheap, buying from the lowest cost supplier, only engineering for a "lifetime" of 100,000 miles, and putting fuel economy over everything.

That's apparently true for everything except payload.

When it comes to payload, they're overbuilt, very conservatively rated, and capable of handling much more.

The photos of trucks with the slide-in campers that bent in half? Those bent because of frame modification (despite have no confirmation or photos of said modification), not because they were actually over capacity (because payload is rated very conservatively).
 
Thread after thread, post after post on BITOG about how automakers are so cheap, buying from the lowest cost supplier, only engineering for a "lifetime" of 100,000 miles, and putting fuel economy over everything.

That's apparently true for everything except payload.

When it comes to payload, they're overbuilt, very conservatively rated, and capable of handling much more.

The photos of trucks with the slide-in campers that bent in half? Those bent because of frame modification (despite have no confirmation or photos of said modification), not because they were actually over capacity (because payload is rated very conservatively).
The most recent example of this I'm aware of, the Ram was way overloaded due to the owner being misinformed about the vehicles capabilities. He was going off max payload for that model but not his specific vehicle. Very unfortunate for them, but hopefully others learned from it.
My truck specifically has a sticker somewhere forbidding slide in campers (I guess this is normal for half tons).
 
Our survey truck minimum spec is a 3/4 ton truck for exactly the reason you discovered. There is no discussion on whether its OK or not in our organization - the payload exceeds the manufacturer rating, so we go to the next class up to get the needed weight rating.

The sheer amount of stuff, including various pipes and other cast iron goodies meant our survey vehicles were no lightweights... Depending on the duty of the crew, one can outfit a truck that will fall in payload specs, but will not be a jack of all trades all the time type of truck...

And I love the comment about how car companies are cutting corners everywhere except apparently payload on light duty trucks... Way too true!
 
Our survey truck minimum spec is a 3/4 ton truck for exactly the reason you discovered. There is no discussion on whether its OK or not in our organization - the payload exceeds the manufacturer rating, so we go to the next class up to get the needed weight rating.

The sheer amount of stuff, including various pipes and other cast iron goodies meant our survey vehicles were no lightweights... Depending on the duty of the crew, one can outfit a truck that will fall in payload specs, but will not be a jack of all trades all the time type of truck...

And I love the comment about how car companies are cutting corners everywhere except apparently payload on light duty trucks... Way too true!
I'm the one guy at our company who owns his own truck (bought from my boss a few years ago when I had a better paying job offer elsewhere). The mileage I get paid made a huge raise in my pay, though I have to obviously keep putting $ aside for repairs.
Looking at the price of trucks, if I was to buy late model truck, my mileage payments would not cover the cost of the truck. Since I never had a car payment before, that means a lot. If I wanted to go 3/4 ton, it would be a 2003-2007 gmt800 truck. Unfortunately the fuel mileage difference is actually huge. (I borrowed one of these trucks from my friend while he did my cab corners and rocker panels on mine). The 6.0 sure worked better than my 4.8 but at a steady speed it was getting 15 mpg while mine would get 19 mpg at the same speed (using torque pro). That could be an issue for my boss who pays the gas and myself.

So I will be keeping this truck as long as I can still, and just trying to minimize the amount of steel I need to carry through the day.

As far as the comment about cutting corners everywhere except payload....I understand where he's coming from but I think it's off base. The manufacturers don't really care if our company 2018 f150 is off for 2 months getting a new 10 speed transmission at 50k miles (that actually happened to us - the newest truck we owned and only major failure) or if the lifters fail on our 2017 and 2018 Silverado (probably will happen) or the 8 speed fails in the 2017 etc.....those don't have the same type of outcome possible with an issue related to an overloaded truck whether it's 100 lbs under the rating or 100 over. They are going to be conservative with the rating.

Being optimistic with an oil change interval by comparison, won't matter until you've made it out of warranty, so they don't care.
 
One option to consider if/when pulling borderline weight is having just enough fuel in the tank to make the trip (+5% as safety cushion).

You could be saving 6-7lbs of fuel for every gallon not in the tank.
 
You dismiss concerns about payload based on taking life off a transmission. Do you know exactly what the weak link is?

It works great... until it doesn't. My employer chooses not to accept that potential liability and exposure.
 
Picked up a pallet of ceramic tiles at a local Lowes that was put in my half ton Silverado, needless to say the frame was riding on the axle, luckily it was only a quarter mile to my house, put the truck in low and let it idle all the way home, felt every bump and roll in the road.
 
Picked up a pallet of ceramic tiles at a local Lowes that was put in my half ton Silverado, needless to say the frame was riding on the axle, luckily it was only a quarter mile to my house, put the truck in low and let it idle all the way home, felt every bump and roll in the road.
Just like a giant wheelbarrow. How's the truck afterwards?
 
Back
Top