bdierks

So I hauled a load of rock in my 1978 f250 for the first time today. I was really quite surprised at how Un-beastly it handled it. I was thinking it would do it know problem. But it sagged the back end quite a lot. In doing so, it lifted the front which made it handle pretty sketchy on the drive home. Granted. It was a yard of pea gravel. And the front end is probably fairly light being its only a 300 six. But is there anything I can do to help this issue??

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

It's a 3/4 ton truck. I think a generous yard of pea gravel probably weighs way more than that.
You can beef your suspension to take more weight, but you don't really want to be overloading your rear axle bearings because that's way more expensive than 2 trips.

Half ton

I have an 82 4x4 f-150 1/2 ton beefed up suspension. I hauled a bunk of 6"x6"x6 foot long approx 25 each and it weights approx 1800 pounds and my 82 did fine although i would not doo that every day however.

1967 Tempest

I went to the dump and used the scales and dumped 1200lbs of wood debris from log splitting. No issue at all. I know that I have hauled more than that and my truck is a 300 6 as well.

Weight is weght no matter what you are hauling. THat said if I am hauling firewood rounds, I try to get the heavy stuff near the cab. Evens the weight over the truck.

What tires do you have on said F250?

Matthew Burr

i got an 86 f150 300, i have the helper springs in back so it doesnt bottom out like what you described, but i used it to haul a total of 12 yards of gravel/sand into my back yard over the course of 3 weekends (1 yard at a time). other than making sure i had plenty of time to stop, the get up and go was a little slower, but i think it actually road pretty darn smooth =) i have 31x10.5 tires on it, and stock otherwise.

i've had people tell me that the 300's cant haul big loads, but i've had my rig go up hills better than v8's both with loads.

1967 Tempest

Hell yeah!! The 300 is a torque beast!!! You could get it in an F350! YeAh up a hill it's a tad slower.
I agree if actually rides better with a load!!

Going to get like 8-10 yard of mulch today in it. Should take 3-4 trips.

I don't have helpers, but do have 1900lb leafs in the back. If I can I'll try to take a vid.

bdierks

Yeah when hauled that pea gravel. The front end was so light that it felt like it was about to veer off the road at any second. The tires I have are old and probably need replaced. Not even sure what they are at the moment. They're whatever my grandpa had put on probably 15 years ago or more. So can someone link me to a site that sells the beefier springs? That sounds like something I could use. Or maybe the helper springs.

1967 Tempest

Full bed of mulch. New springs and shocks in front and 6 month old leafs and shocks in rear. Toyo Open Country AT2's 30x9.5R15 in front 31x10.5R15 in the back. Up a hill today with mulch the truck does accelerate a hair slower. I just got an adapter to change over to a 14" air cleaner. Electric fans help. Next upgrade is 87 and up dural exhaust.

Matthew Burr

my rig had the springs when i got it some 18 years ago, i would just head to a junk yard with something that can cut steal quick and easy.

definitely get new tires on that though if they are that old.

nice rig tempest, whats that right behind the cab on top of the bed though?

1967 Tempest

Bed mounted winch. I use that thing for everything!! Pulling trees down, getting large stuff into bed. Helping peeps out of snow. The best thing ever!!