Boulevard

11screw50;

My post is 100% valid unlike your mistaken belief about the 9.75 does not existing in the 5.0.

If you are going too blindly read and follow a door sticker than go ahead but in my opinion you are endangering yourself and all those around you. Obviously you have a different opinion and honestly hope that you are never forced to test it.

I have posted 2 references which clearly show the falsities if not outright lies that the manufacturers are telling in order to sell trucks. Please go back and read them.

11screw50

I think you need to go back and read the articles you linked. Neither of them says the manufacturers are lying. They used to test to whatever they wanted. Now they test to a standard. Is the standard perfect? No but it is a lot better than the wild west that it used to be.

You posted that Nissan is not testing to the standard...and that was true but it is not anymore since the redesigned Titan IS tested to the standard. Manufacturer's do not typically go back and test an existing design and platform to a new standard, they wait until the redesign and do it then. They can (and do) publish numbers that are lower than the testing says they can publish. No harm there, a lower number is not going to hurt anyone.

(and yeah, you got me on the 8.8 vs 9.75 thing with regard to 3.55's. every truck with 3.55's I looked at had the 8.8 but I didn't look at the long bed. Big deal. The 8.8 holds up to the load the test allows so if the 9.75 is rated the same it means nothing...underrating something is fine)...but I never said the 9.75 did not exist in the 5.0.

Will a 1-ton tow 11,000lb better than a half ton? Sure. Will that 1-ton tow the 17,000lb it is rated for better than the half ton tows 11,000? Dunno. Maybe? A dump truck will tow 11,000lb better than an F150 too.

I just don't understand why you think they are lying about the ratings. People do it every single day somewhere and they're fine.

msgtord

The trucktrend article is pretty good . Manufacturers do not build a vehicle, then force feed it to us. It's all about consumer demand. If the people want a vehicle with better fuel mileage, the manufacturer will try to satisfy that need. If the demand is for more towing and payload, that will be provided if possible.

Every manufacturer will provide a preproduction vehicle, or test mule to various work groups for real life testing. The vehicles are usually loaded down with sensors at all critical points of the vehicle. After a set amount of time and miles, the vehicles are returned for a data dump.

Every manufacturer also conducts durability testing of all vehicles. A sedan will be tested with and without a full load that exceeds the estimated gvwr of that vehicle. A pickup will spend the majority of its test life either overloaded on payload, or towing weight. During this testing data is obtained and analyzed almost daily. Some of these vehicles may be operated 20 hours a day, 7 days a week for months.

The numbers that are in your owners manual are based on real world testing, by the manufacturer and consumers alike. I don't know who has the final say in the published numbers, but I'm confident in my trucks ability to be able to get my travel trailer up a 15 mile long, 6% grade during the 110 degree heat of an Arizona summer.

I've watched the testing at the Yucca test facility, and observed and smelled the overheated test vehicle as it neared the top of the hill on hwy 68 east bound to Kingman.

I worked as a test driver for another manufacturer and came to appreciate just how much work goes into the building of these vehicles. The amount of money and time invested before production is mind boggling.

So you may be more comfortable pulling a load with a F450; but if the owners manual states the F150 when properly equipped can pull the same load; I'm ok with that. These trucks get tested daily by people that use these trucks to make a living. The landscaper, the farmer, the construction worker, and the soccer Mom (or in our case, we are softball grandparents) all provide input into the design and capabilities of these vehicles.

Just my $.02.