Originally Posted by swimmarz

I happened to do a good write up on this for a FB group,
The back story a woman with a dodge 1500 had put a golf cart in the bed and was asking it it looked safe, she had the tailgate closed with the frame of the golf cart hanging on the top and the wheels were behind the tailgate blocking the tail lights, she was going to put her family of 4 in the truck and then hook up a 20 ft camper and drive from TN to FL.... here was my response to her as she has no clue what payload is and how that plays with towing capactiy.... to make it short and sweet, pay attention to payload not towing capacity


Id like to offer education/ advice for towing as there were lots of information being discussed, some of it wrong/ dangerous
Admins remove if needed but i think its educational and will keep us all happy and safe campers
( steps up to the lecture podium)

payload is the limit of the truck, not the towing capacity

the way that towing capacity is calculated plays hand in hand with payload

For example dodge sets towing based on a 300 lb driver and the max tongue weight for the vehicle to be used with that driver.Ford uses 150 lb driver if i am not mistaken
in our example the truck has a payload of 1190 with a max tow rating of 9260
so we take payload of 1190 and subtract the driver weight of 300, we now have a total of 890 lbs
Typical trailer tongue weight is 10%- 12%
9260 X10%= 926 and thats really close to the 890 we have remaining once we factor in the 300 lb driver ( dodge uses 9.6%)

so now that we know the max lets work from there in a real world environment... we will use me as the driver, and my 2516G pop up as the trailer we will use my wife and kids and gear as the typical load out
Me= 240
wife and 2 kids = 180 ( see what i did there)
Trailer Tongue weight = 330
car seats= 30
towing and recovery gear = 50
cooler #1= 40
cooler #2= 50
bag #1=30
bag#2=30
bag #3=30
Total weight on truck... AKA PAYLOAD 240+180+330+30+50+40+50+30+30+30=1010lb

now our dodge has a payload of 1190 and were at 1010 so were under payload by 180 lbs now the kids want to bring their bikes 20 lbs each for the kids and 35 lbs each for the adults
20+20+35+35=110
so the bikes can come as 1010+110=1120 leaving us 70 lbs left on payload... sorry parker puppy( 85 lb golden) you cant come with us.
keep in mind this is with a small pop up trailer, many of us have Tongue weights that are greater than 500 lbs

I can personally speak with knowledge on Ford F150's as i have one, its not easy to increase the payload on it because Ford uses 3 differnt frames in the F150
LD, HD and HPP... mine is an HD
but is more than just the frame that increases the capacity of the truck, its the system as a whole.
For me to get more payload out of my truck, currently at 1440, I would need to swap my 8.8 rear end for the 9.75 as that axle can hold more weight, I then need new springs as they can hold more weight, and then would need new rims and tires as they too can hold more weight.

I know this info seems like a lot, but i found this out after i got my truck, a $750 option at the factory would take my payload from 1448 to over 1900 lbs
to do the same after the fact is almost $5000 when you count parts and labor, parts alone are $3500+ and i still cant change the payload sticker as its didn't come from the factory that way
Adding airbags does not increase capacity of your truck, it levels the load, to increase capacity you have to make big changes, expensive changes and in most cases is better to buy a new truck, reason being is when an issue does arise, your payload sticker on the door tells the cop's all they need to know, regardless of what upgrades you tell them the truck has that sticker is what they will use
thank you for your time
(puts on flame retardant suite and steps away from podium)

Originally Posted by todd92

Put the gear in the trailer, not in the bed. Gear in the trailer recovers 90% of your payload capacity. Even a pop-up has plenty of space for bags and coolers.

Originally Posted by Ohsix

What parts of Max Tow Package increase Payload?
Are the springs stronger?

Originally Posted by TXTad

None. That's my fundamental problem. Selling a truck with a theoretical 12,000-ish# towing capability that only has 1,788# cargo defies any sort of logic that I'm familiar with.

I'm fairly sure that I'm going to be within the numbers, but, just barely. Very barely.

Originally Posted by TXTad

None. That's my fundamental problem. Selling a truck with a theoretical 12,000-ish# towing capability that only has 1,788# cargo defies any sort of logic that I'm familiar with.

I'm fairly sure that I'm going to be within the numbers, but, just barely. Very barely.

Originally Posted by ecotow

No, it's called buy what you need and a do a little research ahead of time. If you need the heavy duty payload package make sure you get it then. Otherwise, go with a 250/350. Too many people on this forum buying the wrong truck then complaining about it afterward.

Originally Posted by TXTad

No doubt. I thought I had researched adequately, but was also limited to what is actually available. My dad told me over 30 years ago that the folks who order trucks for dealer inventory don't know what they're doing. The situation is unchanged.

Originally Posted by ecotow

I had a hard time finding max tow. Most were regular tow with a sunroof. Too many people buying trucks who use them as cars. That is why they make Limited's and Platinum's and you have to order the heavy duty payload packages. The consumer drives the market and many don't need a hitch or a bed but think trucks are cool.

I do like to drive mine over my car but I use it as a truck because I have a horse farm. I tow 4 different trailers up to 10k lbs.