I am a bit confused, I am looking at Ford's Website and it shows. That when you have the following:
SCrew
4x4
3.5L EB

Then you select the following you will see:
6.5 Bed: Payload: 2650
5.5 Bed: Payload: 2060

I always thought the less weight you had the more payload you could carry and I have read some posts where people said the longer bed has less payload. Does the longer wheel base effect payload?

Also I was looking at the excel document that someone put together here, while I see members trucks w/ 5.5 showing a couple hundred lbs less payload. Though the 6.5' beds had about the same amount of payload as the 5.5, though according to Ford's website it should be a lot more.

Is Ford's website wrong? We would prefer a shorter bed, though 600lbs more payload is good argument to go longer, if it is true.

Thanks in advance!

 

Might be a surface area thing. As in, one square foot of the bed can only withstand so much weight, and the 6.5 bed has more square footage. So it's not a limit of the truck's frame and suspension, but rather the bed itself.


I also don't think that those weights have been accidentally swapped, because if it had to do with GVWR, the extra foot of bed would not add 600 lbs to the frame.

 

I think you can only get the HD payload package with the 6.5' bed. Ford is just showing you the maximum possible payload for each configuration, for the 6.5' bed this include the HD payload package.

 

Okay, so that makes more sense. Thank you, I see how that makes sense, I guess you can't get the 5.5 w/ the HD payload package.

 

No, but you can get the Payload Package with the 5.5 bed on the 2.7EB 4x4 which is 1960lbs (1950 if 2-wheel drive).


Or go with the 3.5 4x4 and 6.5 bed+ HD Package which on 17" wheel is 2420lbs, on 18" wheels is 2650lbs. So it depends on how much you're really going to be hauling.


If you go down to a 2-wheel drive, those number become 2660 and 2890.