Payload

Hey all, looking to pickup a pallet of sod this weekend and wondering if I'll be ok to put it in the truck bed.

My truck is a 2015 sport CC 4x4 8spd w/3.92's, 6" BDS lift, 37x13.5x20 Toyo proxy open country r/t's (Plus tune and bolt ons).

I understand max payload is approximately 1,500 lbs
Tires are rated at nearly 2 ton each
Couldn't find any info on BDS lift effect on payload/towing
Pallet of sod weighs 1,500 to 3,000 lbs depending on moisture per google.

Will I be ok to drive this 11 miles home through hilly terrain? My first truck, and the payload seems extremely weak. I've put 1,500 lbs in the back of my 300C several times without issue, even with 22's. I know it's considered too much, but is it 'safe' for this short distance if I take it slow and steady? I know braking power will be severely affected of course. I don't have any doubts in the tranny or hemi. Any concerns with bottoming out the suspension? Not looking to make this a norm, but is there something I could do for better payload rating down the line (other than buy a heavier duty)? Can you put airbags in w/ a lift (not airlift 1000s)?

Companies won't deliver me one pallet of sod... Otherwise I'd go that route...

Big difference between 1500# and 3000#. 1500? Sure, 3000? No way.

Have you thought about renting a Uhaul trailer? I just rented one last weekend for a dump run and it cost $18.95 for the day. You'd probably need a more heavy duty one than I needed but it's still super cheap.

I agree With mtofell 1500 wouldn't be a problem 3000 you would be riding on bump stops. You could also look into renting a home Depot truck alot of them have 3500 flat beds that would work nice. Unfortunately the 1500 isn't anything but a suv with a bed. I think my wife's Pathfinder has just as good payload as my 1500 does.

Agree, 1500 no problem, 3k terrible idea. Also, actual payload should be on the door sticker, don't use the online stuff, it's wrong.

Haha, thanks for the input guys, I know doubling the payload is out of the question. I guess I should ask... Any clue how far I can reasonably push it? 2k? 2.25k? Just keep loading her up with something else and check?

I just loaded 25 bags of Scott's 1.5 cuft of lawnsoil bags and thought I was doing big things at 2k payload since a bag of regular lawn soil @ .75 cuft weighs 40 lbs. Truck didn't even squat... Got home and weighed a bag and it was under 40lbs. Guess with the filler bs Scott's put in, it's a lot less dense. Means I was @ payload of 1k or less. Definitely noticeable driving, not much on the brakes or drivetrain... But felt a bit more bouncy... Makes me wonder what 2k would be like.

Btw, I appreciate people not jumping down my throat @ suggesting to exceed manufacturer specs. Even though I'm new to the truck game, I've done my homework. I guess this post was a bit of a wishful thinking factor, hoping someone would say " hell yeah! With that setup you're good @ x amount!". Appreciate the responses for those bringing me back to reality. I'll probably end up renting a truck from HD... Like I always did when I had my 300... Makes me question why I sold the 300 and got the truck... I could put 1.5k in my trunk, fit 12 ft boards w/ the trunk closed, better 0-60, gas mileage, and gnarly looks when I picked up lumber from Lowe's .

Jwithing said:

Btw, I appreciate people not jumping down my throat @ suggesting to exceed manufacturer specs. Even though I'm new to the truck game, I've done my homework. I guess this post was a bit of a wishful thinking factor, hoping someone would say " hell yeah! With that setup you're good @ x amount!". Appreciate the responses for those bringing me back to reality. I'll probably end up renting a truck from HD... Like I always did when I had my 300... Makes me question why I sold the 300 and got the truck... I could put 1.5k in my trunk, fit 12 ft boards w/ the trunk closed, better 0-60, gas mileage, and gnarly looks when I picked up lumber from Lowe's .

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I don't think you fully understand what payload IS ( no offense ). You're payload is what's available to put in your truck, essentially, what's left over after TRUCK weight versus GVWR weight. In your case, you have very heavy tires, and a heavy lift kit. Your payload is affected not just by what's in the bed, but what's in the truck completely, and / or whatever affects the actual curb weight of the truck, or GVW, in your case, I doubt you even have 500-600 pounds left of payload. If you're running 1500# in that pickup with your mods, you're not just over manufacturer limits, you're likely WAY over.

I'll use mine as an example.

My 2016 crew 4x4 with a 5 7 box has a GVWR of 6900 pounds
My truck weighs 6420 with me in it, that leaves me with 480 pounds of payload

Easy as pie. I guarantee you though, with that lift, and tires, you have nowhere near 1500 pounds.

Going by what you said your truck is, you should have...

1520# of payload, that's if, and ONLY if your truck weighs 5300 pounds, which.. it does not, it simply can't. So if we assume your lift weighs the same as my 6 inch, which it should and we assume that my mud tires at 35" are the same weight as your 37" tires NOT being mud tires, that's an extra 100 pounds per tire. That would mean, you'd have a payload capacity of 450 pounds. you have 3900 pound axles in the front and rear though, so, technically you may be under that rating, but you'd still be over your GVWR and if you were to get in an accident, your insurance could not cover you, you could also be cited. Those things may not happen, obviously, but it's important you understand what payload is, so you can make proper choices in the future.

Oh, and it's also worth noting, others are saying you should get a trailer, I agree, but make sure you know that you have to watch your tongue weight on that too, payload == tongue weight. So whatever your trailer tongue weight is, is additional payload you're using on your truck. Though, 3k pounds won't put you over, tongue weight should , ideally, be between 10-13% of the overall weight of the trailer, I just use 10%, so if it's 3k#, you can assume the tongue weight will be about 300#, again though, that 300# is going against you're payload. So if you load up a trailer with 3k# then try to add more to you're bed.. you can't, tou'd be over, because you're overall available payload would be something like 140# total.

yillbs said:

I don't think you fully understand what payload IS ( no offense ). You're payload is what's available to put in your truck, essentially, what's left over after TRUCK weight versus GVWR weight. In your case, you have very heavy tires, and a heavy lift kit. Your payload is affected not just by what's in the bed, but what's in the truck completely, and / or whatever affects the actual curb weight of the truck, or GVW, in your case, I doubt you even have 500-600 pounds left of payload. If you're running 1500# in that pickup with your mods, you're not just over manufacturer limits, you're likely WAY over.

I'll use mine as an example.

My 2016 crew 4x4 with a 5 7 box has a GVWR of 6900 pounds
My truck weighs 6420 with me in it, that leaves me with 480 pounds of payload

Easy as pie. I guarantee you though, with that lift, and tires, you have nowhere near 1500 pounds.

Going by what you said your truck is, you should have...

1520# of payload, that's if, and ONLY if your truck weighs 5300 pounds, which.. it does not, it simply can't. So if we assume your lift weighs the same as my 6 inch, which it should and we assume that my mud tires at 35" are the same weight as your 37" tires NOT being mud tires, that's an extra 100 pounds per tire. That would mean, you'd have a payload capacity of 450 pounds. you have 3900 pound axles in the front and rear though, so, technically you may be under that rating, but you'd still be over your GVWR and if you were to get in an accident, your insurance could not cover you, you could also be cited. Those things may not happen, obviously, but it's important you understand what payload is, so you can make proper choices in the future.

Oh, and it's also worth noting, others are saying you should get a trailer, I agree, but make sure you know that you have to watch your tongue weight on that too, payload == tongue weight. So whatever your trailer tongue weight is, is additional payload you're using on your truck. Though, 3k pounds won't put you over, tongue weight should , ideally, be between 10-13% of the overall weight of the trailer, I just use 10%, so if it's 3k#, you can assume the tongue weight will be about 300#, again though, that 300# is going against you're payload. So if you load up a trailer with 3k# then try to add more to you're bed.. you can't, tou'd be over, because you're overall available payload would be something like 140# total.

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Thanks for the non-critical breakdown... Didn't realize that even the tires affected the calcs... So my question now... I feel like I'm driving a lifted Civic with my payload capabilities... How do I fix this...

Jwithing said:

Thanks for the non-critical breakdown... Didn't realize that even the tires affected the calcs... So my question now... I feel like I'm driving a lifted Civic with my payload capabilities... How do I fix this...

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lol dude, preaching to the choir, I feel the same way. You can't fix it, you can't increase the GVWR of a truck, period

You have to just decide what's best for you, I tow a 7500# camper with mine, I'm over my GVWR by about 400 pounds, but i'm under my rear axle. I've taken precautions to assist with the weight, but nothing to increase it, as it's simply not possible. I run The best tires I can, I run airbags, and I drive like a granny. That's really all you -can- do. Lifted trucks, in the 1500 class simply are not good for doing anything even remotely close to " Working ". Payload capabilities are already at the most possible optimum conditions. I'd start by going to your local dump, and taking some brush, they will give you a print out of your truck weight before, and after the brush load, once you have the weight AFTER the load is dumped, you can then get an exact number. I laid out what you have for the most part, but I am likely still off by a couple pounds. It's just the annoying world we live in.

And yes, tires, people, pretty much -anything- that adds weight to the overall actual physical weight of the truck goes against your payload. People, pets, water, gas, food, whatever you can think of. If it adds weight, you're losing payload. Pound for pound.

Jwithing said:

Thanks for the non-critical breakdown... Didn't realize that even the tires affected the calcs... So my question now... I feel like I'm driving a lifted Civic with my payload capabilities... How do I fix this...

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You get a different truck.. The ram 1500 is well known for its dismal payload.. While other manufacturers are north of 2K on some of their 1/2 tons and average in the 17 range, the ram is typically in the 13-15 range. There is nothing you can do about it.,, However if you overloaded your 300 that much, then you can just overload the truck as well.. It is just a number and exceeding it slightly for short distances is not going to harm it, however going over by 1500 labs is not recommended.

But in theory, you are driving a 1/2 ton truck.. so anything over 1000 pounds is a bonus!

I have an old ram, and took in 1400lbs of scrap in the back without problems. I had no idea how much we were loading in till after I drove off the scales. My payload is only listed at like 1100 lbs. In the construction business, you see trucks overloaded all the time. I think the payload ratings are more for regulated weights for vehicles, not just how much they can handle. My .02

One time, back in the day, lol, i hauled over 2,000 lbs of sand in my 1989 Chevy Silverado 1500 4x4v that i had installed one ton rear springs on.

So i had some squat, but not terrible. I know i was likely way over my grawr. It was about 3 miles from the plant back to my house and it handled it, but i kept my speeds way down. Braking was not good.

I will never promote exceeding weight ratings, but we all know there is some safety margin built into those numbers.

You could probably haul 2k back to your house, but if your caught overweight or get into an accident and hurt someone, the penalties could be severe. Proceed at your own risk. Running heavy once in a blue moon shouldn't hurt anything on the truck. If you have to do it regularly, buy an HD. Good luck.

According to the Menards website with me in the truck I had 2200-2300lbs payload. I was on the beginning of the bump stops the whole way home ~3 miles or so probably. Like you said Hemi and transmission didn't even care, breaking wasn't bad either I'd say it'd probably brake better than an equivalent weight trailer, felt stable and well mannered (ride was incredibly smooth too lol). Like you said, take it nice and slow, give yourself plenty of space, don't go very fast (I had the luxury of traffic not exceeding 50mph) and you will likely be fine.

That being said I wouldn't have wanted to put any more than that in the truck, especially if I would have needed to do any kind of emergency maneuver.

For comparison I have a 2014 QC 4x4 Express and at the time had stock size tires (1760lb rated I believe), no lift, and 6 speed transmission.

I just hauled 2k worth of dirt in my 2015 non-lifted 4x4 v6 without any problems. It was loaded down pretty good, but no problems with speed or braking. I was about 10 miles from home all highway and kept it at 60 mph. The guy at the place I got the dirt said they load 1/2 tons all the time with that much, but I just had to give a verbal ok. That is the max I would go though. I wouldn't do it regularly, but I got a truck to use it as a truck when needed. Just use your best judgment and hauling 3k is not using good judgment .

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For the record tire weights don't affect payload, they are unsprung weight meaning the truck doesn't have to support them.
If you can find a stretch of days where it doesn't rain load it up and go. Yes you will probably hit the bump stops but 11 miles isn't that much provided you aren't hitting potholes the whole way.
I honestly don't want to know how much tongue weight I had in this picture, I drove it about 8 miles or so and used the jack on the trailer to lift some of the weight off of the truck. Either way it had no lasting effects on the truck in the next 6 months I owned it.

Jwithing said:

Thanks for the non-critical breakdown... Didn't realize that even the tires affected the calcs... So my question now... I feel like I'm driving a lifted Civic with my payload capabilities... How do I fix this...

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Buy a truck with a higher GVWR.

loveracing1988 said:

For the record tire weights don't affect payload, they are unsprung weight meaning the truck doesn't have to support them.
If you can find a stretch of days where it doesn't rain load it up and go. Yes you will probably hit the bump stops but 11 miles isn't that much provided you aren't hitting potholes the whole way.
I honestly don't want to know how much tongue weight I had in this picture, I drove it about 8 miles or so and used the jack on the trailer to lift some of the weight off of the truck. Either way it had no lasting effects on the truck in the next 6 months I owned it.

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Where is your source on this? Because otherwise you're wrong. Anything that adds weight to the truck goes against available payload. Payload is calculated by gvwr minus actual truck weight. Sprung or not it's affecting payload. You may wish to not calculate that, but you'd be wrong.

You have to keep in mind payload isn't real. Payload is a PR number used to tell customers how much they can haul in the bed of the pickup. The manufacturer gets this number by subtracting the actual weight of the truck ( 5300 pounds ~ ) by the GVWR 6900 pounds ~. 5300 pounds changes based on what trim you have, but they are all within a couple hundred pounds of that. If you use the payload charts provided by Ram, you can see that they merely take that curb weight, and subtract it from the GVWR. The GVWR can NOT be gone over, that's your limiting factor man, the GVWR does not factor out tires lol, it factors out nothing, the GVWR is the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, that's as MUCH as the truck can weigh, period. IF you have a 6900 pound GVWR and you weigh 6500 pounds, then you have AVAILABLE to use in weight of 400 pounds, this is basic math, if you don't understand GVWR then you need to do some research, I understand many people go over this number, and I agree, it's logically okay, I even do it. Though, you still have to understand what you're doing, you don't appear to, so before providing additional advice on something that involves safety, then you need to learn about said safety.

yillbs said:

Where is your source on this? Because otherwise you're wrong. Anything that adds weight to the truck goes against available payload. Payload is calculated by gvwr minus actual truck weight. Sprung or not it's affecting payload. You may wish to not calculate that, but you'd be wrong.

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Technically you are correct in how to calculate payload, but in the real world if the weight isn't supported by the suspension it doesn't matter if you have lead tires it has zero affect on your payload capacity.
If you want to get technical about your math though, he has an extra 160 pounds in his 4 tires, not 400.
Id love to know how you manage to get that much weight in your truck essentially empty. My 2500 weighs just shy of 7000 pounds with everything in it and me, and that's a lot more truck than what you have.
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loveracing1988 said:

Technically you are correct in how to calculate payload, but in the real world if the weight isn't supported by the suspension it doesn't matter if you have lead tires it has zero affect on your payload capacity.
If you want to get technical about your math though, he has an extra 160 pounds in his 4 tires, not 400.
Id love to know how you manage to get that much weight in your truck essentially empty. My 2500 weighs just shy of 7000 pounds with everything in it and me, and that's a lot more truck than what you have.
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I did use the wrong phrasing, I was saying his tires weigh about 100 pounds a piece, adding 400 pounds, not actually adding an additional 400 pounds of weight, 160 sounds about right.

Though, as for calculating the made up rating of "payload", I'm not technically right, I am right. That's how payload is calculated, we only even use the word becuase of the PR scheme to get us too. The payload of a truck means -nothing- you have to go by GVWR that's the most your truck is capable of moving weight wise, that's why it's called a WEIGHT rating. IF you go over that, then that's on you. That number isn't something i've made up, that number is from the manufacturer. If he , me, you, or anyone has a GVWR of 6900 pounds, and our truck weighs 6400 pounds, we have a 500 pound limit left, you can call it payload, you can call it snowflake load, doesn't matter, that's how much weight you have left, period.

As for " more truck than me ", that's debatable, but I have that weight because of my tires, people, various nicknacks in my truck, full tank of gas, etc. The suspension components for a 6" lift are pretty heavy, couple hundred pounds, tires are heavy, people are heavy, etc. The only way to determine what your snowflake rating is, is by knowing how much YOUR truck weighs, with yOu in it.

As a side note, led tires would certainly put him over his gvwr, Dodge gives us this number based on lots of things. One of which is the transmission capabilities, and engine capabilities. you have a GVWR and a GVCWR, neither can go over, your springs don't determine your payload, because again, payload isn't real. YOU in your 2500 are different, you have a floating rear axle, things are a bit different for you, you can push it more, better stability, etc, the half ton doesn't get that luxury, going over on payload can seriously damage the bearing here, if that snaps off, the axle is done, that's IMO, the ultimate weight issue. None the less, the GVWR isn't just what sits on the springs, It makes logical sense to think that, but it's false, the engine tranny, axle itself, and rear end all are taken into account. 3.21 gears pushing 100 pound tires, with a 6000 pound piece of metal on top of it, well, it causes some issue eventually, hence the rating limitations.

EDIT : My truck weighs 6300, the scales are dones in 20#'s, I re-viewed my weight chart from the scale, and I had my WD hitch, that's about 90 pounds of extra weight, his truck would not have.

This 6900lb gvwr number that keeps getting thrown around, is that what the manufacturer makes up that the truck is "capable" of hauling, or is that dot regulation weight for a half ton truck?