Will these haul 2 tons?

[Slendy97]

Kinda wondering what the upper limit of the rear suspension on these trucks tends to be beyond the placard. My truck has a chevy 5.3/nv4500/np205 and is sitting on f350 super duty axles (I tube flipped the front into a passenger drop) with Hydro boost brakes and power steering (very large disk brakes all around). In reality the only things stock are the frame and springs, my main question is what kind of loads has everyone safely hauled in their trucks and am I out of my mind thinking that the modifications to my truck should have raised my allowable Gvwr? I should also add all it has an aluminum engine, bed, and top so it might weigh slightly less than stock if you ignore the axles. My hope is to pick up a van norman 1r3 milling machine which will weigh between 3500-4000 lbs and not tweak my frame or blow out my springs, trip would be about 50 miles loaded on Alaskan highway which is like normal highway but poorly built and maintained haha!

[brute4c]

I once put 3 yards of granite, wet out of the ground in the bed of a stock M715...they said it was 2850 lbs a yard...i drove home with that about 20 miles but it was light on the steering...went back and got 2 more yards and that drove home fine...

Not exact weight but gives you a good idea i think?

[Kaiserjeeps]

Yikes, that is a lot. Especially on those AK roads. I am wondering if a heavy duty trailer might be easier on the equipment and keep you between the ditches. Regardless, it sounds like a cool tool and best of luck getting it home.

[Barrman]

We had an engineer very active on the site 20 or so years ago who took this question very serious. He figured out that 2500 pounds would lower the rear of a stock truck a little less than an inch. Basically, if you are an inch down you are overloaded.

With that in mind I know I have been way over the supposed max load and the truck went down the road sooooooo smooth too.

I think your biggest concern is going to be the condition and load limits of your tires. I would also suggest using multiple tie down points including the bumper eyes and frame between the cab and bed if possible.

[Slendy97]

Thanks guys, good to know I'm not the only one to consider overloading it haha. Most I've done to date was about 1400 lbs and it rode so nice. My tires are load range F, I checked the other day and I think max load was around 3900lbs per tire and they're pretty new (benefit of the 2008 model axles after ford started getting crazy about gvwr in the f350's). I've also considered putting in some airbag helper springs in. My bed frame rails are 5" aluminum channel located directly above the stock frame so I could build a stout bracket from there straight above the spring perch and that could really help divide the load with the leafs and keep things level. And thats pretty wild Brute, even compared to steel, rock gets heavy FAST!