Is a Pallet of topsoil too heavy?

[jaluhn83]

Exactly. There's some things that may be worth taking a chance on... this is not, because of what I mentioned above. The overloading isn't a problem at all to me... if anything just go slow. Rig can handle it fine. I've done my share of dumb heavy loads and managed to never have any problems.... but this is something where the risk isn't under your control - some idiot does something and now you're plastered under 2 tons of soil..... doesn't matter how slow/cautious/careful you are, you still have the risk, and it's going to be rather painful if anything happens. On the other hand I guess all you're risking is your own health, so just make sure you have good insurance so the rest of us don't have to pay your medical bills...

 

[fsmyth]

True. And the older I get, the less I am willing to risk.

But the fellow's question was about whether the truck could handle it.

 

[freebird01]

ive done that and more in an E-150 (young and dumb)...

I filled a std E150 work van with potting soil, peat moss bags, and lawn fertilizer once till it was almost even with the headrests. it was a very slow 15 mile ride.... one of those rides where you turn the wheel and wait 10 minutes for it to turn just to switch lanes. in hindsight it was stupid and i shouldnt have let the boss give me a bunch of crap till i made only one trip for the load... but the 300/auto did the job.

 

[jayro88]

I appreciate everyone's input. Sounds like I would be fine with it in the back of the van if needed. I was tempted to load it in the back of the van to see how it would do, but I decided to go the trailer route. A friend volunteered his trailer and since it has trailer brakes I figured it would be safer, along with no projectile bags hitting me in the back of the head if I came to an abrupt stop. Trailer + the soils was about 4500lbs. I hardly noticed it was there. Was able to set the cruise and run my DNE2 in high (overdrive) through the small hills we have here. It made me want to buy another couple of pallets and go find some big hills as an experiment.......

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[madpogue]

^^^^ Wise choice; no doubt the suspension would've handled it inside. But if you had needed to panic stop, much better to sling some dirt on the ground than to have to be dug out and buried again....

That is one sharp time capsule of a van.

 

[jayro88]

That is one sharp time capsule of a van.

Thanks. I like it. It fit all my needs (room for the family and can pull a decent trailer) and the price was a lot less than a comparably equipped new model.

Has a couple of small rust spots that I need to take care of, maybe a paint job. Plan on driving it for another 300k-400k miles.

 

[sjwelds]

Van envy.....

 

[freebird01]

if i was back in Ft wayne (working out of town) i would have offered to haul it with my dually...i havent really put it to work since i redid the engine and did the 4x4 swap

 

[jayro88]

if i was back in Ft wayne (working out of town) i would have offered to haul it with my dually...i havent really put it to work since i redid the engine and did the 4x4 swap

Thanks. If I come across anything that I can't handle with the van I will let you know.

I find it humorous that I get all excited whenever I have to hook up a trailer and put the van to work. It is not too often, but every time I am impressed with how well it does........maybe I can find the need for some more soil and a couple of pallets of pavers

 

[jayro88]

The one pallet wasn't enough and I didn't have the trailer any more. Went ahead and loaded another pallet in the van. Though I decided it was worth the extra $$ to get it locally so I only had about 10 miles to get home and would be able to go about 35mph the whole way. Van squatted a bit, but it still was pretty far from hitting any overloads. Didn't notice too much difference in braking, but at slow speeds it probably wouldn't be noticed. The lady driving the fork lift said "Just to warn you this weighs a lot and I have never put one in the back of a van before".
Fit easily and pallet support did its job well.

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Pic showing the rear squat

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[DOE-SST]

I hauled 4000+ lbs around in my 1992 E350, for months at a time. Had three heavy safes loaded in with a forklift, and had to wait for a forklift to become available at the dropoff destination. The van didn't mind at all. The only thing noticeable was a bit slower acceleration from a stop.

I used the upper seatbelt attach points near the roof, and the floor seat anchor points to secure the load.


However,

after several hundred miles and dozens of speed bumps, the safes did bend and stretch the floor a bit, which was surprising because the load was distributed over a fairly wide area, moreso than your pallet of topsoil.

The wide corrugations on the floor aren't the best design for heavy loads, and I added 3/4" thick plywood over them, after filling the depressions with 1/4" plywood to level the floor. Everything was attached with liquid nails and drywall screws.

I've looked at many commercially made partitions, and most of them wouldn't stop anything much over 30 lbs from crushing you in an accident. Most are secured to the body by a few sheet metal screws going into .025 steel sheet.

 

[fsmyth]

. told you.
your van looks almost identical to the one I had, exc. for the panel windows.
and I also added 3/4" plywood to the floor at some point. and 3/8" to walls.
deadened the sound quite a bit. That van was usually loaded with stuff.
My only complaint would be the transmission - quite a few times, I would latch
onto something that it just would not move. Just sat there and revved to
about 2700 rpm and groaned.
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