fields_mj
Full Access Member
That's not just the F350s. My F250 is the same way. With an empty bed, my rear end feels every rock on the road. When I bought the truck, me and a buddy hopped up in the bed and were jumping up and down in unison and the suspension hardly budged. I generally stack 500 lbs of hardwood against the tail gate in the winter and I literally can't tell it's there. Doesn't even improve the ride noticeably. I need 750 lbs. bare minimum to notice a change, and it really takes more like 1K to ride half way decent.
I've had 4300 lbs of gravel in mine as checked on a scale prior to payment. She squats a little but not bad. I generally haul my firewood out of the woods a full cord at a time. Normally hickory or oak. My guess is its about 5k per load. Squats but not quite sitting on the axles. Run 55 down the road. Problem isn't hauling it, it's getting the truck to stop when you need it to. When I picked up the load of gravel, they used an old tractor with a bucket to load me. The guy asked how much I wanted and I told him at least 4,000 lbs. He looked at me like I was out of my mind. He said the bucket held about 1K, so he'd give me one bucket at a time and let me check the truck before he dumped another. He dumped the second bucket without much hesitation, but that third bucket he was sitting on brass tacks. He really didn't want to dump the 4th bucket and told me repeatedly that he wouldn't be responsible for any damage. I just shook my head at him and told him to dump the darn thing. The scales had me at 7100# empty and 11400# on the way back to the office. The rear end was down a little, but not bad, and the leaf springs had only collapsed about half way. I wouldn't want to run down the interstate at 70mph cross country that way, but it wasn't the least bit ******* the truck.
For firewood I built a set of bed rails that go up to the top of the cab. About 22" if I remember right. I stack the wood in as I cut it and I fill it level full. That generally leaves about 1" of travel left in the springs before it bottoms out on the axle. Never went across scales that way so I don't know what the actual weight is, but I'd estimate it at just over 5K. This happens 4 to 6 times a year, and I run about 55 to 60 on the way home. It's about 9 miles back to the house. Again, I wouldn't want to run that way all day long, and 60 is probably a little faster than I should be going, but the truck doesn't mind. Once in a while I cut at my folks place with Dad. That's an hour away. I generally donate most of the wood to my BIL and only bring home half to 2/3s of a cord. The roads on the way home get rough, twist and turn a lot, and there are some decent hills on those turns, so I don't want to haul 5K that far in those conditions. Just picked up an equipment trailer to use for the job instead. Need to work on the brakes on it before I use it, and build side rails for it as well, but it will haul 2 cords at a time (10K). I’ve got between 2 ½ and 3 cords of hickory stacked in that woods now that dad and I cut last summer. Between the truck, trailer, and firewood, that will put me around 20K total, thus the need for good trailer brakes
I will likely take a slightly longer route home with that load in order to avoid the rougher roads and some of the twists and turns. Should give the truck a good work out though. It will be interesting to see how the trip goes. At the end of the day, these trucks were made to work. I can't afford multiple vehicles, so mine also serves as my daily driver. Having said that, the reason I'm willing to pay more for fuel, and get less fuel economy while I'm at it (in comparison to a ranger, or a car) is because I NEED a vehicle like this to do the work required to heat my home and feed my family.
Last edited:
