Ramtough

So i went to haul some dirt with and for a friend today. Big bucket made me nervous but the guy was good. (did get some clear coat scratches on the one side though ) Anyhow he put in a bit of dirt that didnt seem that much. got out to check the supension and tires and told him to add some more. Well it was already on the overloads and it went down a bit more pretty quick so i stopped her there. Went back out and over the scale. Heres the results roughly.

with me some normal junk in the truck and a quarter tank of fuel, i was a bit over 7400 the girl said. total load of soil was a measly 1.1tons! so little made my truck squat so much!? Sure enough i checked the wonderful pdf specs i got from here a while back and my trucks payload is only rated for 2040lbs! Weak! I put that much dirt on my little 4x8 trailer rated for 900lbs! ( yeah it bent the axle and heated the tires up so bad one burnt me when i touched the sidewall to check them. live and learn. Oh and i fixed that trailer. only heavy thing it sees is my atv which is about 800-850lbs but i digress)

ANYHOW, i know i have the quad cab. i know its a manual. i know its a diesel. i know its only a single rear wheel 2500. but that just seemed low. especially hearing of people tout 3-4k on their 2500's.

Anyhow i was spazed at first because i only had normal street pressure in there (35psi) but i figures i was going 4 miles so id be ok. anyhow riding in the truck i felt it there. and i mean by the sag. the cummins didnt break a sweat. anyhow just yesterday i was reading here that the 3500s can't carry slide in campers? come on dodge get the act together!

Oh and BTW i think i finally understand what your all talking about with ratings and legality. for instance my truck was 7400 approx. plus 2200lbs of paylaod and i was over the GVWR on the door sticker which reads 9000by 600lbs. however the rear axel is rated for something like 6000 plus so if you say the empty trucks rear weighs 3000 give or take plus 2200 payload, that still gave me an extra 800 give or take. weird.
Anyhow what i dont get is my atv doesnt move the truck at all yet another 5-6 hundred lbs did? would airbags be good if i did this often?
BTW like i said everything was excellent still though. engine brakes, clutch, steering.

i guess im just looking for thoughts and opinions here?

CTD NUT

Well, 1.1 tons is 2200 lbs so if your ATV weighed 800 lbs, you were carrying 1400 lbs more than your ATV weighs - that is a significant difference in weight, IMO.

I have no idea what is meant by saying a 3500 can't carry a slide-in?!?! ....not sure where that info came from.....I have no problems with my slide-in in my 2nd gen 3500 but I do have airbags that replaced the overloads to properly support the slide-in that ways over 3500 lbs.....

As far as a 2500 carrying 3000-4000 lbs, they can't do that safely stock.....I used to put the slide-in on my 2500 and it needed airbags to support the weight plus Rancho 9000's to dampen the increased spring rate that the airbags created.....my 2500 would be undrivable with 4000 lbs in the back without those suspension mods.

P.J

My Brother in Law has a '96 2500 Gasser, swears up and down it has a 4400 lb. payload. Which must mean beacause I have the extra weight of the CTD & another 2' of bed I can carry less? (with waaaay more ft. lbs. though)???????? I've had 2 yards of stone or about 3500lbs in my box, kinda sqwishy ride, but seemed safe to me at highway sppeds?

Hannibal

My 5th wheel has a 1900 lb pin weight. The hitch weighs 140 lbs. My tool chest probably tops 100 lbs. The truck sits level with all the weight on. It sits exactly like my previous duplicate except for the Cummins truck did with the 5th wheel on. (pic in my gallery) I don't think the scale was accurate. Dirt adds up real quick. I put 3300 lbs of elevator test weights in my '03 along with the hitch and tool chest. That didn't bottom it out either.
Did you add your own overloads or are you refering to the thick leaf under the pack?
My next truck will likely be another Cummins powered 2500 with a 6spd and I'll load it up like the previous five. The rear axle rating and tire ratings mean more to me than the taxable payload rating.

1320

I don t get it, I d guess that the springs are worn out or something? Or you have vary different springs then me and others.....

On myb 98 with 190k miles they aree original. I tow a 50 ft enclosed trailer with a pin of 3000 sometimes more. It sits level, if you photochopped the trailer out, you would never know there was a trailer on it. I ve loaded 2.5 tons of rock (barely fits in long box) and yea , ya feel it, but it rode like a caddy. It wasn t even nose up to speak of really. Its a dually 3500 though...I guess the training wheels are good for something.

The funny thing is , I see fords and chevies with what I would consider a non payload with the headlights pointed at the moon.

JohnnyH

2500's dont have overloads, do they

Ramtough

maybe not a true overload per say. but yeah the thickest leaf at the bottom. i think im gonna have to go toss in a bunch of stuff that i know what it weighs to be sure. im mean she was down. springs are 6k like the rest of the truck.the dirt was clumpy a little so it may have been slightly wet but they said it was still just 1.1 tons differnt. Is there a commercial ton versus a regular 2000 lb ton? i know metric tonne but i thought even that was close? i just was surprised to see her go low. i hope it was an inaccurate scale but thats how they make their money so if anything theyd short you a little.

6 2 Carl

I was suprised how much my truck sagged the first time I put a load in my truck. (A quad in the box, and several more on a tandem car trailer). I find that it doesn't take much to move the suspension the first 2-3" but it stiffens up alot after that. I have had 100 imperial gallons of water in my box (3500#) and the truck really didn't sag anymore than the load above.

Some intial sag is the price you have to pay to have a soft riding 1-ton. I don't mind the trade off one bit.

Carl

Fronty Owner

If you want to over load your truck, I have personally seen a Ford F150 loaded with 5000 pounds of rocks. rear suspension was sitting against the bump stops. This truck was used for hauling rocks for about three months and was thrashed. There is a difference between can do and should be done regularly.

I would say puting a ton on a 3/4 ton truck is doing pretty good. If you need to haul more dirt, I would suggest a GMC5500 with a dump bed.

IA_James

I had 3400 lbs of gravel/sand in the box once, was sagging some, but not bad at all. Just the tiniest bit of see-saw going over bumps. Was getting some rock for the drive, and got close to a 1/2 and endloader bucket when the somewhat moist mixture started to come out finally.

Haulin_in_Dixie

the camper package adds the two or three helpers above the spring pack. When they hit the bumpers the rear does not go down any more. That spring package will carry 5000 easy. 35 pounds in the tires??? Must have swayed all over the road. I used 110 for heavy loads with the single wheels. I have never had anything but the stock springs (camper package) on my truck, never needed anything else.

SuperGewl

Haulin, your setup is way different than the 05's, first there is NO camper package and 110lbs in the tires, WOW, you must have put on different wheels on it. On the 3rd gens 75lbs is the max per DC.
I must admit that running a load with 35psi in the tires is just ludacris. It's amazing they didn't pop of the beads.
Ramtough as far as how much as the truck sagged, the tire pressure will effect that also. Adding air bags will NOT increase your load handleing capability but it will help with leveling.
If you want to carry more weight then get a 3500 or larger. Go to the DC web site for the particulars on the LEGAL weight carring ability of the trucks.

Haulin_in_Dixie

NO it was with the stock steel/chrome wheels. You have to use brass valve stems or the stem can blow out. To be honost I did not realize that it was third gen with the 17 wheels. 75 pounds would seriously cut the weight that you could haul. Much of the stability and sidewall strength is from high air pressure in them.

tool

Those 3'rd Gens must be a lot softer sprung then 2'nd gens> But like allready stated I guess a softer ride comes with that.

Not for me though... I'll take my stiff springs and put a load on it thanks.

Most weight I've had was 3800 lbs of 10' sheets of UHMW plastic. all that leverage hanging over the tailgate on my shortbox made the nose a tick higher but the rear suspension wasn't squatting very bad at all. (was just going a few miles)

2,300 lbs of fertilizer placed directly over the rear axle just makes the truck ride nice.

Ramtough

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...threadid=65596

thats about the slide in.
See i was expecting not much movement as you can read on some of these posts above. i have a pic but its just a phone pic. put it in my gallary just now. any how id say the rear dropped 4 or 5 inches and was lower than the front.

As far as i am concerned im not reall worried because thats still more payload than anything else i have right now and it is conviently on the back of my truck and not a trailer. While i know airbags won't increase capacity, they do seem like a good alternative to reduce so much sag. Like i said everything elses on the truck took it fine. As something i may only do only a handful of times a year im not stressing. I just thought from this
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...threadid=65509
and...
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ht=most+weight

so i just thought she would handle it with less sag. My lifted cherokee with national 10 leaf spring pack could probably take 1k with little trouble. I hardly ever saw it squat with 100lbs tounge weight and full of gear and people. (i think it did when i put that ton in the trailer but still not too much.