A Tree-Hugger Forsakes his Volvo for a Big White Pickup Truck

How much can you haul with what you got?


There’s a whole Ford F150 web forum devoted to this question. I know this because of a recent incident involving 2 tons of pea gravel and the definition of the verb to haul.

I normally interpret hauling as meaning to transport, as with a truck or car or on my back. For example, I managed to haul all that crap down to the beach in just one trip or I hauled those landscaping stones all the way from Greenwood in the back of the Volvo wagon. In truck jargon there is a decided difference between hauling and towing. The hauling capacity of the F150 is only about 1,700 pounds whereas the towing capacity is greater than 6,000 pounds. Who knew? Truck TV commercials don’t get into these sorts of semantics. Hell no. They give you the impression you can haul anything. Ford tough is what they say. So, naturally on Saturday afternoon, I thought nothing of loading two tons of pea gravel into the back of my very own Ford tough pickup.

Well, that was a mistake. The truck sank a good three feet under the weight. It looked strangely like a pimped out low rider, sans purple lights underneath. The tires were squashed and less than five minutes into the drive down to Dewey Beach we heard a loud pop and I just knew it was one of the tires. Breaking down on busy Route One with a two-ton load of pea gravel just wasn’t going to be fun. But, luckily it wasn’t a tire. Maybe, hopefully, it was just a strut or shock absorber. Anyhow, we made it to Dewey Beach without further incident and unloaded it as fast as we could. The truck slowly rose back up.

Afterwards, I went looking around online for more information about hauling capacity, hoping I might also find out what the loud pop was. I didn’t. But I did find this site where guys talk – brag – about their hauling and towing prowess. Here are a couple of exchanges.

TexasKid1: I don't know about the numbers, I can tell you my truck tows a 33 ft 9000lb trailer with a hitch weight of 950lbs. It hauled 1300lbs of cement last weekend 240 miles without sagging the rear end at all. Its hauled gravel, trees, a bunch of other stuff with no problems. I go out in the desert where most people only take 4x4's no problems there either. (2000 F150 SC XLT 5.44-sp auto)

FarmBoy: I've hauled over 2000 pounds worth of retaining wall brick a couple times. Only about 10 miles from the Home Depot so no big issue. I would not recommend any long trips with that weight, but it was fine for me. I've hauled over 1000 pounds several times up to the family cottage. I tow a snowmobile trailer in the winter, but that probably totals out at 2500, not much. Tow the boat to the launch every year...about .5 miles away the boat probably weighs 3000. Most of my trucks tow over 15% of their miles due to my snowmobiling habit. It is not a lot of weight, but can be a challenge in bad weather. My trucks have never let me down. I like my truck to look nice, but it is used for work, not just cause it's cool to drive a truck. (2000 F150 4x4 SC/SB 5.4 Auto, Tow Package, ORP with the sticker for 2000, Cab Steps, Lariet. Oxford White/Harvest Gold 2 tone)

And my favorite.....

Raoul: Hate to put you guys to shame but, don't think this can be topped. I've hauled my wife, her sister and their mother at the same time. Only bottomed out a few times and maintained a steady 40 mph. OD was off and temp gauge never left normal. Towing mirrors would have come in handy though. (99 Lariat Regular Cab 2WD 120"WB 5.4 3.55LS, Tow,Dark Toreador Red/Harvest Gold, Line-X)

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