A great reminder that sometimes we can get bad information on the net, and sometimes it can even get you hurt.
Mooney, The only component that they are over on is the tires,not the axle,not the brakes. The DOT legal GVW on a similiar truck that we run is 13680lbs and GCWR is at 33000. This is a commercially liscenced truck. The factory sticker is useless, as others have said. The actual weight police at the scales/DOT are the only legal authority....not you and not me
Wayward & David are right. The axle in the 99-05 F250/350 is the same beast, with a SRW/DRW rating of 9900 lbs. Only difference was the rear axle block. You have the heaviest front available - must have the snow-plow prep package, which also got you a bigger alternator & different fan clutch.
I've had almost 8000 lbs of truck, camper, and tongue weight on that rear axle. Hauled 4+ yards of 3/4"- once that felt heavier (and lower) than the camper, but didn't weigh it.
I would be EXTREMELY worried about your tires. If you don't want to go down the 19.5" road, look at the heaviest load range E tires available - doesn't BFG make some 285R17's with almost 3800 lbs each? That said, I really like our 265/19'5's.
WITH THE PROPER GEAR, you should be able to make it work.
* This post was
edited 08/06/08 04:32pm by Hawthorne *
2004 Ford SRW 6.0 PSD, Gauges, Ranchos, Airbags w/ Cab Controler, 4400lb Rear Springs, Torklift Superhitch & TieDowns,
19.5” Visions w/ 265 Hankook DH01's
2003 Lance 1030, Air, Gen, Etc.
FWIW - in 1994 we went to a Lance dealer with a 1978 F250 Camper Special. The GVWR on that truck was 7900 and it weighed 5000 empty. The dealer sold us a Lance 990 that weighed 3240 with full tanks. I upgraded the tires and installed airbags and hauled that camper around all over the country with a boat in tow for 15 years. Never had a single problem with the truck.
Now, I'm not giving you advice but that's a true story. I don't think there's any need to completely freak out over your situation.
1994 Lance 990 on 1997 F350 PSD Dually
We also have a 'truck' that FLYS
Our 2008 trip to The Canadian Rockies
Hawthorne wrote: I would be EXTREMELY worried about your tires. If you don't want to go down the 19.5" road, look at the heaviest load range E tires available - doesn't BFG make some 285R17's with almost 3800 lbs each? That said, I really like our 265/19'5's.
WITH THE PROPER GEAR, you should be able to make it work.
I cannot say enough great things about upgrading to 19.5's. I bought Vision wheels and Michelen XDE/MS 24 X70's price was $2400 for my 07 PS SB SRW CC 4x4 Ford 350. I opted to scrap the stock overloads and put in a four leaf overload spring rated at 2500 lbs. We traveled to Yellowstone last month and stopped at a state scale on the way in Oregon. Carrying our Arctic Fox 860 we weighed in at a whopping 12,900 lbs. I had my superhitch stinger on with a bike rack,two mountain bikes and about 24 gallons of fresh water on plus supplies. I was 1400 over GVWR and to be honest I would like to be below the 11,400 GVWR rating. The bottom line is that there is no new short box truck that can haul a camper made for them that has slides period. Unfortunately it is up to the consumer to do their homework and find out this for themselves because the camper dealers are NOT going to tell you this. When I was in the market for a camper to fit in my 06 Dodge 2500 SB CTD 4x4 with air bags installed I went to the Lance and Arctic Fox dealerships and they both told me you will have no problem hauling either of our campers with slides.
I ended up buying a used 05 AF 860 from a private seller and hauled it home with the Dodge and realized it wasn't going to work safely.
Bottom line is this, every manufacture and dealership out there with a short box camper "that has a slide" knows that there is no F*** Way that it can be hauled within any trucks GVWR other than a Ford SB dually.
I upgraded my truck once sold it and took it in the A$$ and there was no way I was going to sell everything to make the numbers work out with a SB dually and a camper.
This is my story and I know that everyone's numbers are different but I just wanted to get information out to people that are in the market for a short box camper, Be Aware.
I found an interesting thread on thedieselstop.com about axle ratings:
From http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/1576092-post11.html
Quote: Ford determines the GAWR needed for that truck, then sends out requests for bids on tires and axles that will meet the requirements. Granted, when deternining the GAWR, the engineers know the weight capacity of various sizes and load range of tires, so they specify a GAWR that can be met with available tires and still meet their design specs.
The axle manufacturers sell Ford an axle that will meet the specs without costing more than the absolute minimum. The Visteon 10.5" and the Dana 80 both are produced in several weight capacities at different cost. Visteon 10.5" and Dana 80 are designs, not specs.
For the 10.5", Visteon produces an axle that will meet the GAWR requirements of the Ford specs. If you believe the 10.5" axle rated 8,450 pounds in an '04 dually gasser is the same specs as the 10.5" axle rated 6,830 pounds in an '04 SRW, you don't understand cost control in the world of manufacturing.
When Visteon plans a run of hundreds of thousands of axles to meet a spec, you can bet they are going to engineer every penny of unnecessary cost out of that axle.
For example, the Visteon 10.5" axle in a 2006 F-250 is rated 6,200 pounds. If you bet it's the same axle as the Visteon 10.5" rated at 7,280 pounds in an F-350 SRW, you'd lose the bet. The axle shaft in the F-250 has 1.50" major diameter and 35 splines. But the axle shaft in the F-350 SRW has 1.57" major diameter and 37 splines.
Does it sound like Ford simply downrated the axle in the Ff-250? Of course not. Visteon engineers determined they could build the axle to meet the F-250 specs cheaper than they could build the one required to meet the F-350 SRW specs. So they did. The result is two different axles, even though both are 2006 10.5" rear axles manufactured by Visteon in the old "Sterling" axle plant that used to be owned and operated by Ford.
And Dana is no different. The Dana 80 comes in several different weight capacities that cost different amounts. Dana will sell the truck manufacturer the one that will meet the design specs at the lowest cost to Dana.
So, it seems that this guy's thoughts lean more to me not having enough truck to do what we want based on the axle ratings.
I am into doing what I can to mod my truck to make it work, but bottom line is, if this info is fact than I will be overloading my rear axle no matter what I do.
Well, reading posts at the TheDieselStop is entertaining, at best.
Quote: If you believe the 10.5" axle rated 8,450 pounds in an '04 dually gasser is the same specs as the 10.5" axle rated 6,830 pounds in an '04 SRW, you don't understand cost control in the world of manufacturing.
He's kind of right. Ford never used the Visteon axle in a DRW configuration. DRW SD's always got a Dana axle. So, of course the splines are different. Read the rest of the DieselStop post, the poster gets refuted.
I have a publication from Visteon that I'm happy to email you. PM me with your address if you wish. I just looked at it, and I did mis-speak. The 10.5" truck axle is good for 9750lbs, not 9900lbs. Sue-me.
If you're uncomfortable, that's the bottom line.
* This post was
edited 08/06/08 05:06pm by Hawthorne *
Hawthorne wrote: Well, reading posts at the TheDieselStop is entertaining, at best.
Quote: If you believe the 10.5" axle rated 8,450 pounds in an '04 dually gasser is the same specs as the 10.5" axle rated 6,830 pounds in an '04 SRW, you don't understand cost control in the world of manufacturing.
He's kind of right. Ford never used the Visteon axle in a DRW configuration. DRW SD's always got a Dana axle. So, of course the splines are different. Read the rest of the DieselStop post, the poster gets refuted.
I have a publication from Visteon that I'm happy to email you. PM me with your address if you wish. I just looked at it, and I did mis-speak. The 10.5" truck axle is good for 9750lbs, not 9900lbs. Sue-me.
If you're uncomfortable, that's the bottom line.
Well, I'm uncomfortable because I'm not educated about this stuff. Now give me a chainsaw on the roof of a house on fire, or gimme a medical box and a guy with congestive heart failure and I can work magic!! But on axle ratings and GVWR's I am a dunce.
But I'm also well aware of how liability works in this country and how sometimes the consumers pay to protect the manufacturers. We have ladders in the fire service capable of holding 10 times the weight our department allows on them. So it doesn't suprise me to have a sticker on the truck saying you can't do something but after a little research you find out you can.
If you say the literature says I can put 9750lbs on the rear axle, then maybe, with some 19.5's. some good tires, and some mods to assist braking (exhaust brake, better trailer brakes and perhaps better truck brakes) Maybe I can make this happen.
In talking with our mechanics here that work for my department with a very large fleet, they were saying that we have SRW F250's and 350's with much more GVWR but the same equipment. The only thing they could think of was the fact that they are commercial vehicles and are being driven by someone with a CDL, which I posess. So maybe some of the GVWR rating also has to do with what kind of drivers these truck manufacturers can anticipate driving their vehicles(?)
None of it will change the sticker, but if I am within the ratings of the manufacturers making the parts I am worried about then I could see being ok with that. I'm sure in addition, that they also rate their products lower than what they can actually handle to build in a safety margin.
But what amazes me is the extremes in opinions on here and elsewhere.
There has been a lot of good information on this thread and I just want to relate what I saw with one Lance dealer. They used a F250 with 19.5" wheels and delivered the largest of Lance's campers all over the place. We bought our camper in S. Calif. and we live up north about 400 miles. Guess what hauled the 1191 (4500lbs empty) to our house? Yep, the F250 and the truck was sitting level, not swaying all over the place etc. It did have a heavy duty sway bar as well. I had contemplated slipping a dually axle under the 3/4 T. I had but a deal showed for a 1 ton I couldn't refuse. For what it's worth.
Offline
