I think I MAY have exceeded the payload

[svt_gEEk]

As the title states...think I may have exceeded the payload on my 2000Ranger 4x4 4.0L this weekend. Didn't think about the weight of the landscaping blocks I was picking up at Lowe's for a weekend project and ordered 105 of them (which is what I needed by my calculations). I didn't think about the weight until it was too late. When the guy on the forklift placed the pallet in the bed, the truck just completely bottomed out. By then it was too late so I just put on my hazards and drove home at a very slow speed. The motor and tranny had no problem pulling the weight, but you could tell the suspension had been totally eliminated from the equation, lucky I didn't have a blowout I guess. By my calculations, I hauled somewhere between 2,500 - 2750 lbs not including me and my wife. No need to yell at me, I know it was dumb. Probably takes the cake by a longshot of the dumbest things I've ever done in a vehicle. Made it home fine though and drove it in to work today (without the weight today of course).

I do have a question though, what did I damage, lol. I probably should check the mounts for the leaf springs and shocks and have the wheel bearings checked out...coming up on 100k miles and was going to check/replace those anyway.

[--weezl--]

is it sagging? could have broken a leaf spring, or blown a shock... other than that i can't see too much damage happening...

if your hangers were damaged, you would most likely know right quick, and wouldn't have been able to drive anywhere... and your bearings, if they are still quiet, i wouldn't worry too much about them...

[svt_gEEk]

No sagging that I can tell, so maybe I didn't do any damage. If that's the case, these Rangers are champs.

[strvger]

it appears the Ranger Gods have smiled down upon you.

welcome to TRS.

.

[Surrey]

hahah nice...
My dad used to haul full yards of dirt in his Dodge dakota, it always did fine. (In fact, it did better than the F150 he replaced it with)

I would crawl under there and make sure there are no stress marks on your hangers, but otherwise you probably got away okay...
Your rear axle is rated at 2750 lbs, according to the tech library.

[bilzy7]

Lol funny guy in fork lift never bothered to be like are you serious? He was probably like I wanna see this.

[Surrey]

Originally Posted by bilzy7

Lol funny guy in fork lift never bothered to be like are you serious? He was probably like I wanna see this.

Hes probably seen way crazier than that...

[Cheaplabor]

I’m surprised they loaded it for you they gave me a hassle when I picked up a skid of quickcrete they wouldn’t put it on until I assured them we were loading half of it on another truck and didn’t want to block the pick up area when we did it. Funny part is if I said I had helper springs they would have been fine with it. You didn’t hurt your truck I’ve seen worse done to them with out problems. Our trucks are under rated by allot for how they are built. When I was in Japan in amazed me what they would put on there mini trucks with 12in wheels. I have seen small excavators loaded in the bed of there 1 ton trucks. In Europe its not abnormal to see mini cars pull trailers that would push a rangers limits.

[bilzy7]

Didn't notice the photo, welltgodyou didn't Max out your tire size, looks like you kept it at 245 size barely clearing.

[Tractorman]

The pallet fit in the back of the truck? I never have enough space between the wheel wells.

[TheTopher]

Originally Posted by Tractorman

The pallet fit in the back of the truck? I never have enough space between the wheel wells.

Depends on the pallet size. The 4ft pallets that mulch comes on won't fit in the back, but a lot of the block pallets are smaller and won't have a problem with it.

I used to work in the garden department at a lowes, I saw people do some craaaazy things.

This one Indian guy came in to the store with a sheet of exactly how many blocks he needed, they were the ones that were a hexagon with a square on one end. Anyway he loaded them one by one off a pallet onto a 4x8 flatcart and had it stacked about 3 feet high. He had to ask me to help him push it to the register because he couldn't get it up the 5 degree incline out of the garden section on his own. I offered to help him unload them but he said he was fine. He loaded those blocks all across the backseat, inside the passenger footwell and on the passenger seat, he could barely see out the windows when he was done. When he hit a bump the whole car moved with the road, because the suspension had no travel left.


I saw a lady do the same thing with a Celica, but with considerably less blocks.

But look on the bright side, at least you're not this guy.

[mp3deviant721]

Pssh. That's nothing. I've seen people with 2wd regular cabs and 2.3s do that amount of weight in their trucks. It it ain't making funny sounds or is sitting funny, you're fine.