Impressed~

[Mark_88]

I had to pick up some scrap today and the catch was it was in a barn at the bottom of a winding hill...there is a trail going to the barn and it was fairly solid ground...

So I drive down wondering if my little 4 banger will be able to climb the hill with the weight...600 lbs of fridge and farm implements...

I get it loaded and I can feel it struggling...the run up is a bit level so I can get a good start...but I have to climb a 40* hill then make a sharp left and climb up another slope of about 30* with a bit of a bend in it...

Made it with power to spare...I was so impressed because I didn't know how much weight I actually had on it...the farm implement dropped the truck about 3" so I knew it was close to 400 lbs...when I threw the fridge on top of that I was thinking..."OK, if I get stuck or can't make the incline then I dump the fridge and try again..."

On the way to the scrap yard the truck was bogging quite a bit...lol...and I had to go about 35 Km with the load...mostly level but quite a few hills...when I got on the scales and saw it was 600 lbs I thought "wow"...

But I don't think I will try anything more steep...or with more weight...

 

[straycat]

At least twice a year I drive my 99 4.0 Ranger up steep hills in Mississippi and Tennessee hauling my 17 ft flats boat. Your 4 banger should be able to haul 400-600 lbs easy. No big deal, Bro. My early Toyota 4x4 pickups with the 4 banger and 33x12.5's would go anywhere hauling all our camping gear and spare tires. The 22R is a great motor. I used to take my loaded Toyota trucks to Moab about twice a year from either California or here in Florida when I was in the Navy.

 

[Mark_88]

Yeah, 600 lbs is no biggie...but this wasn't just a steep hill...it was, like, real off roading with potential mud (if I spun the tires), dips (6" holes), rocks (small ones...gravel and a bit bigger), and ferocious wild squirrels...

It was really an A-Friken Safari compared to what I normally do...whew!

 

[straycat]

Yeah, 600 lbs is no biggie...but this wasn't just a steep hill...it was, like, real off roading with potential mud (if I spun the tires), dips (6" holes), rocks (small ones...gravel and a bit bigger), and ferocious wild squirrels...

It was really an A-Friken Safari compared to what I normally do...whew!

LOL...ferocious wild squirrels...haaaaa haaa. That's good, Bro!!! No lions, tigers and bears?...Oh, My!!!

 

[Mark_88]

haha...no, no bears...no lions...no tigers...a few foxes and chickens but not in the same coop...there have been bears in the area lately though...fortunately I haven't ran into any of them...but I might start keeping a jar of honey in the truck just in case...

 

[shane96ranger]

What about any Straycats? See any of those?

Those are pretty mean sometimes.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That reminds me of a Boy Scout trip.

Somebody had the brainy idea it would be fun to go rafting in Arkansas in July. So we went down there to find the river was dried up, the guy in charge of the trip dropped the ball big time. So there way sat around the fire pit at the camp ground trying to come up with something else to do in the 120 degree 3000% humidity... and then the squirrels in the trees started pegging us with nuts. It was a perfect touch.

 

[straycat]

What about any Straycats? See any of those?

Those are pretty mean sometimes.

Haaa..nah. He probably saw my new pups and their mommy waiting to come in from the approaching rain we had recently:

 

[Andy D]

That a grey fox ? We have brown and red up here.

 

[84bluebronco2]

What about any Straycats? See any of those?

Those are pretty mean sometimes.

Rep for a good laugh

 

[tpelle]

I bought my first pickup truck, a 1981 Toyota 4 cylinder 2wd, brand new when my wife and I moved into our house. I had lots of projects and yard work to do, being a new home owner. Anyway, our local volunteer fire department had just constructed a new fire station, and they had a large left-over pile of top soil that they offered for free to anyone that would haul it away.

As I had a low spot in the back yard that i wanted to fill, i jumped at the chance.

So I drive down to the fire station and back up to the dirt pile, and start shoveling it on. I shoveled and shoveled, but i kept looking at the rear leaf springs and the rubber bumper on them, and they never really sagged down too much. I finally quit when i got tired.

Climbed in the truck and tried to pull away from the dirt pile, and the truck wouldn't move. One of the firemen saw me, and it so happened that the fire department had this military surplus weapons carrier that was built on a Jeep Gladiator chassis, only all militarized with a canvas top, military switchgear, etc. He pulled that up to my Toyota, chained it on, and pulled me off of the dirt pile.

It turned out that my rear bumper had grounded out on the dirt pile, so as i shoveled the top soil on the bumper was taking the weight!

So I then started for home, and what a wild ride. The rear mudflaps on that little Toyota were dragging on the ground, and I could feel the front end bouncing literally off the ground! Luckily I didn't have too far to go, and I didn't get out of second gear.

Next day, when I got to work, I went back to the mechanical engineering department and looked up the weight of a cubic foot of "earth" in a materials handbook, which of course is a generic sort of number, and then calculated the cubic foot capacity of the bed - I had it loaded level with the top bed rail. According to those figures I had approximately 5,400 pounds of dirt in that little truck!

I was scared to death I had bent an axle or something, but it soldiered on for 10 more years.

 

[Insanejughead]

TPelle, that gave me a good laugh! I take it that you learned your lesson on loading a bed with dirt.

 

[tpelle]

TPelle, that gave me a good laugh! I take it that you learned your lesson on loading a bed with dirt.

Yep! I learned that these little pickups will haul more than you think they can!

Seriously though, I am a little smarter about how much weight I'm putting in there.

 

[Mark_88]

Wow, 5,400 lbs is impressive...that's more than my truck weighs fully loaded!

I've had to haul gravel for a friend...and as I shoveled I saw the back end drop...since I had to drive it about 70 km to dump I took only enough each time to mound up to the wheel wells and a bit spread out in front...and even with that little bit the 4 banger was doing double duty...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I've had around 2,500 lbs of limestone in the bed of my Ranger before. It handled it ok but the steering was a little on the light side.... Also had a little better than a cubic yard of topsoil in the bed... twice.

Then I got my F-150.... I went to get a half ton of sand for a project... the guy loading at the place I went to didn't feel like jumping off the big loader and using the little one, so he just took a big ol' bucket of sand and started dribbling it in. Got to where I figured it was about a light half ton and I told him to just shake a wee bit more in (the big loader didn't have a bucket scale but the little one did). Guy dribbles a little more in and I said that was good. The guy goes ok... pauses... then says "aww f* it." and flips the bucket down.... I thought the poor truck was just going to blow apart... the rear axle was flattening out the rubber bump stops and the 8' bed was full to the top of the bedsides... Nobody seemed to have a shovel handy either, since it was only like 5 miles to home I gently drove there (talk about nearly no steering!). Truck pulled it just fine but the leaf springs didn't like it one bit... I now have modified F-250 leafs under it, lol.