What is the real payload capacity of our trucks???

Mine yellow sticker says reduced by 5 Lbs, go figure.

 

approx. 1500 lbs, not bottoming out.

I don't do this often, I hate pushing it, but it seems okay to have the low rider look.

 

I believe the yellow sticker indicates the weight of mandatory options; in my case, sliding rear window, door sill protectors, and carpeted floor mats.

 

What did they add that weighed 290 lbs? That is a lot of extra weight.

 

Whats a yard of 1/4 down weigh? This is a cdn leaf pack with an AAL.

 

I've hauled a pallet of 30 bags of cement mix each bag = 80lbs. That's 2400lbs in the bed.... Needless to say it was too much and I sagged like a mofo. Axle didn't snap though . I have an AAL if it matters.

 

Oh boy you’re one of them

 

I had 1680 pounds of steel in the back last week. Headstrong AAL's, and she was a squat'in.

 

The last 1000+ miles I rolled around the American West the Tacoma scaled at 6,200 lbs.

Teton pass->Yellowstone->Paradise Valley->Lookout Pass



Trip previous had an extra 2,000 lbs being tugged behind it.

EDIT: It was also rolling on 10-ply Falken Wildpeak AT3w for the trip with the raft trailer.

 

As someone stated earlier, if you're overloaded you're leaving yourself open for legal and civil trouble. If you're overloaded and have an accident, some if not most insurance companies will not cover you. That's where the civil part kicks in. You could very well be sued and you will lose.

That being said, here my truck with about 900 pounds in the bed. Add me and my daughter and we were at least 1200 pounds.

 

I've heard all kinds of scare scenarios about people being held legally liable for an accident or stopped and cited for being over loaded. What I've never heard, is anyone actually seeing that happen. In 45 years of driving I've never seen a single private vehicle being weighed during a traffic stop. Has anyone? I seriously doubt anything would happen unless the overload was so egregious that the danger was obvious and imminent. I'm talking refrigerators stacked 10 feet high. Every single Tacoma with a Fourwheel camper or any other camper is over the GVWR, and yet these manufacturers market these campers to Tacoma owners routinely. There is a company in Oregon building a small motorhome on Tacomas, and they are getting those legally registered! I have no idea how that happens. You can bet that if any of this scary stuff was real, they would be getting sued too. Then the insurance companies would get involved, and force them to quit selling campers to people with light trucks. The restrictions on commercial vehicles are far more serious, and maybe that is where the confusion is coming from.

The absurdly low GVWR placed on the Gen2 Tacoma (and Tundra for that matter), means that these trucks are routinely over that line. We have 15 years of history now, and there has been no evidence that this fact has led to any predictable failures. Don't get me wrong,...I'm a huge proponent of keeping things light. Being overweight does have consequences. The problem is that Toyota has not given us a proper load rating to use as a real engineering criteria. They have in essence just told us "don't carry anything", so we are left to figure it out ourselves. That is why the internet is full of these "how much can I carry "threads". As a baseline, the Gen 1 Tacomas were rated for 1,630lbs of payload. I see no reason why the Gen 2 can't carry at least that.

 

I run airbags and have hauled over 2000 lbs in the bed on many occasions.

 

I'm not saying that a vehicle of any kind can't handle a load greater than the GVRW or the GCWR. I'm actually quite sure manufacturers do low ball this number, except in the case of the 1 ton torque and payload race currently going on by the big 3.

What I am saying is an insurance company in not in business to lose money. If they can find any possible way to deny a claim they will. Insurance companies are also powerful companies. That said I feel they also suppress negative news as much as possible. Lastly if a person is denied coverage for any reason, guess who's left holding the bag...or bill in this case?

 

I'm doing just fine....thing has been on there for a year now and I live in it full-time. probably 1700-1800 lbs plus whatever the trailer is with my XR650L and gear in the back. I'm on TSB leafs and firestone airbags, no sag. Just leave lots of space in front of me.

 

Moved 2080 lb of crushed rock today. Not bad.

 

This thread is a great practical thread, but I noticed 4 important safety tips missing when running heavy loads:
(1) To avoid a tire blowout, always pump up the tires (especially the rear) to maximum pressure noted on tires. The typically say "..maximum pressure ...cold... at load...", which translates to this is the pressure at which the tire has the maximum load carrying capability (not comfort). The science behind this is as the tires deform while rolling, heat builds up which reduces the strength of the tire. At higher pressures, less deformation = less heating. Going beyond the maximum pressure gives diminishing returns (reducing heat...).
(2) Always front load as much as possible. Every X lbs in front of the rear axle is share proportionally (F+R=Total as a function of location) between the front and rear wheels. Every X lbs behind the rear axle, actually unloads and lifts the front , which cause MORE the X lbs of load on the rear!!! So load on the tailgate is the worst.
(3) Dynamic loads can be much worse, perhaps 2 times the static load. So with very heavy loads go as slow as possible, especially over bumps.
(4) ABS Brakes are absolutely needed, especially towing overloaded!

I've 2-3X overloaded my old truck dozens of times for shorts trips and always did my best to use these tips. I never had any issue, and never had to fix or replace anything mentioned in this thread.

 

Good advice and welcome to TW!

 

My 09 5 lug struggles to pull this. I’m lucky to see 55 hauling it.

 

Nice looking 5 lugger

 

Real nice truck!