Nervous about load / pulling

[Fire362]

Thanks guys! Picked up new Imagine. Pulled a couple of long grades doing 3,000 rpm’s and seemed fine. I won’t push it beyond that. With weight distribution hitch pulled great, but will be cautious with winds / big rigs coming around. I respect the lack of weight with only half tone.

[TomPanning]

I normally don't wade into the weight "wars" but am very curious about the quotes line from your post. So, I'd like to ask your professional, informed opinion.

The F350 and F450 pickups purchased by "consumers" both have GVWR of 14,000lbs. This limit is largely due to state registration requirements for vehicles with GVWR over 14,000lbs.

The F450 uses axles with larger capacity, larger brakes, heavier tires, etc. and therefore ends up with a sticker that shows less payload than a similarly equipped F350. (This makes the sticker ratings seem a bit arbitrary to me and is the basis for my question.)

So...two identically loaded Solitudes are hitched to F450 and F350 trucks and head down the interstate. They stop at a weigh station. The weights show the F350 is right at payload but the F450 is over its stickered payload. They continue down the road and are involved in a pile up. You are called to evaluate the claim for both rigs.

1. Is the F450 driver held to a different level of fault because they exceeded payload on the sticker?

2. Do you factor axle ratings or other capabilities of the respective trucks?

3. Does the insurance company continue insuring the F350 driver but decline the F450 driver due to excess payload? This despite the significant "overbuild" of the F450.

These kinds of questions have always perplexed me when I read these kinds of threads. While I would never advocate operating a vehicle in an unsafe manner, it does seem that these stickers have taken on some elements of being arbitrary - or certainly not solely tied to the capabilities of the vehicle.

Thanks in advance for considering the questions.

I can’t answer for the insurance industry, but my guess is that they’re going off of the payload numbers. They’re not going to “second guess” Ford’s calculations. If you complain, I suspect they’d tell you to complain to Ford, since they’re the ones that made seemingly-erroneous calculations (and if the agent is feeling snarky, he might tell you to complain to the person who bought the truck, since the payload sticker was there for you to see). They might also point out that they insured it as a 14k GVWR vehicle; I think some insurers treat higher GVWR vehicles differently (people who use MDTs to tow their RV complain about this).

As far as I know (and I could easily be wrong), Ford is the only manufacturer who plays the GVWR game this blatantly. There are actually two F450s: one that is sold with a pickup bed, and another that is sold as a chassis cab (with nothing but the frame behind the cab). The GVWR is 3000 lbs higher for the chassis cab version!

For all the other truck manufacturers, they only sell a chassis cab for their 4500 trucks, and their GVWR is comparable to Ford’s chassis cab. It’s worth noting that all the major truck manufacturers will sell you a chassis cab version of their 350/3500 truck, but the GVWR doesn’t change between the pickup and the chassis cab. Ford is very clearly playing games with the GVWR for their “consumer” F450 to make registration/insurance easier for people who want a beefier truck than the F350.

Bottom line: if you want the insurance to “recognize” your F450 for what it is, buy the chassis cab version and have a truck bed installed after market. But check what is going to do to your registration and insurance first.

[Harvestmoon]

Bottom line: if you want the insurance to “recognize” your F450 for what it is, buy the chassis cab version and have a truck bed installed after market. But check what is going to do to your registration and insurance first.

This is third hand info so take it for what it's worth. A buddy went to a commercial truck dealer to buy his F450 and was told that Ford did not allow them to mount a standard truck bed on a chassis cab. That is, if the truck was being sold with nothing more than a standard bed then it had to come complete from the factory that way. He did by his F450 from them and yes I believe it was 14,000 GVWR.

[Harvestmoon]

Thanks guys! Picked up new Imagine. Pulled a couple of long grades doing 3,000 rpm’s and seemed fine. I won’t push it beyond that. With weight distribution hitch pulled great, but will be cautious with winds / big rigs coming around. I respect the lack of weight with only half tone.

Congrats on your new Imagine. Suggest once you get loaded up for a trip sometime you visit a CAT scale. It is super easy with the CAT app on your phone. I learned a lot about loading the trailer and adjusting the WDH after passing over the scale a few times. I weight 3 times on each visit: First pass fully hitched, second pass with WDH bars removed, and third pass truck only. This provides the full picture of truck and trailer loading and weight distribution. (If you want to go all out, find a company that will weigh each wheel on an individual scale.) Having done this, I think carefully about everything I put in the camper, how much it weighs and where I'm putting it, including batteries and propane. Enjoy!

[masterdrago]

Spend $1500 on Load Range E tires and a RoadMaster Active Suspension mod.

Ping Sean at ProPride and see if he has any refurb units he'll sell you. I saved about $600 dollars buying a refurb.

My trailer is similar to yours and I'm towing with the previous generation Denali half ton, which has less wheelbase than yours. You'll do fine.

Or get on their FB. There are always used unit for sale at good deals as folks move to 5R's. Often with $2000 savings.