Ford F-150 w/Sled Deck is it enough?

[Bear North]

Does the F-150 have enough payload capacity to successfully haul two mountian sleds on a sled deck?

One thing that I would not want is the back of the truck to sag at all.

Moving up to the F-250 is not an option unfortunately due to a parking garage constraint.

Thanks
Steve

 

[chunkysoup]

if ur worried about it get some airbags

 

[rdr99]

No.

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

Does the F-150 have enough payload capacity to successfully haul two mountian sleds on a sled deck?

One thing that I would not want is the back of the truck to sag at all.

Moving up to the F-250 is not an option unfortunately due to a parking garage constraint.

Thanks
Steve

your pushing past it a little as far as payload.. throw airbags under it and take it easy. not the greatest on the truck, but she will handle it.

as far as a 250.. the short wheelbased ones are almost identical overall compared to the 150's... thats enough to make it not fit??

 

[Bear North]

Thanks for the replys.

As for the garage it is a height issue not a length issue.

Not sure and something I should check. Are the 250's and 150' have the same height? I just assumed the 250's are taller.

Thanks

 

[Goinboardin]

my experience

I tried this on a 96' F-150, ext cab short bed. My springs are a little sacked, but it only had about 1/2" between bump stops and axle when loaded (no good). Only hauled two sleds once for 70 miles because I was afraid of what it might do to the axle...

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

whats the heigh limit.. my 00 f250 isnt any taller then the f150s... if it is, only by a hair..
some do sit taller then others, but again, not vastly higher. and if you got the deck on it, your gonna settle down a hair.
whats your peak heigh, i can run outside and measurem ine if your interested.

 

[Bear North]

Sounds like the F-250 is the way to go.

Not sure on the height of the garage but I know it is really tight. My explorer antenna hits the garage cross bar when I pull in. Did see a new F-150 in the garage today so thats good news.

I will check height on my way home.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[wasatchrider]

most people are going to disagree with me on this but it will do fine with air bags. i have a 05 tundra with add a leafs and air bags and it does good with two sleds.

 

[rdr99]

What is the load capacity of the truck, should be on your door jam sticker? Don't know if you venture into BC to ride, the cops/DOT there have been known to write tickets to people with overloaded pickups. An F150 with a deck and two sleds is an easy target.

 

[mattyk82]

'04 F150 super cab 4x4 GVWR is 7200lbs, listed curb weight is 5700lbs. You have a 38**lb limit for the rear axle. I don't know how much weight is on the rear axle to start with but that gives you a few numbers to play with if your worried about legal aspects. I have pulled half way across the country with this truck right at or over GCWR pulling a tag car trailer. I never felt for a minute that I was pushing the limits of stability with the truck loaded like that. I also have a camper that weighs in at 1800lbs I haul. I have thought of going the same route with the sled bed, and would not hesitate to do it, but I am not worried about DOT they are pretty slack here. I am expecting that when loaded with two sleds the truck will squat to the point of being level (factory rake gone). The only reason I could see bags being needed is the fact that you are making the truck EXTREMELY top heavy and stability could be an issue, found this to be true with the camper. Keep in mind though any truck with 1000lbs of fun over the bed rails is going to be top heavy. Case in point I share ownership of camper with my father who installed bags on his F350 7.3PS Crew Cab dually because he felt it was a bit unstable with the camper. It's just going to be felt more with the softer suspension of the 1/2ton, thats why stiffening things up with the bags would help, I did.

Sorry for getting long winded but I thought I would share a perspective from someone who has many many miles on the truck and has used it in most any loaded/unload situation you can put these things through without killing yourself.

 

[94fordguy]

I wouldn't do it if it were me. Can the F-150 haul 1500 lbs of payload? of course it can, but can it haul that weight around the corners of a windy mountain pass with it above the bed rail? I wouldn't be first in line to try... Even my F-350 Super Duty leans in the corners with the sleds on up that high.

My personal opinion - it would be too top heavy to be safe.

 

[rdr99]

Pulling a load and hauling a load are two different things. A quick look at the Ford website shows a F150 can pull approx 7000lbs, but can only haul about 1600lbs(these are numbers for a 2010 model and are just approximates depending on model and package).

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

dont take the corners at 90.... if your gonna be pushing the limits, drive accordingly.

with the deck on my 250 i cant drive like its empty, just common sense. the bags REALLY help with sag and body roll. I am way more comfortable driving with the deck on with them.

you are kinda pushing the edge of the "rated" limit, but IMO you can also easily go past that a little and not hurt anything as long as you drive accordingly, but the superduties are WAY better for this kinda load, not a bad thing to invest in.

 

[AndrettiDog]

Just because the truck will haul the load with the help of airbags doesn't mean it's safe to do so. 1/2 ton trucks have smaller a-arms, tie rods/ball joints, brakes and other key components. They also have semi-floating axles versus the full floating axles of the HD trucks. Just stick to one sled in the back.

 

[Bear North]

F-250 is the way to go

So looking at all these post and all great thoughts its for sure the way to go is the F-250. I do a fair amount of hauling the sleds around in Canada and do not need to deal with their DOT.

Thanks for the input.

 

[winter4ever]

obviously if you have a choice bigger is always better. But I have hauled sleds on my deck for years with my f150. It does perfectly fine regardless of what everyone with the bigger truck tells you... I just take it a little slower, and you definately need airbags.

In my opionion the 1500 lb payload is just rediculiously low. I mean think about it, 5 big guys and a couple bags of gear is close to 1500 lbs... why not just drive a ford focus? they are rated at about the same payload...lol.

I would really like to know where the manufactures come up with these payload numbers. the tires can handle it at 2700 pounds each, the engine is fine because they are in some 1 tons, 4 wheel disk brakes, airbags takes care of the suspension, Ive never had a problem with axels. So where is the weak point?

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

saftey factor/margins. if they say 1500 then 2000 is probably safe. I have an air tank, rate working pressure 150 psi... max psi 300.. burst 800. get the point?? covering there asses is what low payloads is. if you go over and break something, its no there problem, so they just set it way low for the components so there is a MUCH lower risk $$ wise as a company with warranty/injury stuff.

but if you have the option of a superduty, get one, they are WAY nicer to do the same job, they dont flinch at all.. and Im just a fan of the body style over the 150's/

 

[Carbon77]

Are you looking at a brand new F-150? If so isint the payload on those way more than the older ones?

 

[rdr99]

Not really much more, around 1600-1700 lbs, depending upon package.