I just wish the shop manual would be more clear about how much the truck weighs by itself. I understand the need for total weight (including payload), but it seems like a more useful number is the maximum payload weight. Perhaps that figure is in the owner's manual. I wouldn't think a typical truck owner would care how much the thing weighs; rather, he'd be concerned with how much he can haul around. Anyway, thanks all for the input.
It would be impossible for the factory to give an allowable weight you can put in the bed. There are just to many variables that add up and must be subtracted from the max allowable weight for the whole truck. Small variables being how many people in the cab, tools under the seat, spare tire or not, full tank of fuel, grill guard, mud and dirt stuck in the frame.... Big ones being type of bed and size, dump bed or not, winch, PTO...... and on and on.
The final word is what the entire truck weighs while driving down the road, that's what the engineers figure and the truck is designed for.
Grigg
