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A ton of wood pellets in the bed of a 1/2 ton?


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you can do it like others say get it as far forward as possible, side note back in the late 90's i had a 3/4 ton with the old detroit diesel. we lived on a farm and i wanted to put 'Chad gravel in the hallway of the horse barn, wet to the gravel yard and loaded up to my surprise when i got to the scale i had 6400lb of gravel in the bed (long bed) well it got it home but it actually warped 3 of the 4 wheels those steel chevy rims aint cheap 

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2 hours ago, RP53 said:

you can do it like others say get it as far forward as possible, side note back in the late 90's i had a 3/4 ton with the old detroit diesel. we lived on a farm and i wanted to put 'Chad gravel in the hallway of the horse barn, wet to the gravel yard and loaded up to my surprise when i got to the scale i had 6400lb of gravel in the bed (long bed) well it got it home but it actually warped 3 of the 4 wheels those steel chevy rims aint cheap 

I once had to change a flat in rush hour traffic on an overladen truck.  Couldn't do it and the tow was very costly!   Your replacement wheels probably cost more than $19.95!  Many of us can share even harder learned lessons!  Op may choose to make his own story but I have learned that loading your truck to its limit (and beyond) is an unnecessary gamble. 

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I've hauled 2500 pound pallets of coal in my 1500 Silverado with no problems. You certainly know that it's there, especially when accelerating, braking and turning, so allow yourself some extra time and distance to maneuver. It seemed to ride better if you depalletize the bags and distribute them around the bed. Mine rode pretty low and I wondered if it had bottomed out. But when I climbed into the bed to unload, 225 pounds of me made it sink down even further, so I guess it still had some room to go. Use the Tow/Haul mode on your transmission if so equipped, it really does help. Take it easy and you should be fine.

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The debate of going over your load limit can also be found in previous threads on this forum.  If you are not concerned about damaging your truck,  think about others sharing the road.  Overloading isn't a problem until it is one.  I stay clear of heavily loaded pick-ups on the highway as the drivers of these vehicles are taking risks I don't want to share!

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On 11/10/2017 at 3:01 PM, Loco-diablo said:

I usually get the wood pellets for my pellet stove delivered right to my driveway, but was thinking about buying a ton somewhere other than where I normally get them and just going to pick them up myself to save the delivery charge.

I have a 2017 Silverado 1500 double cab, 5.3, Z71 midnight. 

Is a TON (pallet of 50 - 40lb bags) too much to be hauling in my bed? I don't want to overload the suspension. I'd be hauling the load about 14 miles.

I haul the 1 ton of pellets 4-5 times a year. The place I buy them is 7 miles away all highway, never had a problem. Truck stoped and goes just fine, just push that tow/haul button and go.

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You must not live in Texas OP. I see a lot of raggedy old Chevy half tons with what looks like way more than a ton in the bed driving around. It blows my mind to see them riding around on the bump stops with a mountain of stone bricks back there. Most of the time it is illegal looking old Mexican men in construction. I have never seen one pulled over for this, which is crazy cuz it looks dangerous. They are usually creeping pretty slow though.

You will be fine hauling a ton in your 1500. Like others have said just watch the bumps, braking and turning.


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There’s lots of talk of people hauling too heavy on this site. In all my over 40 years of driving and a good portion of that hauling heavy, I’ve seen very little of those rigs in accidents. If I’ve seen anything of a pattern in the hundreds of thousands of miles I’ve driven it’s been related to inattentive drivers usually in a SUV.


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31 minutes ago, Loco-diablo said:

It’s all country roads. Nothing with a speed limit over 40mph.. decent roads the whole 14 miles. If I decide to buy from them, I’ll just go for it. Thanks for the replies folks!


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I could share some good and bad overloaded truck stories from my experience but you have decided to "go for it".  I strongly recommend keeping your eyes open for a deal on an utility trailer.  They are handy for distributing heavy loads as well as carrying rough loads.  The lower load height can also be useful for "toy" hauling.

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Many do it.  I went with my step Dad in '01 to pick up a pallet of Bentonite for a construction job.  Not light weight stuff. It was over a ton.  We used his GMC 1500.  We just made sure the pallet was slid all the way up to the front of the bed.  It rode fine, but one could tell the pickup was over loaded.  The trip back with the product was about 100 miles of interstate highway running about 65 mph.  I can remember back when I was a youngster in the 60's, driving the 1/2 ton back to the house from a job where they had loaded the bed with clay drain tile to the max.  The back end was on the axle and with some rougher bumps, I could tell the front wheels would come off the ground. Very slow go about 12 miles back to the house but I made it with no trouble.  Didn't want to do that again.  Would not have looked good for a 13 year old with no driver's license driving a pickup loaded like that to have an accident, especially with no adult driver riding along!   Ahh... the old days of growing up on the farm.

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It can handle it no problem.  The main concern would be the tires.  That is one reason I get load range E tires on my half ton.  I haul pallets of produce in the summer.  Range anywhere from 1000lbs to 2000lbs.  The trip is just 10 miles down the road. 

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