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Man people and their trucks at the hardware store...

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sfsuphysics

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Always find it funny when people have in their mind the "if it fits in the truck bed it's ok to haul" mentality. So I had a single sheet of drywall, waiting in line, and I see out the service bay a Toyota Tacoma, relatively newer model waiting to get a forklift to load into it. Fine, nothing new then I see the forklift with a pallet of cement bags, and I'm just thinking "oh no this ain't going to end well", well it did end well... kind of, the cement fit on the truck, probably crushed his truck liner, the truck's shocks were absolutely bottomed, and most of the weight was over the rear so it wasn't distributed evenly, and the back wheels were flattened so much there had to be at least a 12 inch long flat spot where it was touching the ground.

Why you may ask? Well when they say a truck is a "half ton" it means you shouldn't put more than 1000 pounds of stuff in the back, a pallet of cement is 42 bags, and the bags are 60lbs each, so that's over 2.5x that maximum amount. I'd hate to see how that truck runs tomorrow. So word of warning if you ever buy a used truck, ask what the guy does for a living, and if there's one of those metal racks that was on the truck run the other way, because people with trucks can be really stupid :D
 
Hey, at least it probably had great traction.

So being a pickup truck owner, I had to check...
Tacoma payload = 1,175
Curb weight is 3,400, not much more than that load. Yikes.
Standard F150 = 1,950
F350-dually = 7,630

Which means I can carry the Cement plus the Tacoma.
:)
 
rygh said:
Hey, at least it probably had great traction.

So being a pickup truck owner, I had to check...
Tacoma payload = 1,175
Curb weight is 3,400, not much more than that load. Yikes.
Standard F150 = 1,950
F350-dually = 7,630

Which means I can carry the Cement plus the Tacoma.
:)
Click to expand...
Now...that's a truck!
 
rygh said:
Hey, at least it probably had great traction.

So being a pickup truck owner, I had to check...
Tacoma payload = 1,175
Curb weight is 3,400, not much more than that load. Yikes.
Standard F150 = 1,950
F350-dually = 7,630

Which means I can carry the Cement plus the Tacoma.
:)
Click to expand...
Although the guy might have had traction....he wouldn't have been able to steer cuz there was no weight on the front wheels....don't ask me how I know.
 
So,. if you want to recommend a used truck, what that will be, for light weight use,.. like hauling a 3feet tank and necessary water, equipment etc. An used f-150? I was thinking tacoma are better because toyota has impeccable record of engine longivity, but I am a novice when it comes to truck (or even car)
 
Ranjib Dey said:
So,. if you want to recommend a used truck, what that will be, for light weight use,.. like hauling a 3feet tank and necessary water, equipment etc. An used f-150? I was thinking tacoma are better because toyota has impeccable record of engine longivity, but I am a novice when it comes to truck (or even car)
Click to expand...
Well I'm not a fan of how large the Tacoma has gotten over the years, it used to be a rather small pickup truck that was great for everyday, non heavy duty type activities, that said I say this like a person who lives in San Francisco where limited parking is available. I think a F-150 is way overkill. Heck my 2006 Prius can do what you suggest, I've brought a jacuzzi tub home in the back, 8 foot long lengths of lumber fit with the hatch down, even 10' long pieces of PVC/ABS pipe do
 
sfsuphysics said:
Well I'm not a fan of how large the Tacoma has gotten over the years, it used to be a rather small pickup truck that was great for everyday, non heavy duty type activities, that said I say this like a person who lives in San Francisco where limited parking is available. I think a F-150 is way overkill. Heck my 2006 Prius can do what you suggest, I've brought a jacuzzi tub home in the back, 8 foot long lengths of lumber fit with the hatch down, even 10' long pieces of PVC/ABS pipe do
Click to expand...
Oh, your “that guy”.

I’ve had a tundra for 13 years now. It’s my work truck so I’ve probably overloaded it a number of times. It’s always handled it like a champ though.
 
Ranjib Dey said:
So,. if you want to recommend a used truck, what that will be, for light weight use,.. like hauling a 3feet tank and necessary water, equipment etc. An used f-150? I was thinking tacoma are better because toyota has impeccable record of engine longivity, but I am a novice when it comes to truck (or even car)
Click to expand...

Look at a Ford Transit Connect wagon.
Or consider a small minivan, and remove the back seats.

Remember that with a pickup truck you cannot lock up cargo in the back unless you also get a shell.
Things tend to wander off quickly in the city...

But if you want a Pickup Truck:
I would recommend the F150. Short bed, crew cab.
Ford trucks are pretty indestructible. (As opposed to Ford cars...)
An F-150 is not much different in size than a Tacoma. And likely cheaper.
Although I do consider the Tacoma more stylish.
 
Fun side note:
There are some side advantages with a more "commercial" truck like the transit.
If you have one of those and put a cone out, you are much less likely to get tickets or hassled,
when you park not entirely legally.
And I hear the IRS is friendlier when you write it off as a business expense as well.
 
Ford transit is trash. DO NOT get one. Trust me. Maybe the brand new ones are better, but the 2014 I had was absolute GARBAGE. And ford was terrible to deal with about it. Like unbelievably bad.
 
Coral reefer said:
Ford transit is trash. DO NOT get one. Trust me. Maybe the brand new ones are better, but the 2014 I had was absolute GARBAGE. And ford was terrible to deal with about it. Like unbelievably bad.
Click to expand...

Interesting.
I have only owned pickups and the old econoline full size vans, which were great.
My ford cars (pinto, probe, escape) were not so great. Yes, I owned a Ford Pinto - so sad.
I think the transit might actually be based on a car chassis.

An interesting graph on Transit by year.

trnst.jpeg
 
Not surprising. Nobody would be buying them anymore if they hadn't improved. 2o14 was a new model year, and the ones since are much heavier duty looking.
 
Flagg37 said:
Oh, your “that guy”.

I’ve had a tundra for 13 years now. It’s my work truck so I’ve probably overloaded it a number of times. It’s always handled it like a champ though.
Click to expand...
I have nothing against big trucks, but look at your work situation versus hauling around a 3 foot tank and water/equipment for it, something which could be done in a Toyota Corolla or similar, I'm just saying truck not necessary for that.
 
Coral reefer said:
Not surprising. Nobody would be buying them anymore if they hadn't improved. 2o14 was a new model year, and the ones since are much heavier duty looking.
Click to expand...
Yeah, never buy the first year a new design comes out for any car, give the auto companies at least a year to deal with all the new bugs they couldn't imagine popping up.
 
sfsuphysics said:
I have nothing against big trucks, but look at your work situation versus hauling around a 3 foot tank and water/equipment for it, something which could be done in a Toyota Corolla or similar, I'm just saying truck not necessary for that.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on what 3 foot tank means.
3' x 3' x 3' = 200 gallons = 1,600 pounds = truck needed.
:)
But I bet that is not really what was meant.
 
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