the stepside measures just about right at 1 cubic yard.
- I've done a yard of dirt
- I've done 3 trips of compost
- I've done 2 trips of mulch
- I've done 18 treated boards of 2"x6"x12' and 9 treated boards of 2"x6"x8'. That was tricky in the 6' bed. Even with the tailgate down, had to tie down the ends closes to the cab to keep them from see-sawing out. It was also a pretty good amount of weight that far out.

The yard of dirt was by far the heaviest. Completely squatted it down firmly on the bump stops, but nothing rubbed. Even had to stop on a hill...the little 3.0 manual b-a-r-e-l-y made it. Bad Phone Pic

Was looking through my pics and found my firewood haul. the pieces on the bottom are sitting on the floor and were pretty big. There was still some suspension play yet, but not much.

 

its a bad cell pic but my whole bed is full of soil

 

I did 14 loads of topsoil last summer, and 2 loads of mulch.
$16 per load for topsoil.... and $18 per load for the mulch.... I put in ALOT of gardens....

I also placed, over 1300 bricks...

And actually, the ranger can hold 2 ton in the bed... the keyword being 'can'.... should you do it? only if you absolutely must...

such as, say you 50 miles from home and someone says to you 'hey, i have 4,000lbs of gold bars that you can have, but you must take them all, and you gotta take them now' are you gonna turn it down and say 'oh no my truck cant handle that much weight' or are you gonna load up and take it slow?

LOL

How much split wood will fit into the bed of a ranger? a face cord? 2 face cords?

Also, when buying pool sand, try to buy it when its been dry for a week. you pay by the pound, and if it just rained, youll pay more for less sand due to the water content. Not only that but youll be importing querry water into your pool project.

 

I'll have to find my cell phone pics, but I had my basement floors worth of porcelain tile, as well as my shower tile in the bed of the Ranger. When I pulled up to the loading dock, the guys asked if there was a real truck that he was to load it on. Seeing as a steppie can't hold a skid, we had to unload the skid and hand bomb everything in. The leaves were past straight, and I was bottomed out. The sad part was I did have far to go, and it was the first and last time I ever attempted something so unsafe and stupid. The Ranger handled it well, but I know I was greatly overloaded and *** heavy. No land speed records were broken on that trip, it was slow and steady.

EDIT: - Found pics (taken in 2007)

Not much material wise......but HEAVY

Bottomed


Leaves bent past straight


*** heavy

 

And you all called me stupid? My leaves werent bent the OTHER way LOL

 

this week I've been having fun making scrap yard runs. 48 smaller batteries plus some misc batteries. 1500 pounds each trip. $250 each run. I have another run to make yet.

My next project is to tear down 4 old tape cartridge silos and send them to scrap. The module to the right is about 6' tall. There is a lot of steel in there.

 

Just hauled off two of the silo ceilings. 540 lbs of aluminum. Not too heavy, but big and awkward.

 

Where the hell are the pictures of the guy that hauled a machining mill in the bed of his Ranger!??! Lmao!

It was the greatest "Ranger hauling" picture ever, and also filled with stupidity.

 

I was impressed with the capacity last week. We pulled a 2006 Hyundai Sonata V6 (about 3400 lb empty) on a 1500 lb trailer just last week with our 2007 B4000 4x4. Minimal cargo other than myself and luggage. We drove 150 miles in hilly terrain. The truck had no problems on the highway, even uphill. Just kept overdrive off the whole time...averaged about 12 mpg the whole trip. Transmission fluid never went over 190 and coolant never went above 202 on a 95 degree day.

The rear of the truck was squatting pretty well, but once the truck got going it leveled out nicely...and MAN what a smooth ride. Post-trip, we changed all the fluids (coolant, trans, oil, and transfer case) and everything looked great.

 

I offered to help my aunt get her shingles for her roofing from Home Depot. The guy starts to load the whole entire pallet of about 15 packs. My shocks are completely gone and my leaf springs were the only thing supporting them. When those started bending backwards I knew it was time to stop. My 97 can handle about 9 packs of shingles before it becomes unsafe. I get better traction at least and the ride is smoother.

 

I once fit FMD's Ranger in the back of my truck and his ranger was currently full of an idiot and 4000 lbs of brick.

 

I can say out of sheer bulk - you can fit ~5 large bags of R-16 Insulation before theres literally no more room to stack them up, that puts it well above the height of the cab - You can fit $250 worth of Costco groceries in the inside cab of the ranger behind the seats, have done that size of a Costco run several times while it was raining out. Filled the entire bed with floor tiles as what a user posted above, mine handled the weight a teeny bit easier due to the shock choice I had, but it was still damn near on the *** end of being WAY to much for the ranger, enough to do an entire kitchen, and 2 bathroom floors.

You can fit one good sized bucket of fresh mulch, it isnt very heavy but thats all that can fit.. same with 1 big load of cinder blocks for an outdoor fireplace, I think we had around 40-50 long C shaped blocks which completely maxed out the rangers capacity.. stupid heavy!

 

I once had 3500 lbs of paving bricks in the bed. The supplier told me it was 1500 lbs, but after we loaded he said he made a mistake and it was really 3500.. Took it home about 20 miles and unloaded. 30,000 miles later and still no problems.



I routenly haul 1500 lbs of horse feed from my Father's business to the local race track. 50lb bags so that's 30 bags. Ranger handles it without even breaking a sweat.

 

^^^That's funny...I've only hauled about 1000lbs in my Ranger, a bunch of batteries getting a ride to the junk yard...scored about $120 for the batteries.

 

i've had enough sand in my bed to make the truck sit on the bump stops and i still kept shoveling sand in there only had to go about 1/2 mile up the drive way tho, but i did haul scrap metal a few summer ago i did have a 5x10 trailer most trips i weighted between 9000-11000 pounds with the trailer

 

That much:


I have no idea how much it weighed. The load included the remains of a deck, a heavy grill (the kind that's bolted to concrete, not a portable one), and some cinder blocks. The truck handled it just fine.

 

that one board sittin on the cab just bothers me lol

 

The heaviest thing I've ever hauled was a huge load of giant uncut logs for firewood. I could barely pick up each log to get it on the truck. It had the back of my 2.3 almost dragging the road, but surprisingly it didn't really effect my gas mileage that much.

Anyway, I've hauled anything and everything for fellow family members even though no one seems to help me out when I need something. That will stop soon enough though when my next Ranger immediately gets a fiberglass tonneau cover installed.

 

Ive hauled 3 hog carcasses and a lamb carcass....ill take a pic next time...i think i had a gut barrel in there too....top that!

 

my owners manual states that the ranger can bed haul 1280 pounds with a single occupant

so that is what i had my explorer leaves rebuilt to handle

4 thick leaves and a overloader

 

I've also had my Pro X 700 stuffed in the back with the toolbox and a 5 gallon gascan...I kind of forgot with was in the back and crunched my eaves troughs a little when coming into the garage.

 

i had 2000 lbs of gravel in the back once. It was bump stop city all the way home.

I wouldn't do it again though.

 

Decided to do some work in the yard and picked up 20 bags of topsoil, 20 bags of mulch and 20 bags of river rock... felt like the *** end was scraping the pavement all the way home for the 20 mile ride. But it had awesome steering. Next time I will remember the trailer...

 

I had an internship 2 years ago where I drove a 2000 Ranger XL, reg cab, 2wd, completely basic except it did have AC. One day they gave me a last minute task that had to be completed by the end of the day. The only other truck available at the time was standard F150 with a bogus clutch (can't drive standard), and wasn't about to learn with what I was tasked with with that thing. I had to drive like 30 miles away to pick up a geothermal heat pump. It cost I think around $5,000 and was atleast a ton I think. Oh ya, and it was hanging off the tail gate by like a foot too.

 

2.3, 2wd, 7' bed
900 cans, 1000+ tarped.
There is a '66 Schwinn Varsity 10 speed bicycle buried under all that.

1/2 yard of pea gravel also was no problem, short distance.