What exactly weighs a ton?

[sam knopik]

So I have a 49 B-1-D. What makes up the 1-ton? Is is the entire truck 1-ton, just the frame, etc..? Or is this an arbitrary code for size?

I would be curious to know how this catogorizing prociedure works for the 1/2 and 3/4 Tons too.

Thanks,

Sam

[Plymouthy Adams]

should be the braking and chassis is rated to transport the weight of one ton..

update..sorry..I did not address the "what"....the payload is the combine cargo, fuel and passengers weight

Edited July 17, 2011 by Tim Adams

[TodFitch]

So I have a 49 B-1-D. What makes up the 1-ton? Is is the entire truck 1-ton, just the frame, etc..? Or is this an arbitrary code for size?

I would be curious to know how this catogorizing prociedure works for the 1/2 and 3/4 Tons too.

Thanks,

Sam

For pickup trucks I think it is marketing. I had a 63 D200 "3/4 ton" pickup where if you subtracted the dry weight from the max weight you figured it could handle 3000 pounds of load. That truck did have the optional factory frame reinforcement which raised its capacity, but even so I had a hard time figuring out why they marketed a truck that could carry 1 1/2 tons as a 3/4 ton vehicle. That was back when pickups were sold to farmers, ranchers and the construction trade. Nowadays most pickup trucks are sold as vanity vehicles to suburbanites and they are built and marketed differently.

[Young Ed]

Tod its probably because everyone overloads things. Just like a ladder rated at 220 lbs isn't going to break if you put 221 on it. I don't know what the actual capacity from the factory is for my 1/2 ton 46 but I'm sure it can haul more than 1000 lbs.