Like the title says...I am selling my 2004 F250 and plan to buy a new (or newer) F150 crew cab pickup. My F250 handles a round bale of hay in the bed with no problem.

I haven't had a half-ton pickup for a long time and wonder how strong the rear springs and axles are, and whether it would handle such a load on a limited basis (I plan to haul 4 to 6 bales a year, about 35 miles each) without damaging the truck.

Thanks for any advice.

I have seen some 1300 lb round bales, but most weigh under 1000. A f150 should handle one without a problem.

Yes, piece of cake.

Depends on how big the bale is. I think the smaller bales are about400lbs,but they up to 1200 lbs. 1/2 t should handle them if they fit in the bed though. Spring wise, you could always put the rubber donuts on the springs as helpers if it squats too much.
A 3'x 3'x8' bales weighs right at 800lbs if grass hay. So if you know the dimensions of the round bale, you could figure the weight pretty close using the volume.

I've had 1500lbs of steel in the bed of my 2004 F150, no problem. The newer ones I think are rated for more than that.

I'm a city boy with a Nissan Frontier but I hunt where they roll bales of bermuda hay. I don't think I'd put one in the bed of a 150 and take it on the road. I'm guessing you'd reach takeoff about the time you hit 55. Got any friends with a a car hauler?

The last Ford I had broke a spring with less than 600 pounds in it. The Toyota I replaced it with has gone over the scales with 1700 pounds of stone dust and never whimpered. Yes, the Toyotas will carry 650 and 800 pound round bales, too.

Depends on the bale. A lot of the smaller ones are around 800ish, and can be wrapped when even smaller. According to the manual, the vermeer 706C that my brother bought is supposed to make a 3000 lb bale. It also depends on the half ton truck. The more popular sizes probably run (or used to) from 850-1500. The smaller ones will be fine. The 1500's will be pushing it, but they'll lose some water weight after they sit for a while, and a lot of guys don't pack them out all the way.

I see some ranchers but mainly horse people going down the road with a round bail in the back of their F-150's . I wouldn't do it in my new platinum model, as it has that little bitty short bed. But then I have an old 1 Ton at the Ranch for just that purpose.
I suppose you could have some of those air bag supports installed on it, though.

Sho nuff Tex, WHB, stick to standard 4'X5' round bales and you wont have any trouble, place a 'push pallet' in the front floor of your bed, if you unload with a bale spike on a tractor front end loader you wont crush the bed or break your back glass.

There are two bed options on the F-150. 5.5' and 6.5'. Air bags from Air Lift should run you less than $250 and install in about an hour. I had them on my 2012 F-150 and liked them alot.

i've had almost 4000# of tile in the bed of my 1/2 ton dodge.

Hauled many a pallet of sod, approx 1600 pounds, in the bed of my 2005 GMC 1/2 ton.

Ya, buts thats part of your cultural heritage



....but anyways, sorta related, we have a 90's Saturn station wagon with 300,000 miles on it. One of them cars you run 'till it dies because it sure ain't worth anything. Original springs/shocks. We use it as our pickup truck and to haul the dogs on outings, back seat permanently folded flat, tarp laid down in back. Mostly sits unused from one week to the next.

Over the break I used it to haul 900-1,000 lbs of brick, three trips of 900-1,000 lbs each, to a place thirty miles away.

Now of course 900lbs of brick doesn't take all that much room, I technically coulda fit all 3,000lbs or so in in one trip. I stacked it in each time such that all the weight was centered between the front and back wheels, mostly over the folded down back seat rather than all in the very back.

I was surprised to note that the suspension actually wasn't bottomed out all the way, didn't handle all that bad at speed on the innerstate either.

Sure glad I didn't have to make any emergency stops tho...

...or change a flat neither.

Birdwatcher

I see it every day here.

Depending on the baler(pressure setting) and moisture content of the hay an average full-size bale will weigh around 1200lbs.

We have some that might weigh 800-900 pounds and some that are twice that weight.


I'd be mostly worried about damaging the box on the pickup.


I've seen some guys haul (heavy)round bales with 1/2 ton pickups and it's always a little funny. Sometimes real funny.

The ass end is dragging and the front tires look like they are about to leave the ground.

The new pickups are probably a lot stouter than older stuff though.

I hauled a single 4x6 round bale, only because I couldn't fit two on. Hauled 50 small square bales in a 89 f150 with a 4 speed straight 6 cylinder. The truck easily handled the weight.

The most common bales in my area are 5x6' with 4x6's being pretty popular because they'll fit on a semi. 4x5's are way back in third place. I have a 4x5 baler and make bales approaching 1000 lbs. In fact, the last time some of mine were weighed I think a representative bale was 970 lbs. My cousin's baler is a 5x6 and his bales are so heavy that I sometimes have a hard time moving them with my 90hp tractor. I'm not trying to brag it up, but the weights I've seen on this thread aren't representative of what I've seen around here. I'd guess my cousin's bales are averaging at least 1200 lbs.

I think there's a good chance it will get a little squirrely using a 1/2 ton truck. I'd probably do it no more than you've got to move. Much more than that and I'd want a 3/4 ton.

Holy balls, how the [bleep] can a question about a bale of hay go on for so long.

I generally don't click on threads that have ZERO interest to me for that very reason.

The cold dog thread turned into shade-tree Dr. Phil between the guys that post on here all day and a new guy.

It's the fuuckin' internet!

Many folk have a deep and abiding interest in watching grass grow. I find it fascinating myself.

my chevy has that much weight on it everyday . 8ft bed ,ladder racks,front extra deep toolbox and 2 side boxes all loaded with tools. plus every inch behind the seat is full.

the guys that i see hauling round bails a lot tear the beds to pieces in a few years. i know of 2 farmers that have fords and the sides are ready to fall off the beds on both. a guy near me has one of those haybail forks mounted in the back of his chevy . he hauls them hanging off the back of the truck almost every day with a chevy. with all that weight hanging behind the bumper thats like having 2 bails in the bed.

put a whole pallet of deminsional shingles in the bed of a 8ft behind a toolbox . that will test your truck.

So your Chevy is the F150 he's asking about?

Often, I want to say, "Look what they've done to my thread Ma".

What we need around here Richard is a lot more moderators to make sure these threads stay on topic!


Christ sakes now I'm gettin' all frothed up!



grin




Speaking of round bales, time to haul some.


Later.

Buy a trailer if you don't want the truck to be damaged in the loading/unloading process

Handling the weight isn't as big a problem as getting it in and out without screwing up

maybe you're not a dumbass.

That's exactly what I thought before I even opened this thread...

Now, if somebody would just post a question asking what chainsaw they need to buy to cut down an 8" apple tree, in their MIL's backyard, we would have a real thread!

If it helps, I had a yard of gravel on my 1/2 ton Dodge once. Bwaahaaahaaa.

A big difference in a 250 and a 150 is free floating axles and hubs vs. the semi floating ones on a 150. I have seen the axle housing bend from too much weight, misaligning the splines. Part if the equation is how much the load will spread to the front wheels also, AND how much does that bale weigh when you do something like hit a dip or berm in the road, or cross railroad tracks.

Better have a beer, Sam.

Weight distribution is very important. There is a big difference between a single cab 8' bed and a four door with a shorter bed, in how the weight rides on the truck. A decent round bale is heavy and big you have little room to place it.

he could keep the 250 for what he will get for it and use the 150 for show, the 150 will pack a good bale as long as bale does not spread the sides ,a 250 will pack 2 at a time depends on size a 350 will pack 3 1200 lb bales at a time if you have the balls to do it as I have done many times.

my 350 right now has 125 gallons of diesel a 5th wh rack and a 48 36 by 30 tool box loaded to the hilt plus tire chains ,tow chains and a back seat loaded with tools , somewhere in the neighbourhood of 14000 lbs . that's a standard everyday load

.norm

Bump for further, deeper, harder.... discussion.

You probably know someone with a flatbed trailer, the guy who you buy the hay off of? Pay him to haul all of it at once. 35 milesx2x6bales=420 miles for you. He will save you some money and a lot of time. If you cant move them this will not work.

I hauled a BUNCH of them with my old '06 2wd V6 F150, dad hauls 'em with his (literally) falling apart '95 F150 all the time. I haul 'em for dad when he needs help with my '96 4x4...never had any problems moving them yet...(can't be that much of a job anyway, my younger brother hauls 'em for dad with a Dodge ).

point is, any full size truck will haul a freakin bail of hay.its not a big load for any 1/2 ton pickup.

In case anyone was wondering.....

Looking at those bales, I'm pretty sure I could get the whole thing in/tied to my Saturn. I'd have to take the bale apart and stuff it in by hand though and I would probably need a couple of big tarps and lots of rope.

Prob'ly wouldn't be able to use the mirrors either.

You will be fine with a half ton as long as you dont mind seeing your bed sag. We have a guy on the farm that use to haul wet round bales home in his dakota. That was real funny looking.

But you're leaving out the most important part:


It's not really a matter of whether or not it can handle the weight.

If you have ever moved large bales of hay, you know it's not all that easy to do with any precision

Putting it in the bed of a truck usually means using a front end loader that can't reach far enough from the back, and will have an even harder time loading from the side

I don't give a crap if my trailer gets banged up

I solved the problem by finding someone who would deliver the bales for just a little more per bale

Just because I had a picture.

For $500-$700, you can buy a little 5x8 or 6x10 trailer to haul the hay. You'll get 22 mpg out of a 1/2 ton, vs. 14-15 out of a 3/4 ton during daily driving, so you'll still come out way ahead over 5-10 years. Plus, the trailer will be easier to load and unload.

If you could somehow work a question about purchasing a chainsaw into this thread, we could hit 10 pages easy....

I watched a guy put a bumper pull backhoe trailer on an F150 King Ranch, short bed 4x4. There had to be 2000# tongue weight alone. I would have killed him if he had done this to my truck. The bumper was 6" off the road! Hauled the trailer with a big truck on it 20 miles with no apparent damage! I would say a round bale is no problem on an occasional basis. I wouldn't put one in my Ranger but my F250 no problem!

I would not worry about loading or driving it, but unloading it without bending, scratching, breaking or torquing something would be the exception rather than the rule.

FWIW, I run a 1,600 lb tote for deliveries in my Tacoma all the time, no problem. Rent it out and never had a pickup with problems hauling it.

Well, except the woman with the 16 year old son who refused to strap it in and then hit the brakes hard. She needed a new rear window......

Yes.

I've had 1/3 to nearly 1/2 cord of oak on an F150. I'd not be concerned about a round bale.

I once bought lumber for my shop from a yard 75 miles away.....I hauled it home and checked the weight on the certified scales of the local grain elevator....the weight of the lumber was 3,800 pounds....I went slow and it was "uphill" all the way.....I don't recommend this but I did it!

That is a LOAD for a 1/2 ton, damn!

But weight isn't the problem with a round bale, (possibly)beating the sides out is.