For those of you who are riding around within let's say 100 lbs. under or over your max payload, how is the ride and performance? Is it sluggish? Ever have trouble getting up steep hills while offroading? Is there any sagging? Have you made any mods to help improve the situation?
I have a 2021 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro and my payload is 990 lbs. I am concerned that I'll be very close to this and may even exceed it. I think it'll be fine but I am seriously considering upgrading to a full-size truck, although I'd rather not.
I won't be towing anything - it's just mods, upgrades, armor, and gear in and on the truck.
Thanks.
There's two questions at play here - first is your total weight allowance, and the second is how your truck handles the weight.
1) For your total weight allowance, this thread already has info on that -- knowing your payload, GVWR, GAWR, etc. are all very important to this discussion. However, in the absence of real-world testing and data on the variety of brands/model trucks out there, I always struggle with the question "is it OK to exceed payload". It might be OK for a Toyota. It might not be OK for a Honda. I'm not saying nobody knows, but what I am saying is I've never actually seen a "standardized" approach to real-world GVM capability and the real-world consequences of going over weight from a vehicle reliability/handling/etc. perspective. There are plenty of anecdotes, and plenty of
very specific examples (i.e. vehicles with massive roof loads), but not enough general data to make the decision clear for me on "is it safe to go over or not". As others have said, it's not just the weight but where it's carried that can make a huge impact on the overall safety of the situation.
The majority of GVM/GVWR determinations seem to be based on regulations as opposed to physics. For example, once a vehicle weighs more than a certain amount, the classification changes in the regulations (I think the CAFE standards are related to this somehow) -- I don't remember the details, but the point is that if a vehicle has to have under a 6000 lbs GVWR in order to fit into a certain emissions bracket, even if the truck is strong enough in the real world to actually have a higher GVWR, they'll still stick the 6000 lbs limit on it to make it fit the right category. I'm not at all an expert on this stuff, but a while back I was researching putting a deck and canopy on my mid-size, and when I researched why they weren't more popular here in North America as compared to Australia, even if the trucks are substantively similar, the GVWR will be very different from country to country. For example, the Holden Colorado, Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, the last gen of the Isuzu DMAX and the new gen of the Mazda BT-50 all share a platform, and in theory should be pretty close in terms of GVWR, but the Australian examples frequently boast payloads of a ton, which is way more than the North American versions, and from what I could divine the reason for that is regulatory.
So without a clear answer on the implications of extra weight from the "physics" perspective, I don't even bother to speculate on whether or not the vehicle will be "tough enough" to handle the extra weight. I instead focus on the legal/regulatory side. Many will argue that a few hundred pounds over is probably fine for non-commercial work because if you are in an accident it is unlikely that you would be found negligent or liable (a few hundred pounds over is unlikely to be noticed by a "reasonable person"), and therefore you don't need to worry so much about lawsuits or the insurance company telling you to take a hike. This is probably a fair assessment, but technically, the insurance company COULD say "take a hike", and you COULD be liable in a lawsuit -- it's just not very common as far as I know, because I was unable to find a lot of evidence of actual cases of this happening. This is a decision for the individual based on their risk tolerance. I don't see any need to flirt with a lawsuit in my case so I try to stay under GVWR. It may be unlikely that I'll get sued for being over, but it would be a pretty high impact thing if it did happen.
This risk profile changes if you are a commercial operator; enforcement and liability are all much more serious in the commercial vehicle realm. In that case, I think it's foolish to be over GVWR. It's easy to say "I'm not a commercial operator", but for some folks that's worth a second thought. Do you make money off of YouTube or by sharing photos of your rig on instagram in exchange for goods or discounts? Do you moonlight driving for Uber? And what does all this mean according to the laws of your local jurisdiction? What constitutes a "commercial" vehicle is a bit more grey since the "Gig Economy" took off and the regulations are still catching up in a lot of places, but lots of folks can't have a dedicated Overland rig so if your rig is also used to make you money, be aware that could impact this discussion a bit and increase your risk if you are over GVWR.
2) For how your vehicle handles your weight, this one is a lot simpler. Assuming you are within GVM, a call to a suspension specialist -- ARB for example - will get you set with a suspension system
tuned to your specific weight and application. I've emphasized that last part because there are a couple of critical points to make on this:
- Most vehicles from the factory have a "Jack of all Trades, master of none" suspension (except vehicles like the ZR2 Bison, TRD Pro of Jeep Rubicon, where the upgraded suspension is part of the package). If 90% of vehicles sold spend 90% on the highway with light, everyday loads (which is the case for the majority of "Lifestyle" trucks - Taco, Canyon, Ranger, etc.) you can bet that the stock suspension will be set up to perform in those conditions. Therefore, if you are making a touring rig where 90% of the time you will be hauling 95% of your GVWR capacity, then the stock suspension is likely to sag and not do you any favours in terms of handling and comfort. It's also likely to wear much faster than intended, increasing the risk of a roadside emergency on an adventure. The solution is aftermarket suspension.
- Related to the above, though, not all aftermarket suspension is created equally. Most manufactuers are actually just subsidiary brands of the big suspension manufacturers selling re-badged components. This is especially true in the "lifts" market - there are a lot of people who just want the aesthetics of a lifted truck, and no shortage of cheap, unscrupulous companies willing to sell you a "lift of many inches" for what appears to be a steal of a deal.
A proper suspension specialist will not just provide springs, shocks, and pucks to give you height - they will have a fully engineered suspension system that improves suspension performance for the weight of your vehicle, while preserving the performance of the rest of the vehicle. Cheap lift kits often will ignore things like control arm angle, drive shaft angle, brake lines, etc. A quality engineered suspension kit will be designed with all of these other components in mind, and will come with replacement bits and bobs to make sure the suspension improvement is not met with a degradation elsewhere. It may lift it, or it may just haul the weight better -- For example, ARB have 3 different suspension options for the Colorado, each designed to a specific weight range - Light, medium, or heavy, and the focus isn't really on lifting the rig at all.
Thanks for reading my suspension thesis :D Hope it's helpful! Also, none of this is legal advice even though I mention regulations; I'm not a lawyer, just a dude saying stuff on the internet. YMMV!
