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Old 03-18-2017, 06:32 PM   #1
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Sometimes the TV Isn't just for towing

Spring - Break My Back-Yard

So this has been a busy week of manly stuff, building decks, using power tools, and getting stuff done. Today was the pinnacle moment.

Yesterday we started sodding our back yard. This would ultimately require two pallets of sod. I have a common Texas vehicle, a Ford F-150. Stock in almost everyway. I was a bit worried about putting so much weight in the bed of the truck and did some research. My research led to a forum and FordFan4Ever said no problem! It’s a Ford! How was I to argue with a guy who had over 10,000 posts on a Ford forum?

As the fork lift driver lowered the pallet into my truck the truck slouched 12 inches. It dropped like a rock, I half expected the tires to pop. But they held just fine. Driving home I was passed by a Prius driver and we were eye level to eye level. My truck was a close to a Cheech and Chong low rider as I ever want to get. Eventually I arrived at home relieved. We laid that 450 square feet and thought about tomorrow.

This time I was confident. I took my place in the lineup, we were door to door, probably six trucks total. . I was second to last pulling in next to a large enclosed landscapers trailer. When I walked back outside a Chevy 1500 was parked next to me. A few minutes later the owner of the truck came out, lowered his tailgate like mine and we both waited. We were striking the macho guy pose. Foot up on the bumper, gloves in hand, you could smell the testosterone in the air. This was guy stuff. Guys with trucks that were being used for real work. Not the usual commute to work stuff. As we watched the forklift guy I thought what is more manly than having your truck loaded by a forklift? This isn’t lifting a couple bags of cat litter in the bed, this is major weight with a forklift.

The guy with the Chevy starts to look a little a nervous. He asks me if I think his truck can handle a pallet. I reply, “I dunno, but my Ford handles it just fine”. Yeah, I went there. That’s manly trash talking. He nods knowing he was upstaged. We discussed the manly projects we were doing. We agreed how great it is that we have trucks and don’t have to pay to have stuff delivered like guys without trucks. We continue our manly poses, clutching our work gloves as if we would be needed to instantly spring into action. Because that’s what manly men do.

Then forklift guy grabs a pallet of sod and heads our way. I move to the other side of the truck and look back just as he turned to load the truck two spaces away. The landscaper's truck pulls away and we’re staring at the biggest, black, F350 diesel dually being loaded with a second pallet of sod. His truck doesn’t budge. It just stands there and takes 3,500 pounds on it's back like it was nothing. That diesel engine was sucking up all the testosterone in the air and spitting it out. Suddenly I was back to being an English Teacher with baby soft hands

:”So what did you think of Laurie Hernandez winning last season’s Dancing with the Stars?”
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Old 03-18-2017, 07:29 PM   #2
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Heh.
Good post.
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Old 03-18-2017, 07:32 PM   #3
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I once had a '63 F-300 crew cab short bed. Since the 1 ton chassis back then wasn't long enough for a crew cab, they cut the front off a long bed so the wheel well would be far enough forward to allow the bed to fit on the shorter chassis.


I got a chance to get a tiff lawn for my lot for free. All I had to do was cut the sod on move it home so my Daddy and I rented a sod cutter, cut the sod, then loaded the bed of my truck with one of what would be two loads. We filled the bed only as high as the side of the bed.


While the springs didn't even groan from the weight, so much of the weight was aft of the rear axle, it jacked some weight off the front axle. The drive back to my home was one of the hairiest I've ever made. It felt like we were driving on wet greased ice. I was constantly cranking the steering wheel back and forth to keep the truck going straight. Taking turns had the worst understeer I've ever experienced (and I've been driving for just over half a century), especially when driving on the freeway (and that was back during double nickel). We eschewed the freeway on the second (and final) load.
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Old 03-19-2017, 06:32 AM   #4
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TaftCoach,

GREAT POST! You're quite a writer! Your "manly pose" description was so good, I could actually see you standing there in your flannel shirt, Carhart jeans, and work boots. Tim Allen would be proud of you!
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Old 03-19-2017, 06:40 AM   #5
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Thank you. When that trailer moved and we saw a real truck it was one of the funniest moments I've had in a long time.

I'm thinking I need a new truck but it wouldn't look right pulling a small trailer so I need to upgrade both. Lol

The views expressed may not be mine in five minutes.
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Old 03-19-2017, 07:45 AM   #6
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Great story, well written.

You just reminded me of the time I needed a yard of concrete and couldn't get it delivered in time. I took my old piece of junk half ton pickup to the concrete yard and had them load it into the back. 4000 pounds! I drove about seven miles home with bulging tires and the frame sitting right on the axle without incident. Had I broken down it would have been interesting...
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Old 03-19-2017, 07:58 AM   #7
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That reminds me of the time when my mom wanted to pick up a yard of landscaping stone for alongside her house, and my nephew volunteered to do it with his GMC 1500. He was all gung-ho to do it all in one trip. I did some quick math in my head and told him wait a minute. He ended up doing it in five trips -- I'm hoping the bucket loader guy at the gravel yard would have done the same thing when the nephew wanted to put something like 3,000 pounds of gravel in a half ton.
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Old 03-19-2017, 08:47 AM   #8
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Ha. I've been a landscaper for 21 years and have hauled a yard of dirt or gravel or a pallet of sod in a half ton many times- Back when trucks were sparsely optioned it was perfectly normal. We hauled a yard in the half tons and 2 yards in the 3/4 or 1 tons. My 1990 C1500 had a GVWR of 7200 and weighed 3700 with me in it (bare bones 2wd 355 V8 5 speed), so it easily handled 2500-3500 pounds after I added new rear springs with an extra leaf.

Even with a modern pig heavy truck though, 5 trips for 1 cubic yard is conservative x3!


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Old 03-19-2017, 09:33 AM   #9
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Insert applause <HERE>
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Old 03-24-2017, 06:37 PM   #10
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Great post!!!! Thanks for the laugh!
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Old 03-24-2017, 07:17 PM   #11
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My turn

In an old ('74) 1/4-ton (?) Oklahoma State road crew PU I bought for about $27 back in early '80's, I put about 8 pieces (8x4) drywall in the bed. Coming onto the freeway, I punched that 318 cu in Mopar (which until that moment would almost get scratch). The little PU just kinda sagged, moaned and was never the same. I'd always thought those Mopar trannys were great, but evidently it incurred a double hernia!
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Old 03-26-2017, 09:11 AM   #12
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Saw a guy one Sat. on a I-95 turnaround with a p/u bed FULL of gravel. He had another empty P/U truck along side and was transferring the load with a shovel. Don't know if a trooper stopped him or he decided himself that he was overloaded. At least he was lucky enough that it wasn't raining.
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