GeekDrew
Diamond Member
- Jun 7, 2000
- 9,100
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Originally posted by: Viper GTS
I was under the impression that it was common sense to avoid putting excess weight on the tailgate. My grandparents have owned trucks the entire time I've been alive, & we were never allowed to sit on them/put any undue weight on them.
Also, according to the article on CNN, the tailgate would still be stopped by the rear bumper. It would only drop 10°.
Does it need to be addressed? Sure, but it's just not that big of a deal.
Viper GTS
I come from a farm family, and we've been die-hard Ford fans until this year. We've *always* had F-250 trucks. My dad is currently driving an 89 F-250, and it runs excellently and there is not one problem with it.
We do sit on the tailgates, sometimes, if we are chatting, or just waiting around, or whatever. We don't, however, place anything on the tailgates that would endanger someone's life, especially if the vehicle is in motion. Furthermore... we routinely inspect the cables that hold the tailgate up. We've placed hay bales on them, stood on them, sat on them, etc... and we have NEVER had one give out or be damaged yet (from something like that).
One day I was loading a diesel fuel tank onto one of the trucks... it's a huge diesel tank, can't remember how many gallons. Anyway, I have to use a tractor and loader to move the tank... which is connected via hook and chain to the front end. Approaching from the back end of the truck, I raise the tank up above the truck bed, and start creeping forward (so that I can put the tank toward the center of the truck, rather close to the cabin. Well... my genious boy brother decided to start running toward the tractor... he intended to run past the tractor. We were in some fairly tall grass, and he didn't see the arm mower attached to the back end of the tractor, that sticks out to the side and rear of it. He was headed right for it. He saw me wave my arm to stop, but decided to keep running anyway. The only way I could make sure he didn't get caught in the mower was to throw it in gear and raise it up out of the way... but because I had such a heavy tank on the front end, I didn't have enough hydraulic pressure to do it. I very quickly decided to sacrifice the truck instead of my brother, and I switched on the pressure release valve for the front end loader... which gave full power to the back, and the mower engaged and came right up out of the grass and away from the area where my brother would have passed just seconds later had he not seen me start to raise the mower. Throwing that pressure release obviously caused the front end hydraulics to lose pressure... which is what was holding the diesel fuel tank in the air. It was only about 1 foot off of the truck bed, but that much weight coming down on the tailgate and the end of the truck bed generally isn't a good idea. The tailgate bent from that much weight on it... but the straps that hold the tailgate up remained securely in place.
Obviously I would never place that much weight on a tailgate, and while they are not designed to hold much weight, most of them - at least the old F-250s - can hold at least 3 large people.