How much can I carry?

[English]

First let me insert this caveat- remember I'm in the UK, these trucks aren't very common over here and the ones that are are usually show trucks, not used for work.

So, the question, how much can I carry? Truck is a 1979 K10, 8ft bed, lifted two inches, on 15x10 Cragar Soft 8s with 33x12.5x15 BFGs.

According to the literature I think I should be able to put something in the region of 1600lbs in the bed. But is the official literature conservative? And does the fact the truck is 37 years old count against it? And the lift?

I'm doing a bit of groundworking at home, I want to load as much as I can onto the old girl. But without breaking anything, parts aren't so easy to get over here!

[Engineer]

GM is notorious for their conservative ratings.

1,600lbs should be no problem.

The closer that you can load to the front of the pick up box the better the truck will carry the load.

[LTZ C20]

Make sure your tires are rated for the amount of load you intend to support.

[hatzie]

Make sure your tires are rated for the amount of load you intend to support.

That's usually the big deal on the 1/2ton trucks.  Folks use 15" & 16" Passenger car tires rather than light truck tires because they are cheaper.  The sidewalls flex a lot more on the Passenger car tires.

A lift kit can adversely affect the load carrying capacity.  How much is dependent on how the lift was done and how high it was lifted.  2" or 4" lift is not enough to make a difference.  6" and beyond are another story.

[Irish_Alley]

your gvwr shouldnt be no more than 6k (matve a few hundred over) and knowing your brake system would tell you or if you still have a sticker on the door. once you find that out then look at the tires and go with the lesser value.
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=28592.0

[English]

Cool, thanks for the tips! Good to have a bit more confidence in what the truck can do.

Position of load- I thought it was better to carry directly over the rear wheels?

Brakes- the truck doesn't have any stickers on the door jambs, presumably where it's been resprayed. I'll try to work out what brakes I have from the master cylinder.

Tyres are rated at 2,225lbs, wheels 2,200lbs.

[LTZ C20]

Weight position is good over the rear axle too. You want the heavy stuff either over the axle or if it's real big, as close to the front as you can get, you just don't want heavy stuff to be at the very back or tow with a tow ball on the bumper, using a frame mounted hitch is always preferred and better.

[Stewart G Griffin]

If you're willing the spit the VIN# out (understandable if you don't want to) someone here can go to a dealership and they can look up exactly what your GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) is.

Or do you have Chevy dealerships over there?

[fitz]

This site has a VIN decoder on the home page.

[Irish_Alley]

This site has a VIN decoder on the home page.

http://73-87chevytrucks.com/VIN.htm

[English]

Went on the VIN decoder but I can't see where it tells me the GVWR, only that it's a 1/2 ton

[zieg85]

Went on the VIN decoder but I can't see where it tells me the GVWR, only that it's a 1/2 ton

Brakes digit indicates the GVWR

[English]

Brakes digit? Are you referring to the page that indicates which brakes you have based on what the master cylinder looks like?

[English]

If you're willing the spit the VIN# out (understandable if you don't want to) someone here can go to a dealership and they can look up exactly what your GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) is.

Or do you have Chevy dealerships over there?

VIN is CKL149J162138. If anyone can get to a dealership and look the vehicle up I'd be very grateful! We do have Chevrolets over here, but only the Daewoo ones.

[Irish_Alley]

Brakes digit? Are you referring to the page that indicates which brakes you have based on what the master cylinder looks like?

what does your master cylinder look like?