The dealer has been unable to tell me what the maximum amount of weight that the tailgate can support. I could find no reference to this elsewhere on this website. I figure this is especially important with a SuperCrew (the short bed and all).

Can this thing support the weight of my 700 pound motorcycle as it is loaded via ramps on the tailgate? I think the owner's manual shows around 1840 pound payload capacity for the bed itself.

 

The factory bed extender I have rates the tailgate at 100 lbs. I think theat is a bit conservative. Maybe they are talking about a constant load.

On the other hand 700lbs is a lot. I wouldn't haul a full 700 lbs on the tailgate... but, assumming the back wheel is the only thing in contact with the tailgate at any given time and that this weight is evenly distributed on both wheels the wieght the tailgate must carry is 350 lbs. That's not so bad.

If all else fails, tailgates are only around $500 painted installed

 

I believe all F-150 tailgates are in the neighbourhood of 500 pound capacity. Thats 2 football players sitting on it.

Remember that the actually cords can take a lot of weight, I wouldnt trust the fittings that they are crimped to.

And as kkirt1 said, you dont have the whole bike on the tailgate at once.

 

Thanks for the replies. I just figured the entire weight of the bike plus me would be on the tailgate as it is being loaded with ramps attached to the tailgate. Then once loaded, only the rear wheel would be on the gate.

 

As of today I can say the tailgate holds 3 full kegs of beer without a problem!

 

Beer kegs!

Now that is one of the most practical tests of a trucks' capacity?

Cubic volume of the beds measured in cases of empty bottles...

 

Myself (not light to begin with) and other people have sat on it and I can hear the tailgate stretching and screaming "get off me!"

So it can take at least 500-600 pounds but I wouldn't go past that for to long. The ramp thing may work only one way to find out...

 

Hey tbbr,

I was reading this thread a couple of days ago and decided not to comment but now I read the latest and so...

Maybe this will help, if you and your bike weigh X lbs and you start up the ramp then there should be some proportion of weight on the ramp and some on the tail gate.

As you go up the ramp, the load proportion will shift from the ramp foot to the tail gate but actually I don't think the tail gate will ever see the entire load X at any point.

If you and your bike are exactly halfway up the ramp, then the load on the tail gate and that on the ramp foot should be fairly equal and thus ~X/2 on each end.

As you proceed, the load will increase on the tail gate until the front wheel gets in the truck and the load will start to be carried by the bed. Without taking into account dynamics and other forces, this should be a fairly accurate review of the loads generated by you and your bike's weight on your truck and tail gate. I would venture to guess that maybe 60-75 percent of the load X might be carried by the tailgate but I'ts just a guess and nothing more. My other guess is that there is probably not a lot of residual capacity remaining in the tail gate's design when you load it with a big motorcycle and yourself, but again that's just a guess.

Hope it helps of at least generates some useful comments or suggestions.

DaveMan

 

DAVEMAN sounds right to me. Just move the bike up the ramp slowly the first time and keep an eye on the tailgate.

One more thing to add to this formula is the fact that the bikes weight is not pushing directly down on the tailgate. The ramp is pushing the tailgate forward a bit and this may add/remove pressure from the tailgate connectors. Also make sure to center the ramp so that the pressure is the same on both sides.

Let us know what happens.

 

I like this, massive speculation, then try it and let us know what happens (ie, if you tear the h#ll outta the tailgate)... . What are friends for, anyway? .

I agree that the tailgate should be able to handle it...

 

tbbr, I wouldn't be too concerned about this, I loaded my 550# motorcycle in my old Ranger with the 6' box. I put the ramp in the middle of the tailgate and up I went. The rear tire rested on the tailgate for the entire 600 mile trip. The only thing I can say I would do differently is to put a piece of lumber under the rear tire across the tailgate to spread the weight of the bike out across the entire tailgate. The tailgate in my Ranger did actually bend a bit in the middle, but had I put this piece of lumber/plywood underneath the tire I doubt this would have happened. BTW, what bike do you ride? Good Luck.

 

What bike do I ride? It is a Harley Fatboy. Not sure when I will actually get to try all these theories out. Carrying the bike in the SCrew was not a high priority, but I wanted to find out whether I could do it if I needed to/ wanted to. I have not yet attempted to do it (still gotta buy some ramps).

The local Harley dealer claims they load bikes on their business pickups (and I would imagine customer pickups) all the time without issue. I just get a bit squeamish about all that weight on the tailgate and finding out the hard way that it was not a good idea!

 

I haven't tried to carry a bike in the back of my supercrew yet. I am not sure that I want to try it in a Supercrew. There is no way am I going to trust a tailgate rated at 100# to carry the weight of my motorcycle.
The last time I moved a Harley (WLA) it was in a 1975 Supercab. Once I got it positioned, most of the bike was in the bed but the rear wheel was sitting on the tailgate. To spread the load a bit, I slid my ramp under both both tires. If the tailgate were to give any, the ramp would support the weight of the rear wheel. Just make sure the center of gravity of the bike is forward of the the tailgate so that the ramp and the bike will stay in the bed if the gate gives way completely.
Considering the risks of dropping the bike off the ramp/tailgate, getting a hernia, and busting up the tailgate on a fine new Supercrew, I would seriously consider renting a U-haul trailer. Good Luck.

 

As I have mentioned before, the weight capacity is in the cables, not the sheetmetal.

tbbr mentions that the local Harley dealer uses pickup. From experience, most of the Harley haulers are last generation Chev. These did not use straps but steel rods. Which probably handle more load than cable straps.

If you are that concerned, one idea might be to get replacement straps that fit a Superduty which are way heavier-duty than F-150 ones are.

 

How is loading a bike significantly different from loading a quad (fourwheeler) into the bed, which quite a few people do? Regardless of the bed length, all of those loading quads are doing so via a ramp onto the tailgate and then into the bed, so what's the problem?