Back when an '83 Silverado was a new truck I bought one to haul rocks, sand, gravel and such for a huge wall I was building. It took me years with the help of both Bob my oldest son and Matt the #2 son aka GBO Webmaster. They came to call it the Great Wall of Saks as that's where we lived.
One day I went to get sand and the guy came over with one of those HUGE front end loaders full of sand to load me. He had almost as much as I felt the truck was up to but I wanted just a wee smiggen more so I motioned him to add a bit more. When he did at least 1000 pounds dumped all at once. You should have seen me waving him off frantically to keep him from dumping anymore and breaking my new truck.
At the weight station I had 3800 pounds of sand on the back of that 1/2 ton truck. The front tires were almost off the ground it was so light in front. It's sure a good thing I had only about 3 miles to drive. I hauled some totally unreasonable loads in that old truck when it would run. It stayed at the shop more than it did at home and no I don't think it was because I abused it but I certainly did do that.
With less than 300 miles on it I lost the brakes coming off the highest mountain in Alabama (Cheaha) with a load of rocks that had to weight well over a ton. It spent about a week in the shop that time. Before it had 3000 on it the transmission died, that time it stayed at the hospital three weeks. The engine never right but one day the whole time I had it. One lousy day out of maybe a year and a half I kept trying to get it fixed. I sure can't say much for the truck but the dealer sure took care of me as I always left with a loaner every time it stayed over night.
