Automotive Does adding accessories to the front of a vehicle affect its payload capacity?

[Ash81]

Please forgive me if I am wrong but I am having a bit of a debate regarding vehicle payloads and load distribution

My argument is that the weight of the bullbar, lights and other forward mounted accessories on the front of a utility infront of the front axle has no interference with the weight allowed (payload) above the rear axle.

My hypothesis is that the weight infront of the forward axle would act like a seasaw. The more weight up front would increase the allowable payload over the rear axle instead others claim it would infact add to the weight on the rear and decrease the allowable payload

 

[Ranger Mike]

When you add weight the placement is critical regarding the axle load. You can add weight up front and not effect the rear axle load but it wil increase the front axle load and total vehicle load. So be careful. The best thing to do is scale the total vehicle weight then place rear wheels only on the scale. Any farm grain elevator swil ahve these scales.

 

[AZFIREBALL]

Per this:

 

[jack action]

You are right, it will remove weight on your rear axle, but it will increase the weight on your front axle by the amount you removed from the rear axle PLUS the total weight you added. So, for example, if you put a 100 lb in front of the front axle and somehow manage to remove 25 lb from the rear axle, this necessarily means that the front axle payload increased by 125 lb (= 100 + 25). There is necessarily a maximum payload on the front axle as well.

Nothing is free.