Does anyone know if a 2005 Ford Escape Limited 4X4 can carry a 1,000 pound cargo load? Thanks.

Payload – is the combined weight of cargo and passengers that the
vehicle is carrying. The maximum payload for your vehicle can be found
on the Tire Label on the B-Pillar or the edge of the driver’s door. Look
for “THE COMBINED WEIGHT OF OCCUPANTS AND CARGO
SHOULD NEVER EXCEED XXX kg OR XXX lb.” for maximum
payload. The payload listed on the tire label is the maximum payload for
the vehicle as built by the assembly plant. If any aftermarket or dealer
installed equipment has been installed on the vehicle, the weight of the
equipment must be subtracted from the payload listed on the tire label
in order to determine the new payload.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/airjer/AF%20Stuff/loadlabel.jpg

I just checked my pillar tag and it is quite confusing. It's not set up exactly like the above example but instead has a front and rear rating. It says the rear is rated at about 1,100 KG. That is about 2,400 pounds.
Seems that would include the rear weight of the car. It's late or I'd do more investigating in the owner's manual or something.
I can tell you that I have loaded fourteen bags of wood pellets in the rear cargo area. Each bag was 50 pounds. (700 pounds total plus the other crap I always have in the car) At the same time I was pulling a 700 lb utility trailer loaded with 26 more bags of pellets. (2,000 pounds being towed)
So I had 2,700+ pounds of extra load on the hitch and in the cargo area.

My Escape handled it quite well. I have an '04 two-wheel-drive with the V6.


Braking was compromised - but that is expected. I wouldn't haul that much weight on a regular basis, but for short trips in light traffic I'd do it again. And if I wasn't hauling the trailer I certainly would have stuffed more pellets in the cargo area. I think another 300 pounds could be managed, for a total of 1,000 pounds evenly distributed. The rear springs hardly sank down with 700 inside - I still had a lot of clearance in the wheel wells.
I'd avoid doing anything like that in hot weather, in moderate-to-heavy traffic, or in hill terrain. Mainly because of the lost braking capacity.

Hope this helps. Tom

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