[andrewst02]

I can easily find towing capacity for the HL, but that's not what I need.

My question is how much weight can the interior rear cargo area bear? We are looking at bringing home porcelain tile from Buy Floors Direct, who do not deliver. I'm thinking 500 lbs should be okay. Is any more than that safe? Thnx.

 

[James B. MacFarland]

The way to answer your question is to look up the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating for your specific vehicle (Google) and subtract the vehicle weight which would include base weight, fluids, passengers, etc. The difference between those two would be your cargo capacity, in this case, tile. A 2018 Highlander (as an example) has a 5,665 - 6,000 lb. GVWR. The same 2018 Highlander's curb weight is between 4,165 to 4,665. Adding fluids and driver to the 4,665 weight could be rounded to 5,000 lbs. or so. Conservatively, I'd estimate your cargo capacity in a one occupant (driver) scenario to be about 600 lbs at a minimum. you should load that tile as near to the middle of the vehicle as possible.

 

[andrewst02]

The way to answer your question is to look up the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating for your specific vehicle (Google) and subtract the vehicle weight which would include base weight, fluids, passengers, etc. The difference between those two would be your cargo capacity, in this case, tile. A 2018 Highlander (as an example) has a 5,665 - 6,000 lb. GVWR. The same 2018 Highlander's curb weight is between 4,165 to 4,665. Adding fluids and driver to the 4,665 weight could be rounded to 5,000 lbs. or so. Conservatively, I'd estimate your cargo capacity in a one occupant (driver) scenario to be about 600 lbs at a minimum. you should load that tile as near to the middle of the vehicle as possible.

Thank you!

 

[Penzfan]

 

[andrewst02]

Thanks!

 

[gidiver]

I can easily find towing capacity for the HL, but that's not what I need.

My question is how much weight can the interior rear cargo area bear? We are looking at bringing home porcelain tile from Buy Floors Direct, who do not deliver. I'm thinking 500 lbs should be okay. Is any more than that safe? Thnx.

Things like Tile, sod, and soil are VERY heavy. I had a half pallet (or less) of bricks, bloc, or soil bags in the back of my ford ranger and the drive shaft was rubbing on something around turns and corners. So when I decided to tile one of my properties, I rented the Heavy Duty work van from HD. Man that thing carried it all, no problem. I had to stack it into the elevator in small batches and it still felt like the elevator sank several inches prior to lift-off with every load. All that said, I weigh about 230, and I have every confidence you could tote 2 of me in the back of your HL, plus a 40 lb 5 yo. That said, 500 lbs of tile isn't squat. So either you are planning on tiling a walk-in closet, or bathroom; or you don't mind making several trips to the tile place. Personally, if you do have alot of tile, I'd consider renting the HD Van, even if it is for another store. Maybe even a Penske, Ryder, Uhaul deal out there on groupon or something. I certainly wouldn't want to risk overloading the suspension on my HL.

 

[andrewst02]

I picked up the floor tile, no more than 250 lbs. the contractor picked up the shower stall tile, which was closer to 500 lbs, so it all went well.

 

[poker838]

I picked up some 30 bags of soil from Home Depot last week.. approx 600 lbs. definitely sunk the rear suspension and smelled some rubber burning outside the car. It might just be the sidewall rubbing on pavement (was at stock pressures). The smell disappeared after unloading and a bit of driving.

 

[gidiver]

My suspicion is that the bags in your HL had been left outside, in the rain (like most stores do), where they most likely took on quite a bit of moisture. That (water weight) can add a lot of weight to each bag. 600 lbs should not have had that much of an effect.