Ford Maverick Pushes Payload Capacity With Rugged Ranch Work Test

The Ford Maverick gives the automaker yet another pickup in its lineup. It slots below the Ranger and has a sizable truck bed, but can it handle the daily work of a massive ranch? A new TFLTruck YouTube video finds out, taking a front-wheel-drive hybrid model up a mountain path to clear trees that had fallen over the trail.

The job puts the Maverick’s max payload capacity – rated at 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms) – to the ultimate test. The truck required stake sides to contain the logs, though it’s stock otherwise. The hybrid Maverick pairs a 2.5-liter four-cylinder with an electric motor for 191 horsepower (142 kilowatts) and  155 pound-feet (210 Newton-meters) of torque, though putting all that power to the ground is the challenge here.

Gallery: 2022 Ford Maverick: First Drive

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The front-wheel-drive Maverick wears all-season tires, which doesn’t help its traction situation, though it has little trouble tackling steep, gravel-covered grades. Once it’s loaded, with a considerable amount of rear-end squat at about 3 inches (76.3 millimeters), the Maverick turns to head back down the mountain. The lowered rear suspension doesn’t give the truck much ground clearance, and a large rock does strike an underbody skid plate at one point, stopping its forward momentum.

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The truck has no trouble getting down the rest of the mountain. It then takes a trip to the scales, showing the truck cresting its GVWR – 5,200 lbs (2,358 kg) – by about 200 pounds, tipping the scales at about 5,400 lbs (2,450 kg) with both its payload and passengers.

The test is an extreme case, as it’s unlikely most FWD Maverick owners are buying the pickup for this sort of work. However, the Ford does show it’s quite a capable machine, even if it can’t compete with mid- and full-size trucks. Then again, not everyone needs to haul thousands of pounds of stuff every day, though they do need a bit more space and usability than your traditional crossover tends to offer.