How much gold can your favorite HD truck carry on St. Patrick’s Day

We have all heard the story of St. Patrick's Day. The well-known "Golden Pot" at the end of the rainbow. Suppose we can get there-reach the end of the rainbow-and say we can convince the goblin to hand over the pot. What do we use to drag it out? The safe bet will be a capable 3/4 ton truck, but which model provides the most capacity? Assuming the goblin has a lot of gold to give, we want the high-definition truck at the end of Rainbow Lane?

Magic Formula

Weight In Gold

Lessons Learned

Magic Formula

The team at Throttle Down Kustoms created a basic math formula to answer this very question. Their gold payload graphic explains how many pots of gold would fit in the new Ford F-250, Chevy and GMC 2500 HD base models, Nissan Titan XD, and Ram 2500.

“Cargo space and payload are two of the most important things truck owners want, so we thought this would be fun way measure just how much these 2018 trucks can handle,” explained Jeremy Pulse, owner of Throttle Down Kustoms.

Since Pulse and his crew are not a bunch of rich leprechauns (we don’t think anyway) they could not load actual pots of gold into the truck beds. Instead, they used the following formula:

Take a 6-inch x 6-inch cast iron kettle that weighs 2.5 lbs.

Add 1,000 1-ounce gold coins to the pot for a total weight of 65 lbs. per pot.

Get the cubic feet of each truck bed and stack up as many pots of gold as possible.

Multiply the stacked pots of gold by 65 lbs. for total weight.

“This is where our math got fun,” Pulse continued. “All these automakers offer three-quarter ton pickups with a decent payload for hauling dirt, lumber, or some furniture, but if you’ve got cast iron pots of gold you’re going to need another way to move them.”

The Nissan Titan XD is alright for hauling hay. Gold? Not so much. Photo: Nissan North America.

Weight In Gold

After running the numbers, the weight totals of the gold far surpassed the maximum rated payloads for each truck. Ford fans will be happy to learn the F-250 came out on top with the ability to fit over 430 pots of gold. However, Chevy enthusiasts can simply point to how expensive Ford trucks are and make jokes about how a pot of gold is necessary to purchase one.

Here are the capacities for each truck and the frame-breaking weight of each load:

2018 Chevy 2500 HD: 61 cubic feet + 407 pots of gold = 22,899 pounds more than max. payload.

2018 Ford F-250: 65 cubic feet + 433 pots of gold = 23,946 pounds over max. payload.

2018 GMC 2500 HD: 61 cubic feet + 407 pots of gold = 22,899 pounds more than max. payload.

2018 RAM 2500: 58 cubic feet + 387 pots of gold = 21,143 pounds over max. payload.

2018 Nissan Titan XD: 59 cubic feet + 393 pots of gold = 22,657 pounds more than max. payload.

Lessons Learned

Gold is heavy, that’s the first. Second, if you’re going to try for the end of the rainbow this St. Patrick’s Day, take a medium-duty truck. Or, opt for a full-on semi truck. The complete graphic from Throttle Down Kustoms is below.

Carl Anthony is Automoblog The executive editor of, lives in Detroit, Michigan. He studied mechanical engineering at Wayne State University, is a board member of the Ally Jolie Baldwin Foundation, and is a big fan of the Detroit Lions.