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Comment by stackghost | Hacker News Reader

These Kei trucks are everywhere where I live (PNW). They seem like the ideal utility vehicle for city centres if you don’t need seating and are just hauling e.g. soil or bins or something.

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I assume they are imports from Japan? If so, have they done any work on the body to make them safer in an accident?

Just don't crash and they're perfectly fine

I am unsure if this is sarcasm. As I understand, if you import a kei car/truck from Japan, it is not road-ready according to federal guidelines. There is some minor work that needs to be done. There are a bunch of YouTube videos that explain the rules and process.

> I am unsure if this is sarcasm

I'm unsure if you're serious. But yeah, sarcasm. All cars are safe until you crash them.

If they’re big enough, they’re safe after you crash them as well. For you at least.

How much soil can a Kei truck handle with a 600lb payload. A single cubic yard of soil can weigh up to 2k lbs. Unless we're talking tiny trips to the farm supply store for a few bags, this ain't gonna handle much.

> How much soil can a Kei truck handle with a 600lb payload.

Probably about 600 lbs of soil. Nobody in the city is going to “farm supply stores”, whatever those are. If you live on a gigantic lot out in the boonies then by all means take your gigantic lifted dodge ram

Well, depends on the city. A popular chain in Iowa is 'Tractor Supply', in most towns. They have everything.

Iowa has exactly one city.

That’s why they call it Iowa City.

If you don't know what a farm supply store is (the PNW has got maaaany), then assessing the practicality of a truck's ability to haul soil probably isn't where you wanna start. Ps, "how much" was in reference to cubic feet. You usually don't buy soil by the pound haha.

> Probably about 600 lbs of soil. Nobody in the city is going to “farm supply stores”, whatever those are.

Eh I live in the city and last time I had 1200lb of mulch delivered it came from a depot like 10 minutes away, also in the city. Could have saved $100 by picking it up myself.

You should look up if your city has a “mulch yard” that produces and sells mulch. Many do, and it’s much cheaper than the bagged stuff. But it does come in bulk loads.

Some cities even give away mulch at recycling/compost centers.

Enough for small landscaping jobs.

That 600 lb payload is likely the legal rating - which is a limit the government imposes on kei trucks rather than what the truck is actually capable of. A bit like the "gentleman's agreement" by Japanese automakers in the past to limit JDM cars to 276 HP that was, in reality, a lie. [1]

Daihatsu sells an "agriculture special" model Hijet with a special suspension that can carry far than 600 lbs [2]. During harvesting season, it's typical to see them hauling around full sacks of freshly-harvested rice which can weigh up to 750 kg [3]. A lot of the kei trucks that get imported to the US are probably these agriculture models.

The penalties for exceeding the weight limit can actually be pretty severe. But it seems police turn a blind eye to farmers making short, low-speed trips to the processing plant on rural public roads.

[1] https://carbuzz.com/features/jdm-gentlemans-agreement-japane...

[2] https://www.daihatsu.co.jp/lineup/truck/02_grade.htm?item=5

[3] https://www.asunouka.jp/SHOP/2015081903.html

Out here in snow country, you’ll often see kei trucks carrying these giant snowblowers that weigh over 600kg[0], ferrying them between jobs.

[0]: https://www.honda.co.jp/snow/lineup/large/hsl2511-jr.html

Kei trucks are rated for 350kg so around 750lbs.

I ordered 1 yard of soil and loaded 30 of the 60 bags. It was a short trip but it did fine.

For scale, 30bags filled it to the top of the bed almost exactly. It was also really wet im sure I was pushing well over 1k lbs

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