About a year ago I took a drive down I-78 to look at a 444. Mounted plow, loaded tires, and included a 48" deck. If I had to guess, it probably weighed 1200lbs as it sat... plus the deck. I backed it onto my truck using aluminum loading ramps spec'ed for a half ton. I stood off to the side, deciding not to add my 240 lbs to the equation, and gently backed it slowly up: Praying they wouldn't snap or bend my tailgate in half. Surprisingly, it went in easily and I had plenty of room to close the tailgate on my longbed Chevy 1500... No damage whatsoever. The truck rode lower, unsurprisingly: But wasn't even close to maxing out the suspension. It drove fine.
If it has a 44" deck with removable chute it'll fit between the wheel wells in my Chevy. If it has a 48", the deck has to come off unless I want to drive home with the rear wheels on the tailgate. Trust me... you don't want to do that. In a hurry to bring my father his 226 with an N46 deck, I loaded it half a$$ed and the extra weight that far back acted like a counter weight. Think of it the same was as overloading the dresser on a motorcycle and trying going for a ride. It's not fun.
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