On a 250, 8800 lbs should be the GVWR - what it can be max when loaded, not what it weighs empty. I suspect it's a bit less than 8800 lbs empty, otherwise you wouldn't have any cargo capacity.
The only real way to know for sure is to go weigh it. Gravel yards, truckstops and some feed stores have scales that can give you the individual axle weights. When I weighed mine I didn't do each axle individually, just drove the whole truck on the scale. If your truck is torn apart waiting new springs (sounds like it is) you'll have to find someone with a similar configuration to give you thier weight. Mine is 2WD and SWB, but otherwise similar to yours. Figure about 400 lbs for the 4WD, and another 200(?) for the LWB and you're still below 7000 lbs. empty.
Poke around at you local gravel yard - mine will let you weigh for free if you don't need the number certified. Otherwise it's $5.
Here's a link with some similar configurations and their weights, but no one has weighed individual axles that I've seen.
Link about weights
