how much will a pickup hold

[Chris-PA]

The smaller its split the less a cord will wiegh.

Just the opposite. A cord is a measure of volume, not weight. Picture a cord of perfectly round un-split logs. - 4' x 4' x 8'. Now go along and put smaller pieces in the gaps between every log. it's still a cord, but it weighs more now.

 

[Guido Salvage]

Just the opposite. A cord is a measure of volume, not weight. Picture a cord of perfectly round un-split logs. - 4' x 4' x 8'. Now go along and put smaller pieces in the gaps between every log. it's still a cord, but it weighs more now.

Just to play devil's advocate, but if it was all small sticks would there be more air space and thus less wood in a cord?

 

[fields_mj]

Just the opposite. A cord is a measure of volume, not weight. Picture a cord of perfectly round un-split logs. - 4' x 4' x 8'. Now go along and put smaller pieces in the gaps between every log. it's still a cord, but it weighs more now.

That CAN be the case, but usually isn't. When splits are stacked semi-randomly, they acutally take up a little more room than they would have if they were stacked as rounds. If you're carefull and stack the rounds and find splits that you can fit inbetween along the way, then you can get more in, BUT you're still stacking some large rounds in along the way. If you're going to split all the large rounds in to splits, then no body can stack them as tightly as they were when the Lord made'm

 

[fields_mj]

That said, this is just a touch over a half cord of green oak and yellow birch

A touch over?!?!? That looks to be an 8' bed. If so then stacked level full WITH THE TAIL GATE UP its a touch over half a cord. A conservitive estimate of that load would be about 110 cu ft. Even though some of it appears to be piled rather than stacked, it should still make at least 3/4 of a cord once its all stacked.

 

[Hedgerow]

Thanks. What year model is it? Would you happen to know what gears it has (3.55 or 4.10)?

Kevin

1996 and 3:55 I believe...

 

[Chris-PA]

Just to play devil's advocate, but if it was all small sticks would there be more air space and thus less wood in a cord?

That CAN be the case, but usually isn't. When splits are stacked semi-randomly, they acutally take up a little more room than they would have if they were stacked as rounds. If you're carefull and stack the rounds and find splits that you can fit inbetween along the way, then you can get more in, BUT you're still stacking some large rounds in along the way. If you're going to split all the large rounds in to splits, then no body can stack them as tightly as they were when the Lord made'm

My example was an extreme case to try to illustrate a point - that a cord is a measure of volume and tells little about the weight (and therefore BTUs) of the wood it contains. Ignoring the wood density, it's about the air gaps, and any way you can reduce them increases the weight. My wood stacks are for me and they are as dense as I can make them - still semi-random, but I can make them denser with a mix of small and large pieces. I'm quite confident that they weigh more than all large logs would.

I believe that with even a little attention to packing that smaller split pieces would weigh more, but someone would have to test that to be sure - judging the relative volume of air spaces in a wood stack by eye could be quite deceiving.

 

[Hedgerow]

Enough to cost you a whole pile of money if you fall prey to the "Just One More Piece" disease. I usually cut my firewood on the way home from work and the pickup is already loaded down with saws and tools and spare parts and all the crap I have to carry.

But...it's sure hard to cut up a nice piece of oak and have to leave a few pieces 'til the next day. Just one more piece, and one more, and maybe a couple of little ones and...you guys know the drill.

Guilty as charged... Not sure if the boy and I could have fit another piece on this one...
Still only .976 cord...:msp_rolleyes:

By the way, I run 90 PSI in my tires...

 

[Coldfront]

I don't care how neatly you stack it that is still most likely about 2/3 of a cord

 

[EXCALIBER]

Ok this is just me but I do not split my wood like many of you guys do when I load it from where I am cutting. First it makes for moving and stacking many more pieces of wood instead of just one round (I usually get 8 or 9 pieces of wood out of each 20 inch round). Second you will loose a fair amount of actual wood you are hauling due to split wood, even nicely stacked, takes up way more room than wood left in the rounds. You could haul more wood by leaving it in the rounds and so more weight. Try loading it that way and you will notice a huge difference.

Now secondly I don't see how some of you guys are hauling a cord of wood in some of these pictures. If your truck has a length of 8 feet, and a max width of 6 feet, and is about 19 or 20 inches deep from the top of the box to the bottom then 8x6x(19/12)=76 or 8x6x(20/12)=80.
Now considering I would say most wheel wells are 9 to 10 inches tall, and 42 inches in length, and 11 inches wide then (10/12)x(11/12)x(42/12)=2.67 cu ft now double that and 5.34 cu ft for wheel wells. So level with the box is 76 cubic feet minus 5.34 cu ft=70.66 cu ft of space max. Half a cord is 64 cu ft so in order to get a full cord you would have to basically stack to the top of the cab of the pickup and as wide a the box is. The only way to do this is with side boards on your pickup.

 

[Hedgerow]

Ok this is just me but I do not split my wood like many of you guys do when I load it from where I am cutting. First it makes for moving and stacking many more pieces of wood instead of just one round (I usually get 8 or 9 pieces of wood out of each 20 inch round). Second you will loose a fair amount of actual wood you are hauling due to split wood, even nicely stacked, takes up way more room than wood left in the rounds. You could haul more wood by leaving it in the rounds and so more weight. Try loading it that way and you will notice a huge difference.

Now secondly I don't see how some of you guys are hauling a cord of wood in some of these pictures. If your truck has a length of 8 feet, and a max width of 6 feet, and is about 19 or 20 inches deep from the top of the box to the bottom then 8x6x(19/12)=76 or 8x6x(20/12)=80.
Now considering I would say most wheel wells are 9 to 10 inches tall, and 42 inches in length, and 11 inches wide then (10/12)x(11/12)x(42/12)=2.67 cu ft now double that and 5.34 cu ft for wheel wells. So level with the box is 76 cubic feet minus 5.34 cu ft=70.66 cu ft of space max. Half a cord is 64 cu ft so in order to get a full cord you would have to basically stack to the top of the cab of the pickup and as wide a the box is. The only way to do this is with side boards on your pickup.

That was my point exactly... I think...
Look at the load closely... Length of pieces ~ 20"... 5 rows... Note how they extend on to the tailgate in an 8' bed... Stacked as tightly as possible. Peaks higher than the cab... This was a load going to town for delivery...
Now, even going through all that hassle, I still couldn't get a full cord on the truck... Ya' gotta have racks to dependably get a cord in a "Normal" pick up...

 

[Blazin]

A touch over?!?!? That looks to be an 8' bed. If so then stacked level full WITH THE TAIL GATE UP its a touch over half a cord. A conservitive estimate of that load would be about 110 cu ft. Even though some of it appears to be piled rather than stacked, it should still make at least 3/4 of a cord once its all stacked.

Yeah it's a 8ft bed, most of it underneath was just thrown in...not stacked in there. It's 2' wood and when I stacked it in the shed it made a 2'x5'x8' row.....just over a half of a cord

 

[Guido Salvage]

Ya' gotta have racks to dependably get a cord in a "Normal" pick up...

So I can put racks on a Ford Ranger and be good to go?

 

[Blazin]

There just a touch over a "pile" on this one...

 

[Hedgerow]

So I can put racks on a Ford Ranger and be good to go?

Yes... Make the racks 6' higher than the bed rails and go for it... Let me know how it turns out...
:beat_brick:

 

[Coldfront]

Will someone please take a legitimate picture of a full size 8 foot PU bed stacked with a full cord of split wood just for the sake of showing people what it would have to look like. Don't try and drive anywhere with it, just take a picture. Oh you might have to put jack stands under the frame, don't want your rear bumper to sink to far down into the dirt.

 

[Mntn Man]

Will someone please take a legitimate picture of a full size 8 foot PU bed stacked with a full cord of split wood just for the sake of showing people what it would have to look like. Don't try and drive anywhere with it, just take a picture. Oh you might have to put jack stands under the frame, don't want your rear bumper to sink to far down into the dirt.

Post #67. Though, really it isn't a pick up anymore. It is an 8 foot box and was right at a cord. Axle weight was 4500 lbs.

 

[Hedgerow]

Will someone please take a legitimate picture of a full size 8 foot PU bed stacked with a full cord of split wood just for the sake of showing people what it would have to look like. Don't try and drive anywhere with it, just take a picture. Oh you might have to put jack stands under the frame, don't want your rear bumper to sink to far down into the dirt.

A cord of dry oak weighs ~ 3900 lbs... What kind of mamby-pamby truck you using that can't handle that kind of weight? Psshh... bumper in the dirt... Jack stands...
:amazed:

 

[Coldfront]

A cord of dry oak weighs ~ 3900 lbs... What kind of mamby-pamby truck you using that can't handle that kind of weight? Psshh... bumper in the dirt... Jack stands...
:amazed:

Who said anything about dry wood? I don't sell wood, so I am never hauling dry wood in my truck. If I'm hauling wood in my truck it is fresh cut green wood.

 

[Coldfront]

Post #67. Though, really it isn't a pick up anymore. It is an 8 foot box and was right at a cord. Axle weight was 4500 lbs.

Theres no way the pic. in post 67 is a full cord of wood. Now maybe the pic. in post 51 that's more like what it would look like.

 

[Hedgerow]

Who said anything about dry wood? I don't sell wood, so I am never hauling dry wood in my truck.

Well that sheds a little light on things... But if you're not selling it, what difference does it make how much is on your truck??? I DO sell DRY firewood... I also insist on customers measuring stacks when unloaded... That is how I know exactly how much I get on a load... When cutting fresh, I don't spend time stacking, therefore usually get about a half cord on the truck... Tops... How much you figure that cord of green wood weighs? 5500#'s???