Ooops. I think I might have overloaded my truck!

[BlueRidgeMark]

OOOOPS!


I've been loading my truck by eyeball, judging weight by how the beast is sagging.

Methinks I may be in the habit of overloading it a tad. Just a tad. A wee bit.

For example, a couple of years ago I posted about scoring a standing dead oak.

I noodled the rounds into quarters, and loaded them on my Nissan 1/2 ton. Uh, I seem to recall getting more than 1 round on the truck for each load. Yep. One round and then some. Maybe even two rounds, though I'm not sure of that. 1 and a half, anyway, plus some odds & ends.

Well, I just did some weight calcs. Oh, this is ugly!

One of those rounds, if wet, is over a full ton!

http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/calculators/calc.pl?calculator=log_weight

pecies: Oak, Pin Small End Diameter: 54.00 Large End Diameter: 52.00 Length: 2.00' Quantity: 1.00 Estimated Weight: 1944

That calculator doesn't allow partial feet, so that weight is low by about 40% -50%. The rounds were about 26-30" thick.

Anybody have a calculator for dry wood? Or do you know a conversion factor? This calculator assumes 75% MC.

 

[indiansprings]

As long as the front end is on the ground enough to steer and the spring shackles don't break, you aren't overloaded.lol

 

[Rudedog]

I've worried about that a couple of times. I have the rear seats folded down and a six foot piece of 5/8 plywood I use as a bed in my Tahoe. I have loaded it to the gills several times and wondered if I was going to ruin the springs. I always unload as soon as possible to reduce the time my suspension has to scream. I don't sell, so I can't justify buying a trailer.

 

[woodbooga]

As long as the front end is on the ground enough to steer and the spring shackles don't break, you aren't overloaded.lol

That used to be what I reckoned for years. Make the most per load. Wood, scrap metal, stone. Whatever.

But my little truck's 10 years, with 170k these days. No more rounded over loads of granite for me. Still load her up good on firewood - esp. if it's seasoned on the stump stuff. I'm a bit more careful with dripping wet greenwood, though.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Lots of Variables on Wood Density

Mark, the difference between dry (12% moisture or less) and wet (40% moisture or more) is huge and varies a lot from species to species. So, it's really had to say what you ran into here. Some wood takes on much more moisture than others and loses enormous weight when it dries. Best examples of that I can think of is mulberry. Willow loses a huge amount of water weight also.

Oak, on the other hand, may not lose that much between wet and dry. But, it takes forever for it to lose it. I think you would be safe in your estimate to add 20% to the density of green pin oak vs. dry as usually shown in the tables, but I fear I am firing from the hip. I remember Tom Trees saying that he cut down a green pin oak and the rounds would actually sink in a fresh water lake. So, he was figuring about 65 lb/cu ft.

If you measure those rounds accurately as cylinders: Vol = Length * Pi(D^2)/4, then you can work out the weight from there based on Tom's experience. Your back must be strong as an ox to be throwing those brutes around.

 

[Dalmatian90]

1140# if bone dried (in a kiln > 212º until it didn't lose any more weight).

How I got to that answer, frankly...I don't understand the math. It involved finding the formula used to calculate Moisture Content on a USFS website, then when I couldn't remember the algebra how to solve the equation when I got to this point:

((1944 - x)/x)=.75

I found an online algebra calculator. The teacher better not ask me to show my work.

x = 1140#

Since that's obviously not kiln dried, let's use the same math to figure it out for 15% which would be typical well seasoned, not sitting on the ground fire wood:

(( y - 1140 ) / 1140 ) = .15

THAT I can still remember how to do:

y - 1140 = .15 x 1140

y - 1140 = 171

y = 171 + 1140

y = 1311# if it was "well seasoned" firewood

By the time you figure in the larger logs sitting on the ground, you might very well be back up to that 1944# range

 

[ray benson]

used 43lbs/ cu.ft. for weight by the cubic ft and got 1317lbs.

 

[Curlycherry1]

Years ago I was removing old deck footings and so day after day I would dig them out and keep adding the pieces to my 1/2 ton truck. The truck's back end was up on a hill so I did not notice the sag until I got it out on the road. It was totally bottomed out. I got to the disposal place and they weighed me full and then I went and dumped the load. They then weighed me empty and it was 3850# of concrete on that poor truck!

I kept the receipt for years to show my friends but my wife cleaned out the glove box one day and tossed that receipt.

 

[Streblerm]

I had a heaped load of pea gravel in a 1978 ford 1/2 ton truck. The operator loading me told me to signal when the load was "good". I waved him off shortly after the truck hit the bump stops. When I pulled across the scale they waved me off and wouldn't give me a weight slip or a bill (probably only $30 worth of gravel at the time). I figure it was close to two tons. That was a scary ride. That truck was underbraked, undertired, underpowered, and undersprung for that much load.

In my current half ton Ford (1995) I'll load it high near the cab and then taper the load as I get closer to the tailgate. I watch the springs and stop when I have an inch or two before hitting the bump stops. I can usually get half a cord or slightly better. I know it is overloaded, but it seems to handle and stop just fine.

That's what trucks are for, right?

 

[demographic]

THIS is an overloaded truck

 

[Rudedog]

THIS is an overloaded truck

Good one. Luckily my truck looks to be in better shape than the one in the video.

 

[clutch25]

I scaled out my Toyota Tacoma once...with 1850# worth of wood in the bed...and it wasn't on the bump stops yet...and I have had it HARD on the bump stops before, so I figured over 2K# worth of seasoned oak, plus a trailer behind it....huh...wonder why my leaf springs broke....

 

[Gatsby174]

I was pissed the first time I loaded my one ton dually flat bed up. It's 7'x12' with 2' sides. I had just put 6 new load range E tires on it and couldn't load the wood higher than the sideboards without the tires touching on the duallies. Then I used the weight calculator on this site and it estimated out to over 7k lbs! Then I had a big grin because the truck hauled it like it was empty, just the tires couldn't take anymore! Needless to say I've hauled many more loads since then. Figure with green wood it holds a little more than a full cord. God I love that truck!

 

[STLfirewood]

When I was in high school dad use to fatten between 30-35 head of cattle every year. I would pick up feed 2 ton at a time. I did this every 4-5 days when they were on full feed. I used my truck quite often. It was a 1983 Dodge 150 4x4 with a 318 and a 4-speed. I would put 2 tons on it all the time. One time I had 4650lbs on it. I had a couple salt blocks and some water softener salt. I dumped the clutch in first (dumb kid) and broke the rear u-joint and yoke. I had to pull the drive shaft and drive it in 4x4 to finish making it home. I learned a lesson because I had to unload the feed in a different barn and carry it 3 times the distance to feed the cattle. After that day I'm no longer hard on equipment.

Scott

 

[howellhandmade]

Yeah, that calculator is a real eye-opener. I just went out and measured the logs from the last load I hauled with my Ranger and came up with 1730 lbs. Rode like a Cadillac. I guess those Roadmaster springs are helping even more than I thought.

Jack

 

[banshee67]

i dont even wana think about what i do to my f150

i definitely could use a set of helper springs to say the least.

 

[turnkey4099]

As long as the front end is on the ground enough to steer and the spring shackles don't break, you aren't overloaded.lol

Well.....I once hauled a really heavy load of RR ties on a 1/2 tone PU 30 miles. Had to replace all 4 shocks the next week

Harry K

 

[dingeryote]

In 06' our primary Hauler went down with a case of GM fuel pump blues, at the same time we were harvesting.

The Load on the trailer was 10 Skids of full lugs and it had to go 3 Miles.
Trailer weighs just over 3k empty.

Wifes 1993 F-150 pulled it out of the sandy(think Beach) field, up the hill to the road and to the receiving station. Not fast mind you, as I watched the rear frame of the truck flexing as the wife drove out of the field.


Total weight of the load was just over 11k plus the trailer.

Half tons are great for most things, and we all figure ours is unstoppable, but dangit, that frame flexing and the brakes having to be pushed to near the floor to even slow down was an eye opener.
They DO have a limit LOL!!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

I'm guilty of constantly overloading trucks and they will give up occasionally. One needs to keep that in mind when travelling at speed if travelling on the road very far. As my former boss used to say, "It's only steel."

I've had top leaf springs break and broke a frame on a Chevy 3/4 ton. Snapped in 2 pieces just ahead of the front spring perch on the rear axle.

Truck in pic was a workhorse that hauled a lot of weight in it's day. It was a 1 ton but this was an average load. We got in with a clearing crew that was putting a gas pipeline in and they gave a 1 month to take whatever we wanted. We'd cut while it was wet and haul rounds to split later. Loaded by hand load after load. Incidently, that truck never broke because of weight, it just rusted out so bad it was retired. Shackles and spring perches were paper thin and flexing.

Just remember to keep the speed down and take responsibilty if something happens.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I've had my Nissan loaded like that more than once.