Figuring log weight?

[softdown]

Just hauled 5 different loads using 3 different trailers and two different trucks. Got hot engine or transmission warning light at trip end every time. That with 4 core radiator and transmission cooler upgrade with deeper pan and cooling fins. How much do dry pine logs weigh - educated guess?

Figure 14" log that is 20' long. Dried for two years in Colorado mountains (dry). Ponderosa pine.

 

[atpchas]

You might find this site helpful and I'm sure there are others.
https://www.omnicalculator.com/construction/log-weight
If your wood was green, each log would be approximately 1000 lbs. You'll have to make an estimate of how much drying has occurred.

 

[user 122190]

There is two weights. Heavy and too heavy. Sounds like you got the latter.

 

[Aknutter]

Just hauled 5 different loads using 3 different trailers and two different trucks. Got hot engine or transmission warning light at trip end every time. That with 4 core radiator and transmission cooler upgrade with deeper pan and cooling fins.




Might have a fan clutch going bad, or the fins on radiator need to be blown out (restricted air flow).

 

[Aknutter]

Might have a fan clutch going bad, or need to blow the radiator fins out(restricted air flow)

 

[lone wolf]

Just hauled 5 different loads using 3 different trailers and two different trucks. Got hot engine or transmission warning light at trip end every time. That with 4 core radiator and transmission cooler upgrade with deeper pan and cooling fins. How much do dry pine logs weigh - educated guess?

Figure 14" log that is 20' long. Dried for two years in Colorado mountains (dry). Ponderosa pine.

What truck is it, how many cords you loading and you are in the Mountains right?

 

[Wood Doctor]

Also check your oil level. I wrecked a Ford engine five years ago when a Firestone dealer shorted me two quarts of oil. They had a crew working there that was stealing oil from the franchise and reselling it. The engine ran hot and after 1000 miles it was shot. The owner later told me that the crew stole 400 gallons in three months. He fired them all.

As Lone Wolf said, we would have to know approximate cords in the loads and if the logs were packed. Hills also make a difference and so does the pine species. Southern yellow pine is surprisingly dense.

 

[Trailsawyer]

Truck scales! Weighing is the only sure way of knowing. I'm often surprised at the loads I subject my old F350 to!
"Highway" gearing, and an overdrive transmission could also be contributing to the problem!

 

[Wood Doctor]

Here is a more accurate formula for the volume of a log:

In this case the radius at each end is used rather than the diameter: h is the length of the log, r1 is the radius at one end and r2 is the other end. Using only the center point of the log for the diameter or radius (or half the sum of the two ends) results in a volume calculation that is too low. That's because the area goes up by the square of the radius as you advance from the smaller end to the larger.

It's also the reason I tell guys that when you double the diameter of any log, weight quadruples. Anyone who has loaded a truck with logs notices this immediately. (I hope)

 

[softdown]

What truck is it, how many cords you loading and you are in the Mountains right?

2001 Dodge 3500. Loads were all fine until a 5 mile climb around 9200' elevation. I started calling the last mile "Murder Hill". Last load had 13 25' logs about 14" or so. Very dry. Completed all but the last 1/4 mile that time.

 

[Hard_Yakka]

There is an Iphone App .. Log Weight Pro can be useful at times

 

[northmanlogging]

2001 Dodge 3500. Loads were all fine until a 5 mile climb around 9200' elevation. I started calling the last mile "Murder Hill". Last load had 13 25' logs about 14" or so. Very dry. Completed all but the last 1/4 mile that time.

a conservative guess, 23000# logs only, likely much more, not including truck and trailer.
Unless you have a CDL, be very very careful.
Or in reality, hire a log truck. so you don't kill everyone at the bottom of a hill.

 

[northmanlogging]

But then, I've cautioned you numerous times with your milling adventures, and you continue to blindly forge ahead.
So good luck chuckles, hope you don't get any innocent folks killed.

 

[lwmibc]

You gotta stop what you're doing right now and get someone to haul your logs for you before you kill someone; no-one hauling loads like that should be asking for 'an educated guess' of the weight. The last 6 years before I retired I hauled 3,500 loads (I kept a log) all 105,000 lbs, down out of the coast mountains from landing to sort, with grades up to 30%; I knew the weight of every load within 500 lbs before I left the landing and drove accordingly. Rate yourself against that and make a decision about what you're doing. I hope it is a wise one.

But until you do I'll avoid Colorado. There's just nothing much else to say except that you help me understand why there are so damn many laws and cops and road-checks. It seems they are sorely needed; if you got home without vehicle and load being impounded there are not enough yet.

Imagine--'5 different loads with 3 different trailers and 2 different trucks'--and you got overheat warnings every time and STILL didn't get it; you make Homer look brilliant. Next time you are around a real logging truck ask if you can climb up and have a look at the dash, note all the gauges. Every professional driver that lives keeps them all in the green--ever wonder why?

Good grief.

 

[northmanlogging]

Imagine--'5 different loads with 3 different trailers and 2 different trucks'--and you got overheat warnings every time and STILL didn't get it; you make Homer look brilliant. Next time you are around a real logging truck ask if you can climb up and have a look at the dash, note all the gauges. Every professional driver that lives keeps them all in the green--ever wonder why?

Good grief.

them gauges tell us if we're going to make it home... alive...
They can also say, hey its time to find a pull out and rethink this trip.
I can tell ya from hard experience, that brake failures suck, electric brakes more so, even one wheel not working correctly can double stopping distances, overheating them (because of wildly overloaded) causes ALL OF THEM TO FAIL, then what? engine wont hold a load that big, so ditch? oncoming traffic? hope for a guard rail?
Or maybe the trailer brakes just don't work, so you slam on the truck brakes, which causes a nearly instant jack knife, really probably the best of all situations as it generally kills the driver and not some clueless yokel on their way home from picking up the kids.
Or you burn up the critically overloaded axle bearings, the wheels just... come off... then what?
That 3500 in yer dodges badge, stands for 3500# load capacity, thats all the axle is designed to hold, there will also be a towing capacity, and thats what the engine and trans is rated for, notably not the brakes, so can it pull it maybe, but stop it probably not.

 

[northmanlogging]

You gotta stop what you're doing right now and get someone to haul your logs for you before you kill someone; no-one hauling loads like that should be asking for 'an educated guess' of the weight. The last 6 years before I retired I hauled 3,500 loads (I kept a log) all 105,000 lbs, down out of the coast mountains from landing to sort, with grades up to 30%; I knew the weight of every load within 500 lbs before I left the landing and drove accordingly. Rate yourself against that and make a decision about what you're doing. I hope it is a wise one.

But until you do I'll avoid Colorado. There's just nothing much else to say except that you help me understand why there are so damn many laws and cops and road-checks. It seems they are sorely needed; if you got home without vehicle and load being impounded there are not enough yet.

Imagine--'5 different loads with 3 different trailers and 2 different trucks'--and you got overheat warnings every time and STILL didn't get it; you make Homer look brilliant. Next time you are around a real logging truck ask if you can climb up and have a look at the dash, note all the gauges. Every professional driver that lives keeps them all in the green--ever wonder why?

Good grief.

Ya know, I hate the Commercial enforcement cops, but I do admit they keep a lot of really janky trucks off the roads, I've met far to many folks that don't understand why they do random inspections and whatnot, its because of clueless idiots, so in this case, this is one type of american copper that I grudgingly respect, cause more often then not they have been very fair with me and professional.

Can't say the same for most of the other piggies around here though, lots of ego behind a badge sprinkled with just a little too much fear... makes a tense situation dangerous

 

[Billhook]

 

[Billhook]

One and a half ton log this time

 

[lwmibc]

Ya know, I hate the Commercial enforcement cops, but I do admit they keep a lot of really janky trucks off the roads, I've met far to many folks that don't understand why they do random inspections and whatnot, its because of clueless idiots, so in this case, this is one type of american copper that I grudgingly respect, cause more often then not they have been very fair with me and professional.

Can't say the same for most of the other piggies around here though, lots of ego behind a badge sprinkled with just a little too much fear... makes a tense situation dangerous

I'd never identify the victim of Colorado Clown as a clueless yokel; could be my wife or yours. If my age, maybe a grandkid. Someone asking a question like that should be taken off the road; setting out without knowing how heavy your load is is, or should be, criminal. How and why did he get a license without knowing that proper loading IS his responsibility?

In all that driving--NOT ONE citation or ticket for anything so I too have respect for what we call CVSE up here. I did all my own maintenance--why would you let someone else touch your brakes?--and there was never a flaw found. That's simple proof that it can be done.

Ever done a horsepower calculation for how much energy is required for a panic stop with 100,000 lbs?--it's up around 150,000 horsepower IIRC. I did that while sitting in an airbrake course lecture years ago; forgot about engine being my number one concern as I stared down at the calculation I'd just done. Then engine became #3 just as soon as I thought about steering tire failure with a load--granted that you can mitigate that with trailer brakes if you're quick enough and your hand isn't shattered.

And I'm one person you would never see with my thumb inside the steering wheel, despite being years retired. Habit.

So if Colorado Clown had overheat indications on power train--just imagine how far above braking capacity he was. And he didn't even know enough to not come on a site like this and ask the question that he did. Like I said--

Good Grief.

 

[slimbo3006]

2001 Dodge 3500. Loads were all fine until a 5 mile climb around 9200' elevation. I started calling the last mile "Murder Hill". Last load had 13 25' logs about 14" or so. Very dry. Completed all but the last 1/4 mile that time.

Well I think we found the source of your overheating issues...