What size truck do i need to handle the weight?

[ms310]

not worth it

I cant see hauling that stuff 300 miles. My brother has a chevy 2500 deisel and our dump trailer is 7x16 hauls around 8 face cord... ricks. It gets a little squirelly at times pulling it when she is full... Fuel will eat you alive if you figure 4.75 a gallon on 15 mpg loaded it will take 20 gallons about 100 dollars and two new tires for the ones that overheated and blew out another 200 etc etc

 

[cityevader]

Here is a chart for green wood weights. Red or white oak could weigh around 5000 lbs. a cord.
http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/forestry/g05450.htm

I choked at that website's cost per cord $40 ?!?!? In these necks of the woods, oak and madrone are $350 per cord, and they're ALWAYS actually 2/3 cord and green...like, still having sucker branches with green leaves...like, stick that split piece of wood in the ground and grow a new tree!!

Sorry, what was the question again?

 

[wdchuck]

I've used a gasser, 3/4 ton pickup and a 14k# dump trailer, filled to 3' high in both, and made it just fine, even braking at stops was pretty easy, trailer had brakes.

A 14k# dump trailer rents for $110/day around here.

Maybe a gooseneck flatbed, and lots of binders.

Call an equipment rental company somewhere along your route, see what/ or if, they would recommend anything.

300 miles, 10 miles per gallon max, even a diesel won't fare much better, two days driving, looking at some serious coin there.

 

[Nathan75]

use some math

I get 22-23 mpg empty in an 04 and about 16-18 loaded @ 12k. Figure it out if it is worth it to you. On a side note, I have been experimenting with used waste cookin oil while our weather is warm in ohio. I recently ran about 90 - 95% waste oil and still get 20 - 22 mpg going to work and back with very little decrease in power. This is in a common rail diesel. Fuel @ 4.50+ makes us do strange things.

Nathan

 

[Liddell]

Too bad it's so far away

I'd have to give that one a thumbs down, unless you are already going there for some reason. That's a long way.

Nice looking trees, but are they worth it?

I deliberated on one that is about 45 miles away for some time and almost gave it a negative. I answered a Craigslist ad for free firewood. It is oak, hickory and poplar. Some is 20". There are ten trees on the ground and ten to cut. So, I decided to go with it because I am over that way (within 15 miles) pretty often, and that is a lot of wood. Plus, he doesn't expect me to take the small stuff. Still, I am not happy about spending that much in gas to get wood. It's almost free, though. And, it will be FUN, good work.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

if its not even two cords its not worth the $$$

You will be leaving a lot of wood behind if you are figuring 2 cords.
Yeah, I know you are figuring on 2 cords maxing out the truck.

If they are family it might give you more reason to go there more often to visit and come back with a load of wood each time. If it is wife's family gives you a reason to be someplace else while she is catching up with family. Gives her dad a reason to not be stuck in the house too..

CAD is a contageous disorder pass it on to her dad. LOL He just doesnt know he is in the market for a big saw.

 

[Junkfxr]

I cross scales regularly at 15k+ pulling a trailer with a K2500 w/ a 454. Weight distribution and GOOD trailer brakes and tires are the key but a 5 hour drive for free wood...I dunno.

 

[urhstry]

All in all I would say it wouldn't be worth your time. BUT if you are going there already and take a truck, you might as well borrow a trailer and get some wood. Free is free. But once you're done, you might look back at the whole ordeal and say, I should have just saved my time and bought a cord or two of wood off that guy down the road.

 

[Andy99]

All in all I would say it wouldn't be worth your time. BUT if you are going there already and take a truck, you might as well borrow a trailer and get some wood. Free is free. But once you're done, you might look back at the whole ordeal and say, I should have just saved my time and bought a cord or two of wood off that guy down the road.

I was thinking that too. But with wood here around $200 plus a cord I hate passing it up. but if Its going to cost me 150 a cord to get it its just not worth it...

 

[Wood Doctor]

As already posted, you are looking at close to 12,000 pounds for green white oak, 2.5 cords. These two trees would have to be big to deliver that, but it is entirely possible. The big trunk billets will also weigh more than two men can lift (400 to 600 lb), so you should find a hydraulic power lift as well. The other option is to rent a log splitter and take it along, splitting before you load.

Now you know why seasoned oak firewood goes for at least $300 to $400 a cord, especially in your neck of the woods. And, you understand why so many men are trying to build their own log splitters.

I'm moving out of my office bay next month and have a cord of oak firewood stacked and drying in my garage there that I cut last year. It's probably worth more than all my old PCs and various printers and miscellaneous equipment put together.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

its far over 300 miles and looking like its not worth it even for the free wood.
But I was heading there to visit anyway

That would be some expensive free wood!


I know how you feel - it's hard to turn down free, but this is a long way from free. I get my wood free, but even then, I have to ask if it's worth a special trip. It's great as long as I'm going that way anyway, but...

 

[Wood Doctor]

Let's Get to the Bottom Line

its far over 300 miles and looking like its not worth it even for the free wood. But I was heading there to visit anyway

Andy, if you're objective is to try to save a few bucks to heat your home, believe me, it doesn't work that way. Over 600 miles round trip to rent a big truck, find two chain saws to operate for at least a day, load up six tons of oak and thus collect a couple of cords of wood that you still need to stack, season for a year, finally carry to a stove, then light a good fire for backup heat and tend to the stove?

Bottom line. Forget it. I guess am hungry, but I am not starving. Glad I live in Nebraska. :jawdrop: