U-haul to get wood

I think Dylan is referring to the "Oh chit I broke the U-Haul truck to pieces driving it down a road it doesnt belong on how much will this cost me" syndrome

Whatever the meager rated capacity of that trailer is, you're going to exceed it by a big margin.

I bought firewood once from a guy who rolled up in a U-haul truck. He beat it all to hell.

Sparky7720 said:

I am thinking about renting a u-haul to get free firewood...does anyone know the weight of wood? It will be fir and lodgepole pine and I have to drive about 30 miles on a washboard, snow coverd road.

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How much wood?

I think I remember a cord of oak being in the 4000-6000 lbs range... so less than that for pine.


http://www.uhaul.com/trucks/

They say the 17' "easy loading mover" can handle 5780 lbs so stick two cords in there and BUY the INSURANCE! and DRIVE real SLOW!

Plan on about $50+ $0.60/mile.

You can't take them off road though (as has been mentioned) if that is part of the deal.

Fir and pine come in right around 2000 - 2500 lbs per air dryed cord on most of the charts I have seen. Here is a good one if you can nail down the exact species:

http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/heating_cooling/firewood.html

If you get the standard issue Uhaul 5x9 trailer that would handle a cord in volume but it has a load rating of 1650 pounds. Technically, that won't do. You'd have to step up to the 6x12 which has a max load of about 2600 pounds. Although I can vouch for having seen a 5x9 loaded to about 4,000 pounds, with 30 miles of snowy washboard, I can't recommend it.

Corey

PS - In re-reading - maybe you were talking about renting the whole truck? We had a good thread on that last year...heck we have a good thread on that every year.

Are you saying youve seen pickups with a cord and a half on them???? they must have been stacked 8' high with the rear bumper dragging. Call U Haul and ask them what the weight capacity of each size truck is and then figure at least 2000#s per cord green.

Sparky7720 said:

thanks for the replies sounds like i need to get a larger truck and haul about a cord and a half..i have seen a lot of pickup trucks with that much before maybe they have a stronger axel...and heavy duty springs..

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How far do you need to haul it?

I wouldnt be afraid to go to 150%-175% capacity weightwise as long as you add some extra air to the tires and give yourself a good stopping cushion/and drive on the slow side. If it's say 50 miles or less. But thats just me.

I have to drive about 30 miles on a washboard, snow coverd road.[/quote]

Not sure Id want to do that in an overloaded truck

I cord of wood on a pick up truck:

The pick up truck would have to have a headach rack at the cab , side rails up to the cab height and a tailgate rail at cab hight.

The wood would have to be cut and split and stacked into the truck and fill up to with in a few inches of the cab from front to back and side to side.

Wet/green Oak is going to weigh about 5600 lbs per cord

Wet/green Elm is going to weigh about 5000 lbs per cord

Wet/green Hackberry is going to weigh about 4800 lbs per cord

Wet/green Pine is going to weigh about 3500 lbs per cord

Unless hes talking face cords????

nshif said:

I have to drive about 30 miles on a washboard, snow coverd road.

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Not sure Id want to do that in an overloaded truck[/quote]

I would only overload on paved roads in good condition... You're better off making more trips. Took me about 5 trips to get my 2½ cords of hardwood cross county cause I'm too cheap to pay the rental and I have an interest in not breaking the company van. Too bad they don't rent Unimogs.

Sparky, where are you? If you're hauling lodgepole and fir, sounds like we have another Westerner on board. A ton to a ton and a quarter sounds about right per cord, for standing dead. Lots of guys with 3/4 ton trucks with sideboards will load to above top of the cab around here. Are you cutting and hauling on forest service roads? 30 miles on flat roads with snow isn't bad, but 30 miles of twisty mountain roads-no fun at all, especially with an overloaded rig.

You might also check with Rider or some company other than U-Haul. UH does a terrible job of maintaining the rigs they rent out.

Bri

Ill Agree with point that uhauls are junk. My last rental I drove 100 miles out of my way to rent a Penske..... very good trucks.

Sparky7720 said:

Thanks for the replies. I live in montana and the road is somewhat flat and open it is not like the northeast...with a few tricky curves...supposed to get up to a balmy 40 degrees today so by now most of the snow is melting but supposed to get more snow this weekend...wondering if i should just by a cord now.....it is about 175 a cord split but not stacked probably all pine though...I am running out of time soon there will be lots of snow up there and it will be too hard to haul out without fourwheel drive..I am pretty sure i can do it without overloading the truck...

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Doesn't sound like too bad a spot to get it from. It sounds like you better jump on it, we're getting a good rain/snow mix down low here in Idaho, I'm betting the high country is getting pounded. If you don't get it soon, it sounds like you'll be out of luck till next spring. I'm a cheap bastage, I'd be heading for the woods.

I have had 3,080 lbs of ash in the bed of my '02 2500 2wd diesel Dodge, it was a little pissed off!

I did this with a 17' truck a few months ago. A cord+ of wood won't overload the truck unless it is really, really wet. If anything the truck rides better when loaded. You should give them the $14 insurance. Cheap. Read the caveats on the insurance carefully. Doesn't cover damage to the top/front of truck for example.

I ended up doing it because the usual wood suppliers went bonkers price wise. My cost:

$39.95 for the truck
$0.49/mile for 90 miles
$30 for gas