My New Hauler + QUESTIONS

Never owned a truck before in my life so I wasn't brand loyal. My wife & I bought our first home last year and let me go on record right now and say being a home owner with two small vehicles is next to impossible... OK, maybe not impossible, but very difficult. I was constantly borrowing neighbor's trucks or friend's trucks and in a few instances, even rented 10-foot rental trucks from Penske.

We picked up this used '11 Ram Sport 5.7L 4x4 two months ago and am anxious to haul my first load in it. Already came with a spray-in bedliner. Ideally, I'd love to have a utility trailer at some point in time, but this will do for now.

I'm going out to a co-workers land next week to chop some wood and am planning on cutting the wood to length 16" - 18", stacking it tight in the truck and then covering it with a tarp and tying it all down. Any other ingenius way you guys have come up with for making the most of your pick-up during wood hauls? I'm curious to see how everyone else does it.

Thanks!

I think with as much wood as there is out there, I think for this initial run I may just rent another 12' Penske.
It's a 10-mile commute from their land to my place. I'd probably spend more than the cost of the rental ($100.00) in gas money alone going back and forth.
Plus, realistically, what does the bed of a short box pick-up truck hold as far as wood goes? 1/4 cord? 1/8 cord? It can't be much even when cut and split.

AK13 said:

I'd say 1/4 cord in the bed. Maybe 1/3 tops. My Ranger has a short bed, but its probably not as deep as your truck. It holds about exactly 1/4 cord and you wouldn't want to haul anymore anyway because its pretty squat at that weight. I don't think I'd bother covering with a tarp.

Curious why you didn't go with the long bed. With a regular cab I would go with an 8' bed for max utility. Sharp looking truck though.

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Good question. Honestly, we were looking for a truck and I knew I wanted a regular cab from the get go. We don't have any kids and it's just the two of us so having a pick up truck with four full doors seemed unnecessary.

This one showed up in my search and it was too good of a deal to pass up, otherwise I probably would've went with the 8 ft bed. Only 20,000 miles on the odometer and every option except the sunroof. We traded in my wife's VW Beetle and negotiated with the dealer.

Prof said:

I get about 1/4 cord in mine. I don't stack much above the bed rail, so I never bother with tarps, tie downs, etc.--not saying that it isn't a good idea. but there is no substitute for putting the wood in the bed in a purposeful way and not getting greedy. I have an uncle who puts as much above the rail as below. He claims he hasn't lost anything, but I wouldn't follow him! Oh, and I always like to put a dent in a new truck with a piece of wood right away--I figure it will happen sooner or later and I should just get it out of the way My 5 year-old did the honors with my current truck. She thought I was going to be mad, but I was just happy she was helping me load the truck. That is one sharp truck though--maybe you should wait on the dent.

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You're right. I may as well head out to the garage right now, grab a chunk of maple and throw it into a rear quarter panel.
Let's get it over and done with, shall we?

Thanks for the info, too!

Jags said:

Yes - don't do this:
View attachment 133514

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LMAO!!

You guys are fricken awesome.

Thanks for all the great replies!!