How much wood (in cords) can my Ranger haul?

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Mt Ski Bum

Minister of Fire
Feb 23, 2011
535
Dillon, Mt
Hi everyone-

I have an extended cab Ford Ranger (with a topper), & was wondering if anybody had an idea of how much wood it can haul. I want to say 1/3 of a cord- maybe 1/2 of a cord? I'm asking mainly because with forest service firewood permits, you have to record how much wood you remove each trip.

EDIT: for people concerned about axle load, I will be hauling pretty much exclusively dry pine/fir, & my truck has handeled full loads before just fine. :)
 
On a full sized half-ton pickup, I use the following estimates for split wood:

1/3 cord = neatly stacked in a 6 ft. bed up to the top of the walls.
1/2 cord = neatly stacked in an 8 ft. bet up to the top of the walls.

I don't have much experience with midsized pickup trucks, but I assume weight will be a limiting factor before you get the Ranger filled.
 
I have sold many loads in Ranger pickups. You will only get about 1/6 of a full cord (1/2 face cord) in it. Maybe a little more if you stack it, but not much more.
 
My ranger will haul 1/3 of a cord pretty regularly if it is stacked neatly. The bed is 6ft long, 4ft wide and if you stack 2 ft vertically you have 6X4X2= 48 Ft. cubed and 48/128 = .38 Cord. I must have hauled close to 1/2 cord of red cedar last weekend. But the weight was far less than if it had been 1/3 cord of green oak. How high you stack will depend on how heavy the wood is. Have fun and don't bend your axle or blow any tires hotrodding around!
 
quads said:
I have sold many loads in Ranger pickups. You will only get about 1/6 of a full cord (1/2 face cord) in it. Maybe a little more if you stack it, but not much more.

+1.

If it's green wood you'll be on the bump stops before you run out of room, not that that has stopped me in the past.
 
If you load your Ranger till it sets down on the rubber nubs you will take longer to stop...because of the weight... and you might change the steering geometry. Just a thought...more then one overloaded pickup has been in a wreck because the driver was bein' macho...:) Oldmainer
 
Mt Ski Bum said:
Hi everyone-

I have an extended cab Ford Ranger (with a topper),, & my truck has handeled full loads before just fine. :)

There you go, get a full load, Unload & stack it up on some pallets & measure the cubic feet.
Roughly 43 cubic feet is 1/3 cord.
Cubic feet divided by 128: 43/128 = .33 (1/3) cords
 
Oldmainer said:
If you load your Ranger till it sets down on the rubber nubs you will take longer to stop...because of the weight... and you might change the steering geometry. Just a thought...more then one overloaded pickup has been in a wreck because the driver was bein' macho...:) Oldmainer

+1. Better safe than sorry !!
 
I have a load of ash coming in a Ranger on Friday, I'll let you know how much is on board.
 
0 lol
 
smokinjay said:

They will catch on to that...better to claim an armload per trip.
 
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