OK, how much wood can you fit in a truck?

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btuser

Minister of Fire
Jan 15, 2009
2,069
Principality of Pontinha
So I'm giving directions to someone whom I've never seen or heard of so that he can drop off 2 cords of unsplit rounds at my house for $125. I'm looking to jumpstart 2011 because I'm not going to have time this Summer. I ask him what kind of truck he's driving and he says "F150". Red flags start going off and I ask him how many trips it will take and he says two, at which point I mention there's no way he could possibly fit cord of wood in a 1/2 ton truck. He mentions its more compact because it hasn't been split yet. I ask him if he knows a cord of green oak is in the neighborhood of 5000lbs. He hangs up and doesn't call back.

What kind of a truck would it take to deliver 2 cords of hardwood? That's close to 5 tons. I can't see stuffing that into a 1 ton, even if its a drw.
 
Given the price and the truck, he was probably talking face cords.
 
A dump truck or a heavy duty trailer will carry 10K lbs. I sure as heck wouldn't put it in the bed.

Matt
 
Weight wise.....maybe 5/8 a cord of green oak....the truck will float in the front and bottom out in the back. I have found that Firewood Guys don't like to sell cord wood to people that know what a cord actually is.....Mike
 
I would think your red flags should have started going off when you first heard the price . 2 cords of oak for $125,,,, delivered???
I cut, transport, split and stack my own wood, so I know very well the work involved, but I do it for fun and exercise (and to heat the house). But if I knew someone who was trying to cut firewood to earn a living and support his family I would be ashamed to pay anybody less than $200 a cord cut and delivered unless there were extenuating circumstances, like if he was an arborist and was already making cutting down the tree and just needed a place to get rid of the wood, or something similar.
 
Definitely sounds like he was talking face cords. When I get over 1000# in my 1/2 ton Ranger, I know for sure and that is with Timbrens. We had 2 cords of dry, split wood delivered last year. It was in a large, straight sided dump truck that had about a 14' bed on it.
 
when i load my truck up with rounds it will equal about 3/4 of a cord once split. But this is with a 3/4 ton that don't mind the weight at all. If i were to build sides on the truck and take the stacks and tool box out i bet i could get a full cord of rounds in it. It would be way over the legal weight of the truck though.

Here is how mine is usually loaded but i have my tool box in the truck.

so to fit 2 cords it would take something a lot larger than 1 ton pickup.

IMG_0321.jpg
 
Is there a round in the front seat or is there rounds stacked in fron t of the truck that wee can see thru the glass??
 
It was $125/cord. I'm not opposed to paying more if its the real thing, but right about $150 is when I stop buying for two years ahead. I'm sure it was someone who didn't know cordwood. I think I'm almost at the point where "you get what you pay for" but I thought for sure with all this wind we'd have some better pickin's.
 
f3cbboy said:
Is there a round in the front seat or is there rounds stacked in fron t of the truck that wee can see thru the glass??

its the reflection off the glass. I am not that desperate for space haha.
 
I have had a cord on my 3/4 f250 . I have side boards and pile to the top of the cab from the cab to the tailgate . I scaled in at 10,200 . Truck weighs in at 5100 that was 5100 lbs on its back . My GVW allows me to actually haul 8600 so I was a bit over . Most 1 tons will easily haul cord of wood especially if it is a DRW .
 
Don't know if this helps at all, but I just picked up 3 loads of cut and split oak in my 1/2 ton with a 6 ft bed. The first load I just tossed in and the 2nd and 3rd I stacked neatly. The wood was just over the top of the bed, not nearly as high as Archer39's pics, but good loads nonetheless. I paid $150 and it was supposed to be 1 1/2 cords. I haven't stacked it yet to find out.
 
fyrwoodguy said:
truck with round wood is a good "fat cord"

th_SPRINGPUTTOGETHER100.jpg


here's 2 cord 16" ;-)

th_CHECKPHOTOS085.jpg

nice looking old chevy. it looks like it just come out of the showroom.
 
Here's a picture of 1/2 cord stacked in a fullsize 8' bed that I copied from a CL ad. A full cord is a lot for a 1/2 ton truck.
5cordinatruck1jpg.jpg

5cordinatruck2jpg.jpg
 
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