Pick up truck wooden racks

I have an offer to get all the split firewood I need. It's a collective effort of 4 to 5 guys and with all of us working it should take no time to get all of us supplied with wood. Wood is delivered to the site for free and we take care of the rest. I have to travel @70 miles to get it and want to maximize the amount I carry back in my truck. I am going to construct some wooden sides and have ageneral idea of what I am gonna do, but if there is anyone with any experience or tips please pass them along. Thanks

Rent a dump trailer. Seriously, at 70 miles you are paying a lot for wood so you need to maximize the amount of wood on each trip. Your Dmax will not even haul one cord (about 3500 lbs) as payload but it has a tow rating well over 10,000# for a bumper pull trailer. It will be safer and more efficient in terms of time and gasoline to tow the majority of the wood.

+1 on what higbeam said

I'd do 4ft high 3/4" plywood sides braced with 2x4's and tow a dump trailer

Kind of far away but got a little over a cord !

70 mile each way or round trip? I don't think a pickup can carry a cord of wood safely that far even with
sides,

Well, she doesn't look like she's sagging any... use your best judgement, be safe.

I'm not sure if the west coast has lighter wood or not, but a cord of hardwood around here weighs about 5000 Lbs.

Bammer, Check your GVW and subtract the weight of your truck and you will then find out how much wood you can legally haul. They don't bother pick-ups as much as big trucks (usually), but if you were to get into a wreck and were found to be overweight, it could pose a little extra trouble for you. I always like to stay at or under the GVW weight. The Dump Trailer suggestion is a pretty good idea, but check your GCVW for that one.

Bill

Stacked up it came out to a hair over a cord. Truck handled it without any trouble,it is 63 miles 0ne way or 126 miles round trip.

Fuel used was $40.65 for the whole trip.

Hope to do one more load and I'll be set for the season. Next year I'm looking into the trailer idea as I will be making more trips.


I don't know for sure but a cord of wood weighs 5000 lbs???? That seems way high as i recall hauling 2 cords in Chevy Mason dump in the late eighties and there was no way there was 10,000 lbs on that truck!

^Well Bammer with the price of a cord being what it is in CT I'm thinking that you're coming out ahead. Another big plus that's difficult to calculate it that you're doing this with your buddies and many hands make heavy work lite. If I were in your shoes I'd do that for as long as I could and stock up.

With 3-4 guys, a backhoe with a thumb,a JD tractor with a splitter, it makes easy work of it. We cranked out better than 2 cord in an hour!

Good haul! I now have a truck pretty much just like your picutred chevy but a F350 with powerstroke. I weighed it and it was 7300 lbs with a 9900 lb GVWR. The GVWR on your chevy is also under 10,000. So you were not legal but many of us can tolerate a little bit of rule breaking.

Depending on the species and the greenness of the wood it could be pretty light (poplar) to very heavy (madrona) out here in the NW with similar ranges across the country. We know that a cord of anything weighs more than a single rear wheel truck can legally carry.

You on PUTC too?


If I was overloaded I really couldn't tell,I just didn't feel it. Rode right by 4 State Troopers directing traffic at a fair,they paid me no mind whatsoever! All wood was dry maple/oak/poplar.

I have spent some time on PUTC in the past. Thats pickuptruck.com right? But it's been a long time and it was before moving to the Ford. I spend a good bit of time on tractor sites and even RV sites where the issue of overloaded towing/hauling comes up quite a bit. My chevy half ton was not a very capable hauler if I stayed legal but I found ways to safely load it well beyond the ratings. There was a great opportunity to step up to the one ton so I went for it. So far it's great.

I'm BamBam on PUT.com. I remember you had a 98 K1500 decked out with lots of stuff to boost capacity?

Thanks for the insight.

Good god...what are you hauling...balsa wood...or have the suspension welded solid? Most trucks will be squatting pretty good once the wood is stacked close to the bed rails. Throw in a little extra wood in the center, and that is probably all the wood I'd want to haul on a 70 mile trip.

But absolutely go with the trailer - you'll pay for that in gas savings alone.

Next time you have a true full cord of seasoned hardwood, run it by a scale to see what it weighs. I estimate green hardwood at about 5,500 lbs. The stuff is heavy.

I also agree with the poster who said that the wood you had was either real light or your springs were welded. It's true, your truck didn't look loaded down at all. I've sold wood on 1-Tons, 2-Tons and Pick-ups and my '66 C-10 1/2 ton would look loaded down with just a "Pick-Up Load" which is just a little more that a third cord.

Bill

I say this in all honesty that the truck didn't look or feel overloaded at all! The guys I was working with were amazed and they are Ford guys and don't hesitate to rib!

My suggestion is that you get someone who ones a 10 wheeler or a dump tracktor trailer to join your group that way you could bring back all the wood at once .

Bammer they had a topic going here about 4mos ago on pick ups carrying capacity...and it was rare for a veh to carry a full cord of green wood. Good for you if you can do it safely cause traveling that distance I'd want to maximize my load too. You guys heading out cutting this weekend too? Hope ya all have a productive and safe weekend. Oh and if you know what kind of axle you have check with fossil, he's an engineer and know things like the size axle could be the weak link in hauling capacity no matter how the springs are beefed up...but it depends on the ax.

Wood is seasoned.

Truck is an 07 Chevy 2500HD with a D-Max and allison transmission.

I haul a cord of seasoned beech(90% of our inventory is beech) several times daily when delivering in my single wheel F350. With dump and empty it weighs 6000lbs. GVW is 9900 lbs. I'm probably a little over but not by much.It sags about like Bammers Chevy. Handles decent also.

Fossil knows alot, but nobody but the GM engineer will know what the weak link is. Might be the frame.