Wood Hauling Truck

[Elderthewelder]

Personally I wouldn't consider hauling 1/2 cord of green oak in a four door Tacoma/Frontier/Ranger/Dakota. A half cord of green oak is ~2800lbs. While its not true that it is illegal to exceed the mfg weight sticker on the truck in the US, exceeding it by 1500+lbs in this class truck is dumb. You'd have to add E rated tires and airbags and even then might bend the axle or frame if you hit a dip too fast.

Pics of a full load of Oak in my 2002 Nissan Frontier, yeah, it may have been a little overloaded

That's a "full load"

Really?

No, but that first pic is. Well I may have been able to fit another quarter or half round in their. Those rounds may look small, but they were heavy as hell, was some pin oak from a huge tree that crashed down on a lady's house in Bellevue, Wa a few years ago, still have a bit left of it in my wood shed that I save for the colder days like we had recently.

I did not have my flatbed then and used the Nissan, made about 4 trips with it, it was definitely loaded!

here is what i took out of her yard, another guy took about the same

 

[WoodMann]

Green Oak, and the truck will be fully loaded. 3/4 ton minimum. One more detail about the stouter truck, ther than just the springs and brakes. The rear axle is a full floating unit as opposed to semi- floating. This is Manna from Heaven for hauling. I see a 3/4 ton with your name on it out there...........

 

[Vic99]

Thanks to all who replied.

I've decided to split the difference and get a :larger capacity" 1/2 ton and a small trailer for towing. After putting word out I've come into a a good deal on a well-maintained 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 long bed regular cab and towing package from a friend. Probably only put only a few thousand miles on it a year and use it as a second car, for wood, small construction projects, etc. Wife may use it sometimes too.

By the book it can tow 9,500 lbs and the difference between the curb weight + me and GVWR and is about 2200 lbs. My mechanic gave me the green light. Truck alone won't handle a 1/2 cord of green red oak, but can get a 1/3 cord of most anything I think. Filling with pine should be no problem. Have to be realistic about multiple uses, not a wood only truck. Will buy a trailer within the year depending on money. Probably start another thread when trying to figure out what trailer makes sense.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I bet this is how Pilate felt after the crowd chose to free Barabbas. . .

 

[Highbeam]

Might be too late for you but NEVER trust curb weight from some spec sheet. It will always be wrong. The "curb weight" of my 98 K1500 chevy was supposed to be somewhere in the mid 4000 range and it was 5800 freaking pounds. Curb weight does not include options like carpet, 4x4 gear, the v8 engine you probably have which is nice BTW, fuel, etc. Your actual legal payload will be far less than you think you are getting and you will have to decide whether you want to take the risk or not.

That truck is great for the daily driver crowd since it will get good mpg and be very comfortable to drive. Very soft suspension and very low real payload.

Oh, same thing about the "tow rating". You will never be abble to tow that much legally, 9500 is scary really. You need to get the GCWR from GM and subtract the actual weight of the truck to get best case trailer weigth. My one ton F350 can only tow 12500 which is GCWR less the actual truck weight and I assure you, the F350 is far more than 30% more capable than the chevy 1500.

Good luck vic, I own a 2001 GMC yukon which is the same thing really and the GMs of that timeframe were very nice drivers. Very dependable and low bed heights for loading.

 

[Beowulf]

OK, just to further muddy the water:

Both of these two babies are sorely tempting for UNDER $3,000:

Extracted from the San Diego Craig's list a few minutes ago:

F700 dump truck (6 yards Whoo Hoo!) Maybe 2 cords?

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/1530398513.html

F700 crane truck (I can just picture dragging logs out of unusual places with this!) :bug:

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/ctd/1532106170.html


If you want to pony up a couple more bucks (under $6,000) :lol:

F800 boom truck (now those hard to reach dead oak limbs are mine!)

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/ctd/1526272164.html

But seriously folks; I think I might pick something like this up, if I can find one that is also 4x4 drive. I think with the right tires, a 2wd with duals and posi-trac would be ok most of the time, but on the mountain in the winter, 4x4 is proably a must have.

 

[hornett22]

i have 1986 Chevy C30 dump with a box between the cab and bed.it's a 350 with manual trans.rear brakes and leaf springs just redone.it has 80K on it.it's 2wd with rust on bottom of doors,rockers,and cab corners.some holes in the bed but easily repaired.doesn't matter much for wood.new radiator. runs great good wood hauler.holds a split tossed cord easy.

i'm in Connecticut near Hartford. i'd take $2500 for it.

i may be selling a solid 1985 Toyota 4x4 pick up soon as well.

my cell is 860-916-3290 and i'm up until at least midnight. thanks,Steve

 

[JeffRey30747]

I have a '01 Tacoma Double cab 4WD V6 pickup and would not recommend it to anyone who plans on hauling much wood. Most of the 5'x5' bed is behind the axle so it squats something terrible with very little load. I once put 1200 lb. of sakrete in it as close to the cab as possible and it still looked overloaded. I would say that the '85 4cyl 4WD that died from frame rust was a much more capable hauler than any Tacoma I have seen. '85 and back Toyotas have leaf springs in the front instead of IFS. The ride isn't as nice but the leaf springs are a much tougher system. The Tacoma does handle a trailer better than the previous Toyota with its more powerful engine. The Tacoma is my daily driver (18-21 mpg gas) and does fine with small loads (below 800 lbs.) in the cargo area.
All that being said, I have the F350 (10-14 mpg diesel) for when I need a real truck. If you are going full size anyway, look at the 3/4 & 1 tons. Much more truck for not that much more money. The small trucks do still have their benefits, especially if you are in a tight area. My old '85 would go places that the 350 just will not fit into and all else being equal I still prefer to drive the smaller trucks except for long trips despite the fact that I am 6 feet tall and 190 lbs. If you are much taller/bigger though you won't fit into a small truck near as well.

It looked over loaded cause it was! whats the payload capacity on that truck?

It may have been overloaded. If so, it wasn't by much and my point was that 1200 lb. of wood (1/4 cord?) filling the entire bed was going to affect the truck more than 1200 lb. of concrete sitting almost directly over the rear axle. These little trucks are drivers and incidental haulers not what I would have expected from my previous experience with Toyota trucks. Life is full of compromises.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

I have a 97 Nissan king cab pickup bought new end of 97. Never gave me any problems and I can fit and haul at least a 1/2 cord no problems. Never had any issues and now I have 110,00 miles racked up. King cab comes in handy for extra space that stays dry.

How ya figure to get a 1/2 cord in a Frontier? Forget about weight, the volume - which is the standard for how a cord is measured- how ya make it fit?


Oh . . . . . . You had reference to the Girly-man cord!My bad :lol:

 

[Beowulf]

Ok, finally bought a woodhauler and general purpose truck to sit on the mountain, mostly.

1999 F350 XL, Dually, 124,000 miles, 4.30 Limited Slip, 4x4, V10, AC with rebuilt auto. newish tires, not much for other frills; paid $3,250.

Gas milage is in the 10 mpg range, but I doubt that I will drive it more than a couple of thousand miles per year. GVW is 15,000.

It has a utility bed, which looks goofy for wood hauling, but it gives you a 4x12 flat surface that opens up between the boxes. Boxes will hold a lot of saws, axes, rope, etc. Should be able to scrounge wood with it, put a plow on the front and keep the drive reasonably clear.

It is amazing how cheap some of the gas hogs like this one have gotten.

 

[Flatbedford]

Looks like a great truck. I think you may have stolen it at that price. Good luck with it. You will love the power of the V10.

 

[Highbeam]

Great buy! The 15000 GVWR is excellent considering that my F350 SRW is only 9900.

 

[70marlin]

3/4 ton 4 x 4 full bed old truck. Dud it's a wood truck!

 

[Mainely Saws]

I like using a trailer behind the 4x4 to haul wood for a number of reasons .

1) All the wear & tear is put on the trailor instead of the truck & the trailer can be repaired or replaced a LOT cheaper than a 4x4 truck can.

2) A trailer can be disconnected & parked when not in use .

3) there is a minimal cost to register a trailor .

4) you can haul a load of wood in the trailor , disconnect it & drive away without unloading it right at that moment if you don't want or need too .

5) it's easier on the tow vehicle to pull a load as opposed to carrying the load .

Just my 2 cents worth ...

 

[Tony H]

I have been using a trailer 15' dual axle and towing it with my chevy 1500 van the van tows ok but with the loads I can put on the trailer I should have brakes and a bigger tow vehicle would be nice but with as many vehicles as we have it's not in the cards right now.
To check your new 1500 weight get a load of scrap steel and go to the local salvage yard they will weight you in and out so you will know what the real empty weight is. My van came in at 6050 lbs with a full tank of gas and only me riding and a few tools in back. Yes it's a full sized conversion van so the weight is about what I expected.
When you look for a trailer see if you can locate a dual axle they are safer if you blow a tire can haul more and are easier to back up as they turn more gradually than a shorter single axle. That being said alot of single axles will work fine also just watch the overloading you don't want to blow a tire at speed with a full load of wood. I even lost an axle with one trailer the axle came out entirly bounced over a car and down in a deep wooded culvert that was not pretty Lucky when I left I took the plate to put on another trailer so I could drive back and get the thing .... but when I came back the trailer and all the wood were gone !! I figure the county must have come and loaded it after some one complained but it was all the way off the road , last I ever saw that trailer.

 

[Beowulf]

Well, spent a little time in the woods this week with the new to us 1999 F-350 4x4 dually mentioned earlier in this thread. I was a little skeptical about the 12' utility bed, but it made the truck cheap to purchase, so took the chance. Sure glad we did.

It seems the boxes are exactly 18" deep, so rounds or splits stack in them rather nice. Total capacity, without leaving the top open and stacking above the 4'x 12' x 2' bed is about 196 cubic feet, including all the side boxes. It seems to handle the weight of green oak stuffed into all the available space pretty well. Got us into some places I did not expect to get into.

I think the next option is a winch on the front. Been looking at both hydraulic drive (off the power steering pump) and electric drive winches in the 10,000 lb range. I am thinking hydraulic may be the way to go, but looks like $750+ so a little hard to get enthusiastic about. Cut up a 20" oak branch into rounds and carried it up a steep bank last week. I think a winch would have been a lot more fun. (ok there is my enthusiasm.)

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Nice truck. I agree with the winch idea, and hyrdaulic would've been my choice. For long pulls, you may want to install a hand-throttle. Keep the RPM's up a bit, faster pull. I went with a Smittybuilt XRC-8(8K) winch on the back of my K-30. Slow winch, but for $300, I have no complaints. Plus I'm currently winching downhill, on 28-35 degree slopes. Oh yeah, plumb in an in-line power steering cooler, you'll need it.

 

[Flatbedford]

all th ethose side boxes are awesome. Nice that wood tits in them. They must also be great for the saw and other tools.
I recommend one of these about 60" long to unload that 12' bed.
http://peaveymfg.com/katahdin.jpg
http://peaveymfg.com/pickeroons.html
I just bought a 36" Katahdin. It makes pulling the rounds out of the truck much easier. Less climbing on and off the truck. I have to get a longer one so I can reach all the way to the front of my 9'bed.