2500CTD

I'm tossing around the idea of a garage in the back yard. I got the room, but the ground is not level, looking and a couple dump trailers, and ons size is 9 cubic yards? Just how much is that? I would like to do most of the manual labor for the garage to help keep costs down. How much would a SB truck hold? Just need a reference point, since I cant picture 9 cubic yards.

mikelr

It would be a block of dirt 3' high x 9' long x 9' wide

chaikwa

Length times width times depth divided by 27 will give you the cubic yards needed. (27 cubic feet to the yard)

Example; If a dump bed is 8 feet long by 6 feet wide by 2 feet deep, it will hold about 3.5 yards. (8X6X2=96. 96 divided by 27 = 3.55yds)

I don't know if I'd want to haul 9 yards of dirt in a dump trailer with a pick up tho. I guess it would depend on what KIND of dirt. When I was in the excavation business, I always figured a yard of dirt, on average, would weigh somewhere around 3000lbs. At 9 yards, that would be 27,000lbs. Add the weight of the trailer, and that's a lot to ask from a 3/4 or 1 ton truck in my opinion.

Hope this helps!

chaikwa.

2500CTD

Cool thanks, ok not as hard as I thought it would be. I didn't know dirt weeighted THAT much!! ouch I guess a 2 yrd would be about right. maybe about 10K overall including the trailer.

matthopp

A good estimate for converting yards to tons 1 cy of dirt equalls approximately 1.35 tons, of course this will vary among soil types and conditions.

redramnc

I figured out in my old W200 long bed fleetside that the bed filled level up to the top of the wheelwells was approximately 1 cubic yard and, with the dirt I was hauling (very good ex-garden dirt), it was right at a ton.

Shoveling it in and back out was the real issue - truck didn't care about a ton in the bed and rode better but abused the brakes.

For the heavy clay fill around here the rule-of-thumb is 1.5 tons/yard.

In my younger years when I had more time and energy than money I used shovels. Now I am older, wiser, tireder, and still have no money I either have it loaded and dumped for me or I beg/borrow/steal/rent the proper equipment and do it the easy way. Besides, I always need an excuse for equipment seat time

Hoss

Your shortbed truck would hold APPROXIMATELY two cubic yards if it were filled level with the top. Nine yards is a LOT of shoveling.

BigBlue

I put I think it was 2 or 3 yards in the bed of mine. All I know is that the dirt was stacked up as high as the cab in the middle of the pile and my bump stops were at most 1" above the axle. Needless to say, she didn't stop to well.

2500CTD

All this talk about shoveling, think I'm gonna hafta be extra nice to the misses. But will prolly be more like

59FORD

2500 has the right idea.

whistle while someone else does all that shuvelin

chaikwa

And HOW do you know this Hoss? No wait, lemme guess... that's how much cement it took when you made that concrete liner, right?

chaikwa.

bumpytruck

Heres a formula S.F. X .5 DIVIDED BY 27 WILL GIVE YOU CUBIC YARDS AT 6" THICK So if you have a 1' thick double the cubic yards. In technical terms 1" equals .083 this is for your thickness mutiplier. So 4" equals .33 for your mutiplier. Above .5 represents 6" thick. This will either help or make things worse. Weight varies by moisture content so remember this if this is how you plan on figuring how much you need or can hold in your truck.Hope this helps

59FORD

Get 4 lawyers, put one on each corner. When you can't see their heads......

YA GOTS ENUF DIRT

bumpytruck

Throw a couple politians in there and you have a beautiful thing

030303

Whatcha ya doin puttin that dirt in the boss's hole?