Yard of chip weight?

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Let me know if I'm doing this right:

I'm looking at a truck. The box in the back is 10' long, 6' wide and 5' tall. I'll say 550 pounds/cubic yard of chips. How much will the load weigh when full of chips:

6 x 10 x 5 = 300 cubic feet.

300/ (3'x3'x3') = 300/27 = 11.11 cubic yard

11.11 x 550 pounds = 6,111 pounds

Does that sound right?

Simplified would look like this:

(cubic feet)
-- ----------- x 550
27

which should be the same as

550
----- x Cubic Feet of Box
27

Which should be the same as

Cubic Feet of Box x 20.37

Or more simply if the numbers don't need to be super exact:

Cubic Ft of Box x 20

Am I way off on this?
 
LxWxH /27. Multiply times weight/yard, good to go. Don't forget to figure some loss from the angle of the chips to the tailgate. You'd never fill it full unless you filled from the top.
 
So using my formula of

Weight of chips = 20(L x W x H)

I came up with 7,030 pounds of chips in the box.

Converting the cubic feet to cubic yards then multiplying by 550 pounds/cu yds I came up with 7,160 lbs of chips in the box.

I have a small truck. Box is 4.75' tall, 9.25' long, and 8' wide.

7,000 seems high. Sound right to you?




love
nick
 
I didn't do the math precisely with the exact conversion numbers, but I got more like 5500lbs (for 9.7 cubic meters in the box).
 
Aren't there more variables involved? Different wood/dry or wet? Leaf to wood ratios? Chipper blower capacities? Blade sharpness? Cutter bar adjustments?

Just axing... :drink:
 
That's a lotta chip for a little truck, Nick.

Do you know the empty weight of your truck? Or the GVW (printed usually on a sticker on the side of the driver door, or door jam).

Any truck cops out your weigh (get it?)? Would be good to know the weight of your truck plus load, plus tongue weight of chipper (probably only few hundred lbs for your little cutie). If you have truck cops, your weight can't be more than what's printed on the door, and what you assumed the weight of your wood chips are.

FWIW, a friend was just scaled with about 8 yd of chip and it was 4,000 lbs.
 
I justi weighed it yesterday. No chips, but WITH tools, 9,600 pounds.

My truck holds almost exactly 13 yds assuming its completely filled to the top all the way to the front, ...which it camt be. I bet we lose 2 yds- so lets call it 11yds. So if I tweak the numbers a but and call it an even 500 lbs/yd we get a 5,500lb load of chips.

Plus the truck and tools we are at 15,100 pounds.

I got pulled over by a commercial inspection truck cop. He said, and the DMV confirmed, and call to California Highway Patrol confirmed that the amount on the placard in the truck (14,500) is not a limit, but a recommendation. What matters, they all said, was what I have it registered for.

Learning all this, I pd to have it registered for up to 20,000lbs. I'd rather not f around with it. It cost me another $100 at the DMV to go up to 20K from 15. But I'm right on the cusp, so why not err on the side if caution.

love
nick
 
With the wrong grumpy cop here, that would be a ticket in itself. Registering at a GVWR well above the limit of the truck is a big no no. In the end they just want their money, so they will take it fines or fees.
 
I have never been scaled beside the road, definitely better to pay now than sit beside the road paying crew and tickets
 
A friend got weighed roadside carrying logs, my logs, actually. He was only 700 pounds over his total weight, but 3000 pounds over his rear axle weight rating. The lady cop asked if he was getting paid. He said he was getting a log, but no other compensation, just doing a favor (well not really). She asked if he was married. She then told him to take his wife out for dinner, and go lighter next time. He had his boom and grapples hanging over the back end of the truck and 20' logs on, so he was extra heavy in the rear. Normally, he leaves the 600 pound grapples on site, and folds his boom if he's close, but for whatever reason, he didn't that day. Lucky.
 
NickfromWI said:
I justi weighed it yesterday. No chips, but WITH tools, 9,600 pounds.

My truck holds almost exactly 13 yds assuming its completely filled to the top all the way to the front, ...which it camt be. I bet we lose 2 yds- so lets call it 11yds. So if I tweak the numbers a but and call it an even 500 lbs/yd we get a 5,500lb load of chips.

Plus the truck and tools we are at 15,100 pounds.

I got pulled over by a commercial inspection truck cop. He said, and the DMV confirmed, and call to California Highway Patrol confirmed that the amount on the placard in the truck (14,500) is not a limit, but a recommendation. What matters, they all said, was what I have it registered for.

Learning all this, I pd to have it registered for up to 20,000lbs. I'd rather not f around with it. It cost me another $100 at the DMV to go up to 20K from 15. But I'm right on the cusp, so why not err on the side if caution.

love
nick
Click to expand...

That's not the case up here. You can't load or register for more than is stamped on the truck. I can't believe they allow you to register more than your truck is rated for, and let that be "OK". Let's put 20,000 lbs in a truck that is designed to stop 14,000 lbs, and so on. I'm no angel, let me tell you. My truck can haul a lot more than is stamped on the door, and it did yesterday, but I know for a fact I would not be able to stop the vehicle if I had to.

G luck
 
I don't think that I was legal towing my 4400 pound chipper with my half-ton pick-up, with 4 yards in the back, and no trailer brakes. I drove slowly and smoothly, with LOTS of following distance. That was several years back, before my chip truck came along (ASAP).
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #99
SouthSoundTree said:
I don't think that I was legal towing my 4400 pound chipper with my half-ton pick-up, with 4 yards in the back, and no trailer brakes. I drove slowly and smoothly, with LOTS of following distance. That was several years back, before my chip truck came along (ASAP).
Click to expand...

I have been there and I do not miss those days.
 
My bucket is stamped 28k and I register it for 37k, trailer weight is included in your registration weight. At 28 I couldn't haul the chipper and only a partial load of chips:dur:
 
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