2011 Tacoma TRD Offroad: Hauling Dirt

I need to make a couple of trips to and from a place called Living Earth to get loads of topsoil. Is it OK to have them fill the bed to the brim, or should I do half loads? Will only be driving 10-15 miles on it. I am asking in terms of weight of the load for the suspension.

 

You can go to the top of the bed, just make sure you cover it with a top so it doesn't blow all over the road.

 

Thanks!

 

I'm guestimating here because I can't find exact figures on the density of your particular topsoil or the volume of a short bed on a tacoma but I'd be leery of filling the bed to the top.

Assuming a 5'x5' bed at 2' deep, that's 50 C.F. According to THIS website, topsoil runs around 83#/CF. Doing the math, that comes to approximately 4150#. A bit much for a Taco.

 

yeah... half loads!!!

 

NO WAY a cubic foot of top soil weighs 83 lbs.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Home depot has 1 cubic foot of top soil weighing 33lbs

33lbs x 50cf = 1650lbs

still a little much for the taco which is rated at 1300lbs in the bed or something like that. Although I wouldn't go with a FULL load, I'd say that it is doable. I would stick with like 3/4 loads or just light loads.

 

what's better than owning a trailer?

answer: having a friend that owns a trailer.

i just recently towed 2 yards of topsoil to my home. i used this trailer. really helped to minimize my trips. can you rent/borrow a trailer?

 

You can rent trailers from U-Haul and many DIY landscaping stores too.

For the record I once hauled 1.1 tons of gravel in my '85 I had.
The guy with the giant loader (you know the ones that fill a dump truck in 2 or 3 scoops) jiggled the bucket to get 'just a little more' to slide off into my bed. Well a crap load slid off.

I only had 5 miles to go and it actually handled it pretty darn well.
I would never do it again though.

 

Could be the difference between bank and loose densities. I just did a google search and that's what I came up with.

 

Have the fella loading it dump slow, and cut him off when your truck squats. Dont rest the bumpstops on the leaf springs. Who cares what weighs what.

Tell a guy with an endloader to give you exactly 1350lbs of topsoil and see how much he laughs at you.

 

Well since the Tacoma's bed isn't 5 feet wide, and you loose quite a bit of volume with the wheel wells, and I don't think the bed is two feet deep...you should be perfectly fine with a full load of top soil, as long as it isn't saturated with water.

 

The guy loading it will know when to stop. I wouldn't put 1600 lb in it. Like one poster said, just watch it.

 

I've put two cubic yards of dirt in the bed of my Tacoma and even when going over speed bumps and a curb to get to the site I never hit the bump stops. I have an '09 Access Cab with the TSB springs so that might have made a difference but I never felt like the truck was overloaded, just had to give it more gas!

 

The place you are getting it from should know how much it weighs. Just tell them you can't haul more than 1,200lbs (leaving a little room for error).

Fink

 

You'll most likely buy the topsoil in 1/2 yard increments. A 1/2 yard in my short box fills it 3/4 full and is about all the weight I'm comfortable with including my add-a-leaf.

 

I put a yard (little less than to the brim) of quarry process. Rock. In a 97 access cab. Full load of dirt is nothing in comparison. C'Mon, thought we all believed these were reliable push it to the edge TRUCKS.

 

Full load. here is a pic of my truck filled with about 150 square feet of 4 " thick grass and dirt. Drove 50 miles w no problem.
Check it:

 

I would try a half load first to see how it handles that amount...if everything goes ok, then do full loads. Better to be safe than sorry, even though it should be able to take a full load.