Hauling compost, how full can I fill the bed?

I'd very much like a trailer. However, it's not an option for me at this point .

 

If it were me, I’d buy local and have it delivered. Probably as cheap as the extra gas you are going to use hauling it 350 miles.

 

Just rent it for a day. A dump trailer would be the most convenient but there are cheaper options. It's impossible for any of us to give you an exact weight.

 

Thanks for all the help everyone!

I've decided to transport a reduced load than my original in the bed (again, mulch up to the top of the wheel wells of a DCSB). The sag isn't near as severe as it was loaded up to almost the rail system, and at the end of the day if I'm short on mulch/compost I can always grab some local.

This whole thing was more of a "while I'm here" thing, so I completely recognize the spontaneity and poor lack of foresight on my end.

 

Compost...large part water, the rest will eventually settle in water so more dense than water. So if we assume compost weighs about the same as water...

Water weighs 62lbs/cubic foot

5 foot by 5 foot by 1 foot deep is 25 cubic feet so about 1500lbs as a rough estimate

 

As a millwright it is my JOB to calculate my load and that if any rigging when making a lift. Any accident that occurs WILL result in me being asked for my calculations. This means I can be held liable for my actions. This can include financial ramifications or jail time if there is injury or death.

I have been interrogated by the Ministry of Labour during an accident investigation as a witness. It is no joke. My statement took less than 20 seconds. I was interrogated for almost 5 hours regarding that 20 second statement.

Now many of you are asking WTF does any of this have to do with a load of mulch. Math and liability. If you can’t prove your load is within the capabilities of your vehicle you are negligent. The simple lack of ability to prove you are compliant can deem you negligent even if you are within the capabilities. You are negligent of ensuring you are compliant. Now some WILL argue this is unlikely to ever happen and your chances of ever getting caught are nil. I agree about the likelihood. But the liability is still there.

Now for most people their world doesn’t include calculating “stupid” stuff. It seems silly to care about math when talking about mulch. Read towing threads, mulch threads, over-landing threads and so on and calculations usually get ignored or ratings are discounted as having any validity. People think opinions matter more than math even when the math shows they are overloaded. I will make one last comment regarding ratings. A steel cable for lifting a load is rated at 5X the breaking strength (SWL safe working load). The same cable used for lifting people is rated at 10X of the breaking strength. Same cable different SWL yet same breaking strength. It isn’t about how close you are to failure it often is about how much safety factor is built into the rating. Now do you want the transport truck passing your family to be at the correct safety ratings and capacities or are you ok with that truck operating beyond its capabilities because there is lots of safety rating built in?

 

Just be safe. I’ve max’ed out a Tacoma before (not mine, the loaner from when my frame was coated) and braking and handling was absolutely compromised at full load (1,000# in the bed, solo 200# driver, no gear). I only when a few backroads miles and would never even think about a 350 mile trip in that condition.

It isn’t the truck I’m worried about. It’s the teenage driver who does something dumb in front of you on the highway that you can’t avoid hitting due to the heavy load.

My dad used to say “that last free free beer could end up being the most expensive beer you ever had.” I think the same holds true here - one accident (even not caused by you) could make this free mulch very expensive.

Off topic - I now have trailer envy over that dump trailer. Off to research retrofitting tilt system possibilities....

 

Ah. You get what you pay for. Just load it until you are no longer comfortable. It is a truck.

 

This . 700 miles for mulch. Crazy.
I can get a yard of mulch delivered for $75 bucks around my parts.

 

Mulch actually causes more problems than it solves. Most is made from diseased materials with toxic chemicals and dyes. Most people bank it too close and too high and suffocate their trees. It is a harbinger of fungi the way it is stored.

Makes sense all around.

 

Perhaps, I bank this mulch on the results of my bountiful garden harvest from using it last year. Granted, I'm no green-thumb and am far from a master gardener, but I guess it's one of those things where you stick to what you know works... haven't grown any extra limbs just yet!

I did a poor job explaining this in my original post. I'm not traveling 700 miles for the purpose of getting magical mulch, I was just in town visiting family and a friend who owns some land offered me a bedfull to take back to re-soil my garden. Again, it was kind of a "while I'm here, might as well" thing

 

Gotcha! I've loaded my bed full with 1 yard of mulch. I wouldnt say it stressed the truck, but I knew it was there!

 

My 2 cents: I have taken a yard or compost, soil, or mulch in the bed. I ask the yard about whether it is really wet (heavy), if so, I only take a 1/2 and come back for second trip. They don't charge more for the two fills.

 

Too add to your estimate and another poster's experience, yes a 6' bed will hold (about) a yard (depending on material, heavy solid yes, light and fluffy, not quite)

It usually weighs more than you'd think. Dry topsoil is nearly a ton per yard. I'd think compost would be less but not by a lot.

The stuff you buy commercially is not as good so I don't blame you.

 

I hauled about 1700# of brewers grain for my hogs about 50 miles the other day, shoveled it off when I got home no adverse affects. Braking was diminished, about half the trip was on highway at 60+ no problems

 

I picked up a yard of mulch this weekend and took some pictures...

Yard in the bed

Bump stops not even close...and the mulch was damp/heavy from rain that A.M.
I have a stock 2010 access cab with the TSB 4 Leaf pack...

 

I should really get a tarp, that would have been super nice. Cleaning out the bed after I unloaded everything was a PITA but I knew what I was getting myself into (and have gotten into before) lol