Don’t want to overload gravel how do I tell when?

I built a couple 6 foot by 8 foot by 18 inch deep garden beds earlier this year including a river rock surround. I hauled several loads of rock and soil in doing so. The truck handled a 1/2 yard of material for each trip. I wouldn't go any more than that though.

 

Load it up, she can take it!

 

Thanks guys/gals! Ok so I made my runs split it into 2 trips but I got about 15 cubic feet the first haul and didn't feel a thing in the truck. Got a bit greedier the 2nd haul and took about 20 cubic feet, still worked well but I could feel the weighty ass in the corners as it kind of wanted to steer me a tiny bit.

Unloaded suspension was about 7.5" tire to well, and loaded it was just over 5" tire to well with the bump stop just a finger width away from touching, and my leaf spring was bent upwards.

 

man card in the mail

 

Imagine 4 fat guys weighting 300 lbs each

 

I work around people that weigh quite a bit more than that, kinda sad actually.

 

Ya I found through experience (including working in construction several years) it's better to take more trips if possible rather than break something. Glad it worked for you. I gotta say though, get a big boy / man shovel.

 

lol that’s a poly transfer shovel. I can move twice as much as your metal “man shovel” can. It fills a wheelbarrow in 4 scoops. They’re really useful as the plastic doesn’t scratch things up.

 

Rough calculation using 5 gallon buckets.
41 full-to-brim buckets equal one loose cubic yard. A loose cubic yard of dry sand & gravel will weigh about 1-1/2 tons, or 3,000 lbs. So each 5 gallon bucket filled to the brim with average sand and gravel should weigh about 71 pounds.

Figuring a 980 pound cargo weight for a Gen 3 DCSB, 13 filled buckets are probably OK.

Having said that, most gravel yards don't sell or load by the 5 gallon bucket. But 13, 5-gallon buckets works out to be about 1/3 loose cubic yard. So if the loader has a 1/3 cubic yard bucket and you are filling directly, you're golden. Fill the truck bed slowly.

Caveat: I derived these factors for a gravel testing job I used to have. The factors ended up in our handbook with a warning that on-site measurements are always best. The 5 gallon buckets used were RoPak brand. Every brand of 5-gallon bucket is a slightly different shape. A 5-gallon bucket filled brim full contains more than 5 gallons. Almost every brand of 5 gallon buckets will have an inscribed line near the top that indicates the level at which it's filled to 5 gallons. Trying to convey that nuance to our intelligent but stupid staff was futile. They also tried to stack buckets of multiple brands together, which created a nightmare. So we ended up buying about ten pallets of one brand of buckets.

Even with a consistent brand of buckets, there's a high BS factor built in. "Full" buckets are not always full. "Dry" sand & gravel is never dry. Sand weighs more per cubic yard than sand and gravel. The weight of gravel per cubic yard varies by its size, shape, and mineralogy. For precise gravel testing, we had to weigh each filled bucket. No kidding.

 

I second that....have it delivered. Time is money. I ask them to drop spread it which cuts my grading work on our driveway significantly.

 

got it all done the hard way but I’m always stuck, where I don’t want enough top soil or gravel that a garden center will deliver (usually 3cubic yards) and I need more than buying in bags is worth. I ended up with just over a cubic yard or so in bags that would have been 70 bags. It’s ok that’s why I have the taco she can haul it and I need to burn some calories anyway.