How much dirt in a Nissan PU?

No way of telling, is it wet dirt, dry dirt, clay, loamy etc.

You -will- know if you've put in too much if the truck is sitting on the bump stops.. For a 1 mile trip as long as you still have some room above the bump stops you should be fine, just take it easy and inflate the tires to the max on the sidewall. I sure wouldn't waste money on new special shocks etc.

Can you lift 1000Lbs +? :-) Yes you'll have to shovel it out.

It`s a truck - use it like one. Shovel dirt in, drive to dumps, pull it out with a hoe or rake. I`m a general contractor and I use mine every day for stuff like that. Just don`t overload it. Make an extra trip if you must. If people don`t use trucks for what they`re intended, they should just buy cars and get better gas mileage. Good Luck.

I got the truck 2 month ago, mainly to occasionally carry plywood, fencing, stuff like that. Not much occasion to move dirt. Thanks for the info.

Steve

A cubic yard of dirt (3' x 3' x 3', or 27 cu ft) can weigh from 3000 to

4000 lbs. The volume of your pickup bed, level to the top, is about 1 and 1/3 yards (36 cu ft), which means that a bedload of dirt could weigh between 4000 and 5300 lbs.

That stuff is usually measured in cubic yards. A front loader standard bucket is about 1 yard.

I beg to differ a little bit. Crushed stone or sand weighs 1.5 tons per yard. That's about as densely packed as you get in the dirt/stone/rock category. "Dirt" - something other than pure rock, will weigh

How are you differing? 1.5 tons is 3000 lbs., whether it is dirt, stone, sand, or goose feathers. The truck can hold 1.33 yards.

1.33 yards of dirt x 3000 lbs per yard = 4000 lbs. (or 2 tons) 1.33 yards of dirt x 4000 lbs per yard = 5320 lbs. (or 2.66 tons)

steve wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Get a cheap plastic tarp larger than the truck's bed. Put it in the bed and up over the front end and sides before loading the dirt. Fold 'the extra' over the dirt before your drive. At the dump, unfold it, shovel out most of the dirt, then pull the tarp from the front end to pull out the remaining dirt. Keeps the bed clean, and makes it easy to get the last of the dirt out of the bed.

This only works for expensive and fragile items.

If you cut your plywood so that it doesn't catch on the wheel wells, I guess you could try anchoring the plywood to something and then driving forward. This would slide the plywood off, along with the majority of the dirt. Just a guess though... My experience is with hauling 1000 lbs of bagged gravel from Home Depot at 2am.

- Dave

My experience is with hauling 1000

Was this after the store closed at 9:00 PM ?

heh heh, no one seem to believe me that the Home Depot in Torrance, CA used to be open 24 hours.

- Dave

I'm differing in your estimate of "3000 to 4000 pounds". 3000 is the maximum. A cubic yard of *stone* weighs 3000 lbs, his cubic yard of "dirt" will weigh that, or most likely, quite a bit less.

Bob

Took that long to load it up, with pauses for beer breaks??........ LOL

Steve,

I have an older 1976 Datsun pickup with a long bed. I've carried gravel and dirt in it and what made it easy were the air shocks on the back. I could just pump them up when the back got too low.

John

I had them there air shocks on my 1983... stunned and amazed folks with what it would carry...

now, can ANYONE tell me where I can get them for my 2000 frontier? at a decent price?

Jeff

I carried 2000lbs in my '95 Hardbody and slightly bent the leaf springs. I now run air shocks and it makes a huge difference. If you are gonna replace the shocks anyway, put air shocks on it. I doubt it is rated for more than 1000lbs.

Ummm... springs hold the load and control height. Shocks dampen the spring rebound rate. Using shocks to control load permanently or to control height is not really a reate idea.

I would find it hard to believe that a cubic yard of PACKED dirt weighs 2 tons....