About how much does a full cubic yard of sand weigh??
 

The wife is a GirlScout troup leader and they have roped me into hauling some donated sand from a concrete mix plant for a scout-built playground project about 3 city miles away. (35mph spd limit)
THey think they'll only need about a 1/2 yard (so they think) but it got me to wondering... How much does 1 full yard of damp, coarse sand typically weigh?
My '97 2500ctd has the trailer/camper package with the sway bars and OEM overload springs.
Rear tires are in excellent shape with 80psi in them.
I'm clueless how much the stuff actually weighs except that I know it is LOTS heavier than you'd think. I would like to pick up as much as can be transported in one shot as I will have other people to shovel it all out on the first trip. :D Not so if I have to make a 2nd trip. :(
So, IYHO, how close to a full yard can my 2500 carry?:o

Keith

Well i can tell u from experience

NO MORE than 2 backhoe shovelfulls! OMG that nearly snapped my leaf springs in half!! and it sat almost to the frame, and this was dry sand.... Im not sure, but i think that one backhoe shovel is equal to about 1/3 yard? correct me if im wrong... but i have read its equal to one man shovelin for about 30 mins.. that be true cause it took me a lil over an hour to shovel it all out..

Best of luck

Tx

1 yard of dirt on average weights around 2600 pounds. I just had to find out myself as moved about 2 yards of dirt out of my backyard to put in some new grass.

Tx, I can believe it, but a careless loader can also break the back of a truck by dropping a smaller partial load in the bead.. So much for some of these "Built Rough and Tough" truck commercials where it shows them dropping a big generator or heavy pallet load in the bed of a PU... BOING! Yeah, Right!:rolleyes:

The weight of 1.0 cu yd of coarse sand is what I'm tryin' to determine..

Anyone have a set of tables that shows approx weights and measures for bulk materials???

K.

By way of checking, and for ease of calculation, it is assumed that there are always 3000 pounds (1½ tons) in a yard of sand or gravel.

http://www.glossonsg.com/faq/

Hope this helps. Wanna borrow my 1 ton? [laugh]

JWB

Sand dry = 111 lbs/cu ft
Sand wet = 136 lbs/cu ft

soooooo.....2997lbs/cuyd dry 3672lbs/cuyd wet

wow, an extra 600lbs of water.

from ( not my work)... http://www.geocities.com/myessays/Co...fMaterials.htm

4ftx8ftx2.5ft = 2.96cuyds....so just load it untill you hit bottom

;)

Thanks Fellas.. Yep, that's QUITE a bit more than a 3/4 PU can handle.
Looks like just slightly over 1/2 yard is what I should tell them.
I'll be REALLY nice to the loader operator:) :) I've heard horror stories about people that have PO'ed the operator!

Keith.

From same source

3 x 3 x 3" cube of gasoline weighs 0.65lbs

3 x 3 x 3" cube of fresh water weighs 0.97lb

3 x 3 x 3" cube of sea water weighs 0.98lb

3 x 3 x 3" cube of diesel weighs 0.775lbs

3 x 3 x 3" cube of dry cement weighs 1.4lbs

3 x 3 x 3" cube of concrete 2:1 weighs 2.15lbs

3 x 3 x 3" cube of dry sand weighs 1.73lbs

3 x 3 x 3" cube of mud weighs 1.75lbs

3 x 3 x 3" cube of gravel weighs 1.7lbs

Hey Hoss...do the math and let us know what the bedliner weighs.

[laugh] :o

Right after I got my 91 I got some sand and I was thinking it weighed 1000 per yard and told the operater to put one 4 yard bucket in the back. It put me on the helpers but the truck could still take off in second with no problems but the next load got cut in half.I should have known bye the smile on the face of the guy running the loader DA. The good thing was that the truck road like a tank before that and it really helped the ride bye looseing up the spring travel.

I once hand loaded sand in an F350 with an 8 ft bed that had a toolbox and L shaped fuel tank in it . Backed into the pile and just slid most of it into the bed . I loaded the bed about 3/4 full . That was 3500 lbs. of sand . Just a note on that though . Many sand companies won't allow you to hand load . I know of a contractor that was killed when he was loading a one ton and the pile moved burying him behind his truck . Noone was around when it happened and he was dead before they found him .

Ahh, go for it! Why, my brother took his 1/2 ton pickup-bed trailer (Chevy w/ coil springs) to the local cement company and had them load it heaping full of sand. It did set the frame on the axle and the 235 4-ply car radials were squatting pretty bad but he got it home 3 miles without a blow-out or breakdown. If a little half-ton Chevy trailer can do it, I know your Dodge can do it :D :o {but you probably shouldn't}. ;)

Now that brings to mind a question I've always wanted to ask . What should be the capacity of one of these trailers made from cutoff pickups ? At first you'd think a trailer made from a half ton truck should just haul half a ton . Think about it . The gvw of the truck was probably over 6,000 with maybe evenly distributed weight . Now you have the engine , cab , and transmission gone . How much of that weight did the rear axle carry ? I know the real answer depends on how well the hitch is made and how long the tongue is .

Don't forget your tire rating.....LT tires ?????? that would be the limit....right?

Well, Got 'er done!
I rechecked my tires (E rated, 80psi) headed to the cement plant.
Wife had previously cleared everything. The yard foreman was gonna have the regular operator load but that guy boogied early. Foreman went to get the loader himself.
I backed in and waited. Foreman was an skilled operator wielding that 8' bucket! He gently loaded me down until it looked level. I was willing to load some more but he wasn't, saying ya' don't wanna overdo it... Ok... Hey, after all it was donated sand, and I didn't want to blow a tire as my spare stinks.
On level ground, the truck was sitting level(for once!).. Not a bit of squat in the back.
Truck didn't even grunt! Smooth riding old goat with a load in it! I could have taken even more before running into problems.
We got it to the jobsite and we shoveled and shoveled and shoveled some more.[yuk]
If it had been leveled out in the bed, it would have been a few inches over the wheel wells.
The construction folks figured there was about 3/4 yard of sand.
Thanks for the input guys... I'll always remember that a yard of sand weighs approx 3000# and never PO the loader operator.:D
Now it makes me want to put a cabover camper on it all the more!

Keith