How much could I stack in an s10 pickup?

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nojo

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 22, 2009
224
Western/cent Mass
How much Split wood do you think I could fit in an s10 pikcup? 6ft bed? Is it safe to mound up in the middle? Should I put the cap on and stock it insie to hold it in? Worried about side windows. A guy has some free wood. Its about an hour away and im guessing about 1/4 cord of 3 year old DRY DRY DRY stuff. Mix of hardwood and some pine. I took as much as I could when I bought his stove.
 
1/4 up to a 1/3 of a cord just keep an eye on the springs,and yes mond it up till it starts squat pretty good.
 
smokinjay said:
1/4 up to a 1/3 of a cord just keep an eye on the springs,and yes mond it up till it starts squat pretty good.

Not worried about squat. 3000lb airbags were added a few years ago when I had it FULL of horseshoeing equipment. Best 200 upgrade ever. :)
 
nojo said:
smokinjay said:
1/4 up to a 1/3 of a cord just keep an eye on the springs,and yes mond it up till it starts squat pretty good.

Not worried about squat. 3000lb airbags were added a few years ago when I had it FULL of horseshoeing equipment. Best 200 upgrade ever. :)
I dunno what year it is, but should be able to hold 1500lbs max. that should be a decent load.
 
nojo said:
smokinjay said:
1/4 up to a 1/3 of a cord just keep an eye on the springs,and yes mond it up till it starts squat pretty good.

Not worried about squat. 3000lb airbags were added a few years ago when I had it FULL of horseshoeing equipment. Best 200 upgrade ever. :)


hep it up should be able to fit a 1/3 maybe a bit more.
 
Here is a link, you will be eternally damned if you load more then 3 splits per some members, others will tell you that they giver' till she splits. I have 1500 pd booster coil shocks and a pic of a face cord and a half (if you go 3 faces to a cord) or a half a cord of green dead standing oak. This is some of the heviest stuff we have with the exception of hickory and maybe apple. Similiar truck...ford ranger https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/20718/ Oh, and I checked. Ford rangers have 2 size rear drums. Mine are something like 10 inch or what ever was the hd ones. Sounds funny hd anything on a ranger, but it does the job.
 
Cool man! Fortunately all this wood is SUPER lite. I've got the 4.3L Vortec (I've seen those in 3/4 tons!!). Its a 4x4 so the low range is pretty sweet if im worried about smoking a clutch. Its a 99 cab and a half.
 
If it were me I would load er up! I don't suggest doing it but I have actually put 2x4's over the frame stop before I got the coil overs. That was dumb. With the coil overs its much less sway. I have the 3liter v6 in mine and only 2wd. Its some heavy duty designation and it sits about an inch higher then the standard ranger... It used to squat with 1000 pds in it. Now it does much better. With that long of a ride I would load sensibly. Good luck!
 
1999 LS Extended Cab 4x4 Max Payload is 885lbs - I'd load 1000lbs in the bed and put the rest on a trailer, but that's me.
 
Danno77 said:
1999 LS Extended Cab 4x4 Max Payload is 885lbs - I'd load 1000lbs in the bed and put the rest on a trailer, but that's me.

Thats what I do have a 4x8x3 trailer and a tool box in the s-10 and can hual a cord.
 
smokinjay said:
Danno77 said:
1999 LS Extended Cab 4x4 Max Payload is 885lbs - I'd load 1000lbs in the bed and put the rest on a trailer, but that's me.

Thats what I do have a 4x8x3 trailer and a tool box in the s-10 and can hual a cord.
if you have a trailer that can do it, then that's the best option. I'm looking at those specs some more and it says:

Standard towing = 3500lbs
Max towing = 5500lbs

So, if you put a big ole trailer behind it, just don't go putting all the weight on the tongue (if you have a loaded bed) because that counts on that Max GVWR.

With those numbers you should easily be able to get like two cords of really dry stuff total without anything special for your trailer.
 
nojo said:
smokinjay said:
1/4 up to a 1/3 of a cord just keep an eye on the springs,and yes mond it up till it starts squat pretty good.

Not worried about squat. 3000lb airbags were added a few years ago when I had it FULL of horseshoeing equipment. Best 200 upgrade ever. :)

Horseshoeing equipment? I'm thinking two steel pegs, handful of horseshoes, pair of flip flops, and a six pack shouldn't weight more than about 50 pounds, tops. That would equate to about 10 or 12 dry splits. Normally I'd say a pickup would hold 1/4 cord of dry wood if you stack it in carefully.
 
I put just over 1/3 of a cord in mine most of the time, but if the wood is very heavy (green black locust) then 1/4 cord will be all it can take.
 
Wouldn't the geometry of the steering be changed and the effectiveness of the brakes be down graded if you loaded the pick-um-up till the tires just about rubbed in the wheel wells? And then add a loaded trailer to boot...:-) Makes ya wonder what would happen when that kid ran out in front of you chasin' his/her ball...or that person thats textin' and don't know from nuthin' whats goin' on around um...:-) Good luck...Franklin
 
Well, all disaster scenarios aside, I had a 94 s10 and it CAN handle whatever you throw in there. Mine was 4.3L 4x4 as well, an hour is a long ride, but just take it easy and if it takes you more than an hour... better safe than sorry.
 
Oldmainer said:
Wouldn't the geometry of the steering be changed and the effectiveness of the brakes be down graded if you loaded the pick-um-up till the tires just about rubbed in the wheel wells? And then add a loaded trailer to boot...:-) Makes ya wonder what would happen when that kid ran out in front of you chasin' his/her ball...or that person thats textin' and don't know from nuthin' whats goin' on around um...:-) Good luck...Franklin

It changes with 2 fat chicks but they still drive pickem up trucks. Anyone can give you disaster scenarios. If you lived life afraid it sure would be a boring place. Live it with common sense and your doing better then most of the people out there. If you are too nervous with the load, your overloaded. I would not load it up daily, but once in a while is not really a big deal to me. That being said, I do not go riding down town with a load, I think some people are picturing Chicago or something... Good luck!
 
My wood guy has a 4.3 Liter S10. He loads a 1/2 cord seasoned at a time in that thing with boards on the bed. He's been doing that for years he said. I wouldnt suggest that much if you like your truck at all.
 
I haul my kubota on a trailer behind my s10 when I go cutting wood. If I get too much of a load in the truck, I move the kubota back on the trailer a little to pull the weight back off the axle. The issue is of course the fishtailing trailer at that point, but I cut about 10 miles from home, drive about 40 mph tops and so everything rides fine. I can't leave the kubota in the forest so it has to ride back and forth on each load if I am cutting alone, and I just just use it as ballast depending on the load of wood I have on the s10. I bought the s10 with no transmission for 300, spent 600 getting the transmission in, so if I abuse my 900.00 truck a little, I don't worry about it too much. When it quits, I hope to find an old 3/4 ton truck to do this all with - cheap.
 
Oldmainer said:
Wouldn't the geometry of the steering be changed and the effectiveness of the brakes be down graded if you loaded the pick-um-up till the tires just about rubbed in the wheel wells?

Physics might be able to overcome "common sense" here.

A empty F350 takes ~30' longer to stop from 60mph than an empty Ranger. Do you think an overloaded Ranger takes significantly more distance to stop than a "properly" loaded F350?

An overloaded Ranger weighs the same as an empty F350. Would you rather get hit by an overloaded Ranger or a properly loaded F350 that weighs over a ton more?
 
KarlP said:
An overloaded Ranger weighs the same as an empty F350.
lol. an overloaded ranger still has teensy tiny ranger brakes. I'd like to see what the stopping distance is on an empty F350 with a ranger's brakes on it.
 
but in that guys scenario it was immediate emergency braking. Neither would stop in time.
 
I'd load it up to the point I would still feel safe. Take her around the corner for a test and if it feels really good and braking is still good then try a little more and head for the barn.
 
hareball said:
I'd load it up to the point I would still feel safe. Take her around the corner for a test and if it feels really good and braking is still good then try a little more and head for the barn.

Yep, common sense...he has it!
 
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