My Account
“How much can I haul in my truck?” is a question that comes up quite regularly. The most common materials I get asked about are dirt, sand, gravel, and mulch. In this article, I’ll be starting with mulch, seeing as I need to buy some.
Figuring out how much mulch can fit in a truck bed is pretty simple. Seeing as mulch doesn’t weigh much, we don’t need to concern ourselves with a payload calculation. With any lightweight material, the volume capacity of the truck bed is really all you need to know.
How Much Mulch Can Fit In A Truck Bed: Overview
In this tutorial, I’ll go over how to calculate the volume of a truck bed so you’ll know how many cubic yards of mulch it will hold. If you don’t have the inclination to do any calculating, I’ve included a table with approximate figures for a variety of truck classifications and bed sizes.
I’ll also cover how to calculate how many cubic yards of mulch you’ll need for your garden or landscaping project so that you can buy it in bulk. Buying mulch in bulk is a great way to save money.
Finally, I’ll talk about a cargo unloader, which I think is the best $50 investment you can make if you frequently haul material. This truck accessory enables you to unload as much as two thousand pounds in seconds.
To jump right to the 8-minute video about the cargo unloader:
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission.
How Much Mulch Can Fit In A Truck Bed: Supplies and Costs
Supplies
Costs
The cargo unloader comes in a variety of styles and price points, but you can buy a basic one for as little as $40.
To implement my hack to keep the tailgate secured down, the eye-bolt will only set you back a few dollars. If you need more information on this small modification check out the video above and I will walk you through the eye-bolt install.
How To Calculate The Volume Of A Truck Bed
To calculate how much a truck bed will hold, we need the interior dimensions of the bed.
Using Measurements In Feet
I’ll be using measurements in feet. Once I know the depth, width, and height, I can calculate the volume in cubic feet.
To get the volume in cubic yards, I’ll divide the cubic feet by a factor of 27 (the number of cubic feet in a cubic yard). As most bulk material is sold in “yards” which is a cubic yard of volume.
For example, the typical dimensions of a Half-ton truck with a long bed are:
- Depth: 96 inches, which equals 8 ft
- Width: 66 inches, which equals 5.5 ft (64 ÷ 12)
- Height: 21 inches, which equals 1.75 ft (21 ÷ 12)
The volume in cubic feet using these dimensions is:
- 8 × 5.5 × 1.75 = 77 ft3 (cubic feet)
The volume in cubic yards would be:
- 77 ft3 ÷ 27 = 2.9 yd3 (cubic yards)
How Much Mulch Can Fit In A Truck Bed? Easy-Reference Table
Purchasing Mulch in Bulk
If you have a fairly large area to mulch, you can save money by buying it in bulk.
I buy mulch at a local landscape recycling center where they have four different types of mulch.
Typically, bulk mulch is sold in increments of 0.5 cubic yards.
A cubic yard is a pretty hefty quantity. If the mulch were to fill a perfect cube, it would be 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet deep.
Here’s how 1.5 cubic yards of mulch looks in the back of my Ford F-150:
How to Calculate How Much Mulch You Need
So how much mulch do you need? The calculation is pretty simple.
You’ll need to know the square footage of the area to be covered plus the desired height of mulch.
Let’s use these dimensions as an example:
- Width of garden bed: 20 ft
- Depth of garden bed: 5 ft
- Height of mulch: 3 inches = 0.25 ft (3 ÷ 12)
The volume in cubic feet using these dimensions is:
- 20 × 5 × 0.25 = 25 ft3 (cubic feet)
The volume in cubic yards would be:
- 25 ft3 ÷ 27 = 0.93 yd3 (1 cubic yard, for all intents and purposes)
In other words, a cubic yard of mulch will cover 100 square feet with 3 inches of mulch.
The Best Way to Unload a Truck Bed
Now that you know how much material you can haul in your truck, the bigger question is how to get that material out of the truck bed without spending all afternoon!
My go-to is a cargo unloader and I think it’s the handiest truck accessory going. For the price, it’s a no-brainer. It saves a ton of time and fatigue when you have bulk material to unload.
For as little as $40, you can purchase a cargo unloader and move as much as 2000 lbs in seconds. No more shoveling dirt, gravel, sand, mulch, lawn debris, or whatever out of your cargo box.
Check out this 8-minute video for a demonstration of how a cargo unloader works, including a hack I came up with to make it work even better.
Another Great Truck Accessory: The Truck Bed Extender
Ever need to haul material that’s longer than your truck bed? Check out this video where I’ll demonstrate how I haul 16-foot 2x10s in my pickup that has a 5.5-foot bed using a truck bed extender.
To Leave Comments and Questions
If you try out the cargo loader (and maybe also my hack) and would like to leave a comment about it under the YouTube video, please feel free. Viewer comments are valuable to our community.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel as we have weekly videos coming out to help you with your everyday home repairs.
We’ll catch you on the next one! Take care.
