CMV
Platinum Member
Had 2 tandem loads delivered yesterday of fill dirt. Just plain old Carolina red clay. 13 cu yds is one tandem load (advertised, sold by volume, not weight like stone).
Was extending a shooting berm/backstop. Addition is 16' wide, 6' deep, 7.5" high. So picture piling that against an L-shaped wall getting to 7+ft high at top. The way it flows/spreads, I get 6' at the bottom (with some bigger clods and stuff rolling off the mound extending beyond 6' a little), but only about 2.5' at the top. The L-shaped wall is pretty much to contain the pile so it will go up vs just continually spread out as it goes higher.
If I calculate that volume as a full rectangle shape I get 26.7 cu yds. But since not a box and the actual shape it takes is more of a right triangle, should take less dirt. So I was thinking 2x 13yd loads would be perfect - fill it and leave a small pile left to go back after it settles & compacts and top it back off. But it took all of both loads just about so no way they both = 26 yds. I had probably 3 scoops left when I was done - ~1.5 yds - and that was enough to level out the little ruts I made running the tractor over the same small area over & over piling up the dirt.
Is it pretty common to sell fill dirt, mulch, etc that way? i.e. full truck holds "about X yds" but there is a pretty large variance?
Over the years have had lots of fill dirt & gravel delivered. The piles look HUGE - esp when a quad axle delivers - and it never goes that far once you start using it - I get that part. My bucket holds 1/2 yard - not sure if that is struck or heaped, but the scoops I took weren't heaped a lot (not pushing in, curling, getting as much material as possible heaped in bucket) since I was taking to full height and keeping a overly heaped bucket level all the way up just drops a lot, so full buckets, but not heaped real high. Anyway, that should have been 50+ scoops. I didn't count, but as slow as I was going, no way I moved 50+ scoops.
I didn't see the 2nd load - he just came and dumped it while I was working on something else not paying close attention, but did get a pic of him dumping the first load. I think company name is obscured well enough to post.... Am I wrong in thinking the bed of that truck should have been "fuller"?
Was extending a shooting berm/backstop. Addition is 16' wide, 6' deep, 7.5" high. So picture piling that against an L-shaped wall getting to 7+ft high at top. The way it flows/spreads, I get 6' at the bottom (with some bigger clods and stuff rolling off the mound extending beyond 6' a little), but only about 2.5' at the top. The L-shaped wall is pretty much to contain the pile so it will go up vs just continually spread out as it goes higher.
If I calculate that volume as a full rectangle shape I get 26.7 cu yds. But since not a box and the actual shape it takes is more of a right triangle, should take less dirt. So I was thinking 2x 13yd loads would be perfect - fill it and leave a small pile left to go back after it settles & compacts and top it back off. But it took all of both loads just about so no way they both = 26 yds. I had probably 3 scoops left when I was done - ~1.5 yds - and that was enough to level out the little ruts I made running the tractor over the same small area over & over piling up the dirt.
Is it pretty common to sell fill dirt, mulch, etc that way? i.e. full truck holds "about X yds" but there is a pretty large variance?
Over the years have had lots of fill dirt & gravel delivered. The piles look HUGE - esp when a quad axle delivers - and it never goes that far once you start using it - I get that part. My bucket holds 1/2 yard - not sure if that is struck or heaped, but the scoops I took weren't heaped a lot (not pushing in, curling, getting as much material as possible heaped in bucket) since I was taking to full height and keeping a overly heaped bucket level all the way up just drops a lot, so full buckets, but not heaped real high. Anyway, that should have been 50+ scoops. I didn't count, but as slow as I was going, no way I moved 50+ scoops.
I didn't see the 2nd load - he just came and dumped it while I was working on something else not paying close attention, but did get a pic of him dumping the first load. I think company name is obscured well enough to post.... Am I wrong in thinking the bed of that truck should have been "fuller"?