I’m sure you, just like I was, are curious of how much firewood can fit in the back of a truck bed. So, I took the time to line my entire truck bed with firewood so you don’t have to! Take a look.
There’s my truck nearly full, just before I lined the space between the wood and the tailgate.
Like any sane person, I counted and weighed each piece of wood as I filled my truck, and put all the data in a spreadsheet. I ended up with 176 total pieces of wood, with a volume of 54 cubic feet. This is 42% of a whole chord of wood. It weighed 1007 pounds and was a mix of died, mostly hardwood pieces.
Unlike me, you don’t have to sit there and count the wood you’re stacking in your truck to get an answer. Feel free to use my Firewood Count & Weight Calculator (For Truck Beds). This is a Google Sheet Spreadsheet that I put together. It’ll estimate how much firewood your truck bed can fit and how much it weighs.
Keep on reading to find the totals from my little firewood experiment.
A standard truck bed fits about half a chord of wood.
You can fit half a chord in a standard pickup truck bed. You can stack 29 pieces of firewood for every foot in length of your pickup truck bed. With a standard bed length of 6.5 feet, width of 4.5 ft, depth of 2 ft, you can fit 189 pieces of firewood, or half a chord (46% of a chord) in your truck.
But what if you have a smaller truck bed than standard? Or what if it’s much larger? Depending on the size of the firewood, there can be a 100-piece difference between the two! Check out this table for an estimate of how much firewood fits in each truck bed size.
How Much Firewood Fits in Common Truck Bed Lengths
| Truck Bed Length | Chord | Pieces (Estimate) |
|---|---|---|
| 5′ 5″ Bed Length | 38.67% of a chord. | 160 Pieces of wood. |
| 5′ 8″ Bed Length | 38.97% of a chord. | 164 Pieces of wood. |
| 6′ Bed Length | 42.19% of a chord. | 174 Pieces of wood. |
| 6′ 6″ Bed Length | 45.70% of a chord. | 189 Pieces of wood. |
| 7′ Bed Length | 49.22% of a chord. | 203 Pieces of wood. |
| 8′ Bed Length | 56.25% of a chord. | 232 Pieces of wood. |
Keep in mind that this table assumes your truck bed is the standard width of 4 feet and 6 inches, and a height or depth of 2 feet. If your truck bed width and height is different, I recommend you use my Firewood Count & Weight Calculator (For Truck Beds) to put in your truck bed dimensions. It’ll give you a more personalized estimate for your truck.
For this experiment and all the estimations in this article, make sure you’re neatly stacking your firewood like I am. Otherwise, all of these estimations will be off! I laid them in line with the truck bed to fit the most possible. This will also spare your truck bed from as many scratches and dings.
How Much Firewood Weighs in Common Truck Bed Lengths
| Truck Bed Length | Full Load Weight (Dry) | Full Load Weight (Wet) |
|---|---|---|
| 5′ 5″ Bed Length | 912 lbs. | 1734 lbs. |
| 5′ 8″ Bed Length | 941 lbs. | 1788 lbs. |
| 6′ Bed Length | 995 lbs. | 1891 lbs. |
| 6′ 6″ Bed Length | 1078 lbs. | 2049 lbs. |
| 7′ Bed Length | 1161 lbs. | 2206 lbs. |
| 8′ Bed Length | 1327 lbs. | 2522 lbs. |
It’s important to know how much weight you’re throwing in your truck before you haul it! Use these estimates when loading your truck so you don’t kill your suspension!
I found these numbers based on my experiment. I managed to fit 176 pieces in my truck that weighed a total of 1006.8 lbs, which gives an average of 5.7 lbs per piece of wood.
I already calculated the estimated number of pieces your truck could fit in my calculator, so I just had the spreadsheet go a step further and estimate the total weight.
For the wet wood, I went under the assumption that wet wood will weigh 90% more than dried wood. The general assumption in the wood splitting community is that wet wood weighs between 75% to 100% more than dried wood, but I couldn’t find an exact figure. I may have to do another experiment!
A Few Truck Brand Examples
Let’s take these figures and apply it to a few popular truck brands. Let’s start with my truck: A 2019 Chevy Colorado. I’ll continue with the 2023 models of each popular truck.
How much firewood will fit in a Chevy Colorado?
With a payload capacity from 1,310 to 1,610 lbs, a 2023 Chevy Colorado can haul a full truck bed of dried hardwood firewood. With the standard bed length of 61.7″ it will haul 36% of a chord and weigh 853 lbs. It will not be able to haul a load of wet firewood, which would weigh about 1620 lbs.
How much firewood will fit in a Tacoma?
With the Tacoma 2023 model’s payload capacity of 1,685 lbs and maximum bed size of 6 feet, it can haul a truck bed full of dried split firewood. A 6-foot bed full of dried hardwood firewood will weigh just over 1,000 pounds, which is under the Tacoma’s weight limit.
However, this is less than other truck brands and you should use discretion when hauling loads with your truck. Be absolutely sure you’re hauling DRY wood. A Tacoma will not be able to haul this much wet firewood.
How much firewood will fit in a Ford F-150?
A Ford F150 can haul a full truck bed of dried hardwood, which weighs around 1,000 lbs, considering it falls under its payload limit of 2,238 lbs. With the F150’s largest bed size, 8 feet, this will be just over one half chord of firewood.
Fit more firewood in your truck with sideboards.
The limiting factor in pickup trucks for hauling firewood is their size and weight limits. How much weight your truck can holds depends entirely on your model, but it’s very possible to haul more wood by extending the height of your bed.
With a standard chord being 4x4x8 feet, and a standard pickup truck bed height being two feet, you could haul a whole chord by extending the height bed by 2 feet. It would be like hauling two beds worth in one trip. I found this very helpful Instructable on how to do just that.
Keep in mind that firewood is heavy! The greener the wood, the heavier! It also depends on the type of tree, with hardwoods being heavier and denser than softwoods. A full chord of split wood can range from 2,000 to 5,000 extra pounds for your truck to haul around.
Firewood will scratch up your truck bed lining.
There’s no way around it! Using your truck bed to haul firewood will lead to scratches, dents, and leftover debris. I just accepted the fact, but I’ve seen people have success with laying a moving blanket under and on the sides of the firewood. It’ll make the blanket have splinters in it that are impossible to get out, but your truck bed will be spared.
Here’s a link to the largest and lowest priced moving blanket I’ve found on Amazon. It’s large enough to line the length and sides of your truck bed and durable enough to last a few years (Affiliate link).