Dump Truck Capacity Chart: Tons and Cubic Yards by Truck Type

How much a dump truck carries depends on two limits: how much weight it may legally haul, and how much material fits in the bed. For heavy materials like gravel and asphalt the weight limit usually comes first; for light ones like mulch, the bed fills up first. This guide has a capacity chart for eight truck types, a material weight table, and the legal limits to keep in mind.

To work out the loads for a real job, use the dump truck loads calculator. It checks both limits for your truck and material.

Capacity chart by truck type

These are the typical ranges this site uses. Payload and volume vary with the truck’s configuration, axle spacing, body size and state weight laws, so check your own registration and your state’s limits.

Where the source column says “Not yet checked”, the range is this site’s typical example and has not been checked against a published source yet. Treat it as an example.

For the three most common trucks, one source gives typical legal payloads of 6–8 tons for a single-axle, 12–16 tons for a tandem and 18–25 tons for a tri-axle, depending on configuration and state law. Tri-axle dump trucks typically hold 12–18 cubic yards, according to another.

Each truck has its own page with more detail and a running-cost estimate: see dump truck types.

Tons vs cubic yards: which limit comes first?

A load is limited by whichever runs out first: the truck’s payload in tons, or the bed’s volume in cubic yards.

Heavy materials hit the weight limit first. Loose gravel weighs about 1.3 tons per cubic yard, and compacted soil can weigh up to 1.8 tons per cubic yard. Hot mix asphalt is about 2 tons per cubic yard. For example, this site uses a typical tri-axle payload of 21 tons and a 16-yard bed; 16 yards of gravel at about 1.4 tons a yard would weigh 22.4 tons, more than the 21-ton payload. So a tri-axle hauling gravel reaches its weight limit before the bed is full.

Light materials fill the bed first. Mulch is about 0.3 tons per cubic yard. A tri-axle’s 16-yard bed holds only 4.8 tons of it, far below the payload. So 40 cubic yards of mulch, which weighs just 12 tons, still takes 3 loads, limited by volume, not the single load the weight alone would suggest.

The loads calculator checks both for you and says which one limits each load.

Material weights per cubic yard

These are approximate weights for loose (not compacted) material. Moisture, grading and compaction all change them. Ask your supplier for the exact weight of what you’re hauling.

The gravel and asphalt figures come from published sources (listed below). The rest are typical values that have not been checked against a published source yet. For exact weights, ask your quarry or supplier for their weight per yard.

To convert between cubic yards and tons for an area, use the cubic yards to tons calculator. For example, an area 50 ft by 12 ft, 4 inches deep, is about 7.41 cubic yards; with 10% extra that’s 8.15 cubic yards, or 11.4 tons of gravel.

Legal weight limits

The federal gross vehicle weight limit on Interstate highways is generally 80,000 lb, and bridge formulas and state rules can be stricter (FHWA). That limit is for the whole loaded vehicle, not the payload, so what you can carry depends on how much your truck weighs empty and how its axles are spaced.

Your state’s rules, your registration and any permits decide your real legal load, and they differ from state to state. Find your state’s transportation department in FHWA’s list of state transportation departments.

Overloading risks fines, damage to the truck and roads, and safety. When in doubt, load to your registered weight and use the scale ticket.

How to use this chart

1. Find your truck type in the chart, then use your own registration and bed measurements in place of the typical ranges.
2. Look up your material’s weight per cubic yard, or ask the supplier.
3. Enter both in the loads calculator to get loads, days and trucks for the job.
4. To price the job, take the loads into the bid calculator.

If you don’t know your bed volume, measure the inside length, width and side height in feet, multiply them and divide by 27. A bed 16 ft long, 7.5 ft wide and 4 ft high holds about 17.78 cubic yards level full. The cubic yards to tons calculator has a bed volume box that does this.