The formula: length times width times height, divided by 128
A cord is 128 cubic feet of stacked wood, a pile 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long. Your truck bed is a box. Measure its length, width, and the height of the bed walls in feet, multiply the three, and divide by 128. That is your bed's capacity in cords, assuming the wood is stacked level with the rails.
Run it for a common full-size truck: an 8-foot bed, 4 feet wide between the wheel wells, with 2-foot walls. That is 8 x 4 x 2 = 64 cubic feet, divided by 128 = half a cord. The Alaska Division of Forestry published exactly this kind of table and lands in the same place: a full-size pickup with an 8-foot box holds 68.5 cubic feet of level-loaded wood, about 0.53 cords, meaning roughly two level truckloads per cord. A small pickup with a 6-foot box holds 30.5 cubic feet, about 0.24 cords, so plan on four loads per cord.
The popular short beds most trucks actually ship with today fall in between. A 6.5-foot bed stacked level holds roughly 0.4 cords, and a 5.5-foot bed about 0.35.
Stacked versus thrown: the number that halves your load
Here is the detail that costs people money. Everything above assumes neatly stacked wood. Wood tossed loosely into the bed holds roughly half as much, because of the air gaps between randomly oriented pieces. A level 8-foot bed that stacks half a cord will only carry about a quarter cord thrown loose. Firewood sellers know this, which is why a "truckload" from a seller is one of the least precise measurements in commerce. A stacked half cord and a heaped loose load can look similar from the driveway and differ by a factor of two in actual wood.
Split wood stacks tighter than rounds, and uniform 16-inch lengths stack tighter than mixed lengths. If you are buying, ask whether the price is for stacked or loose volume, and if the seller quotes in "truckloads," ask which truck. If you are hauling your own, the extra twenty minutes of stacking at the woodpile buys you one trip instead of two, which is the cheapest fuel savings there is.
The limit nobody measures: weight
Volume is only half the constraint. A half cord of seasoned oak weighs roughly 1,800 to 2,200 pounds, and green wood weighs considerably more. Most half-ton pickups are rated to carry 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of payload including passengers, which means a level half-cord load of oak can put you at or over the truck's rated capacity before you climb in. A heaped load stacked to the cab is not just hard to measure. It is overweight.
Check the payload rating on your driver's door jamb sticker, subtract your weight and your passengers, and that is your wood budget. For most half-ton trucks hauling oak, the honest answer is a level load and no more. Three-quarter-ton trucks handle a heaped half cord comfortably. Strap the load or tarp it: the piece that flies off at highway speed is your liability.
Once you know your truck's real capacity, work out how many trips the winter needs with the firewood calculator, and if you are still deciding what to burn, the BTU chart by species tells you which wood earns its space in the bed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many cords fit in a standard pickup truck bed?
About half a cord in a full-size 8-foot bed stacked level with the rails, about a third of a cord in a 6-foot bed, and about a quarter cord in a compact pickup. Loose-thrown wood holds roughly half of those figures.
How many truckloads make a full cord?
Roughly two level loads from a full-size 8-foot bed, three to four from a short bed, and four or more from a compact pickup. Forestry tables put a full-size 8-foot box at 1.9 loads per cord and a small 6-foot box at 4.2.
Is a "truckload" of firewood a standard measurement?
No. A truckload is not a legal or standard unit, and stacked versus loose loading can change the actual wood volume by a factor of two. Buy by the cord or fraction of a cord, and confirm whether the price is for stacked or loose volume.
Can my truck's weight limit handle a full load of firewood?
Check the payload sticker on the door jamb. A level half cord of seasoned oak weighs 1,800 to 2,200 pounds, which can max out a half-ton pickup's rating. Green wood weighs more. Volume is rarely the binding constraint. Weight is.
Should I stack firewood above the bed rails?
You can gain about a third more capacity stacking toward cab height, but the load gets harder to secure and easier to overload by weight. For highway trips, level with the rails and strapped down is the safe answer.
Figure Out How Much Wood You Need
Now you know what each trip carries. Estimate your cords for the whole winter before you buy.
Calculate Firewood NeedsCapacity figures assume seasoned hardwood stacked level with bed rails. Actual capacity varies by truck model, wood species, moisture content, and stacking. Always verify your truck's payload rating on the door jamb sticker before hauling.