Hauling
Dirt Hauling Calculator
Truck loads, haul time and cost — including whether your trucks fill up by volume or by weight first.
Truck loads
loads
26.67 rounded up
- Loose volume
- 266.7cu ydNo swell applied
- Average per load
- 9.88cu ydSpread evenly across every trip.
No swell factor entered, so this assumes the material occupies the same space in the truck as it did in the ground. Excavated soil bulks up — add your swell factor for a realistic load count.
Add a loose density and your legal payload to check whether the trucks run out of weight before they run out of body. With heavy or wet material they usually do.
The working
Bank volume = L × W × D
= 60 ft × 40 ft × 3 ft
= 266.7 cu yd
Loads by volume = Loose volume ÷ Body capacity
= 266.7 cu yd ÷ 10 cu yd
= 26.67 loads
Loads = ⌈ greater of the two limits ⌉
= ⌈ 26.67 ⌉
= 27 loads
Add a payload limit and a loose density to check the weight limit too.
Most load calculators divide a volume by a body capacity and stop there. Loaded trucks usually hit a legal weight limit before the body is full, especially with wet or heavy material, so this one works out both limits and reports whichever binds first.
How this calculator works
- Formula version
- 1.0.0
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30
- External data
- None
This tool uses only your inputs and exact unit conversions. No benchmark, average or market figure is built into it. How we calculate
What this calculates
The number of truck loads needed to move a volume of material, the time those trips take, and what they cost at your rates. It is the last step of an excavation workflow: dig a volume, bulk it up, put it in trucks.
Two limits, not one
A truck stops accepting material for one of two reasons: the body is full, or the axles are at their legal weight. Loads by volume is loose volume ÷ body capacity. Loads by weight is total weight ÷ legal payload. The number of trips is set by whichever is greater, rounded up.
Most calculators only model the first. With dense or saturated material the weight limit binds well before the body fills, and a plan built on body capacity alone under-counts trips and overloads trucks.
Swell
Trucks carry loose material, not bank material, so the load count is based on the swelled volume. The swell percentage is yours to supply — it depends on the soil type, its moisture and how it is handled.
Cycle time
Cycle time per trip is round-trip distance ÷ average speed, plus your fixed loading and dumping time. Total elapsed time divides the sum of all cycles by the number of trucks working, which assumes the trucks are kept moving and the excavator is not the constraint.
Worked example
250 cu yd of soil at 25% swell, 10 cu yd trucks
- Bank volume
- 250 cu yd
- Swell
- 25%
- Body capacity
- 10 cu yd
- Loose volume= 250 × 1.25= 312.5 cu yd
- Loads by volume= 312.5 ÷ 10= 31.25 loads
- Loads= ⌈31.25⌉= 32 loads
- Every truck is the same size and carries the same average load.
- The final load is counted as a full trip even when it is part empty.
- Average speed is a door-to-door average for the whole route.
- Swell, density, payload and all rates come from you. Nothing is assumed.
- It does not model queuing at the loading point or the tip, which on busy sites is often the real constraint.
- It does not check axle weight distribution or bridge formula compliance — only a single total payload figure.
- Permits, escorts and route restrictions are outside its scope.
Common questions
- How many cubic yards does a dump truck hold?
- Read it off the spec plate rather than a rule of thumb — bodies vary enormously between a small tandem and a tri-axle. Enter that figure as the body capacity, and add your legal payload so the weight limit gets checked too.
- Why does the calculator need a density?
- Because weight, not volume, is what usually stops a truck being loaded further. Density converts your cubic yards into tons so the payload limit can be applied. Without it the tool can only check the volume limit, and it says so.
- Should I use bank or loose volume?
- Enter bank volume — what you measured in the ground — and give the calculator a swell factor. It converts to loose volume for you, which is what actually goes in the trucks.
Where people go next
All hauling tools →Ordered by what usually comes next in the same job, not by keyword.