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.

Hauling · Truck loads and round trips

Dirt Hauling Calculator

Truck loads, haul time and cost — including whether your trucks fill up by volume or by weight first. How it works

Dirt Hauling

Try an example

Truck loads

loads

26.67 rounded up

Loads to move

volume-limited

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.

Show the calculation3 steps

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

Only your inputs and exact unit conversions. Where a figure comes from anywhere else, it is recorded below with its source.

Specification

Formula version: 1.0.0
Last reviewed: 2026-08-30
External data: None
Category: Hauling

No benchmark, average or market figure is built into this tool. 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.

250 cu yd of soil at 25% swell, 10 cu yd trucks

Given

Bank volume: 250 cu yd
Swell: 25%
Body capacity: 10 cu yd

Step by step

01Loose volume= 250 × 1.25= 312.5 cu yd
02Loads by volume= 312.5 ÷ 10= 31.25 loads
03Loads= ⌈31.25⌉= 32 loads

Trips required

32 loads

What it assumes

01Every truck is the same size and carries the same average load.
02The final load is counted as a full trip even when it is part empty.
03Average speed is a door-to-door average for the whole route.
04Swell, density, payload and all rates come from you. Nothing is assumed.

What it does not do

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.

Behind the numbers

The methods and definitions this calculator applies, explained in full and with their sources.

GuideBank vs loose cubic yardsA bank yard is earth in the ground; a loose yard is the same earth in a truck, and there is more of it. Swell, load factor and the three volumes on one job.GuideDump truck capacity in cubic yardsTwo limits decide how many yards a truck carries — the body volume on its plate and the payload its weight rating allows. The material decides which one binds. Includes dump-body specifications as two manufacturers print them.GuideHow cut and fill is calculatedThe grid method step by step, the average-end-area and prismoidal formulas for cross-sections, and why area times average depth gets a balanced site wrong.GuideGravel driveway depthNo national standard for gravel driveway depth was found in the sources reviewed. What the FHWA handbook and the Gravel Roads manual say for unpaved roads, why a driveway differs, and how any depth becomes yards and tons.GuideTri-axle dump truck capacityLegal weight comes from a published federal formula on the axles, and the load is what is left after the truck’s own weight. The bridge formula, worked.GuideExcavation volume with sloped sidesThe prismoidal formula worked for a pit with battered walls, and how far off the common shortcuts are: averaging the top and base, or ignoring the slope.GuideSoil compaction, shrinkage and swellTwo different factors for the same soil, and published tables that disagree with one another. What FHWA, DOT and textbook tables actually say, the ±33% caveat two of them carry, and the arithmetic.Buyer's guideHeavy civil estimating softwareSix estimating products sold to heavy-civil contractors: what each vendor prints as its price and where, which offer a free trial, and what each says about DOT bid files. Nothing is ranked.

Where people go next

All hauling tools

Ordered by what usually comes next in the same job, not by keyword.

01ExcavationBank volume in cubic yardsCubic yards of material to be dug out — including battered side walls, over-excavation and swell.02Swell factorBank, loose and compacted volumeConvert bank, loose and compacted volumes both ways from your own swell and shrinkage, or work out your swell factor and load factor from two things you measured. No soil factor is assumed.03Excavation CostTotal cost, at your ratesPrice an excavation from the dimensions up, using your unit rates or your hourly rates.04Trench VolumeTrench and spoil volumeSpoil, backfill and bedding quantities for a run of trench — from the cross-section up.