How many wheelbarrows in a yard, by tray size and weight
Twenty-seven cubic feet divided by the 6 cubic foot tray that True Temper, Jackson and Gorilla Carts all sell is 4.5 loads. That is five trips per yard if every load is level full. A level 6 cubic foot tray of crushed stone weighs about 560 pounds. One of concrete weighs 840, which is why the count on a real job is closer to 9 for gravel and 9 or more for concrete.
In brief
- Trips per cubic yard by level tray: 3 cu ft 9, 4 cu ft 7, 5 cu ft 6, 6 cu ft 5, 8 cu ft 4.
- A full 6 cu ft tray weighs about 500 lb of dry topsoil, 560 lb of crushed stone, 840 lb of concrete, 116 lb of wood mulch.
- Most one-wheel barrows print a volume and no rated load; the Worx two-wheel barrow is rated 300 lb, the Gorilla 6 cu ft cart 1,200 lb to carry and 500 lb to dump.
- A yard of concrete is 9 to 14 barrow loads at the 2 to 3 cubic feet a person can push and tip, and 45 bags of 80 lb mix at 3 bags per batch.
What the makers say a barrow holds
Wheelbarrow trays are sold by cubic feet, and the common sizes are narrower than the "2 to 6" range that gets repeated. Ames prints 6 cubic feet on its True Temper RP625 and R6STPTEC and on the Jackson M6T22KB contractor barrow. It prints 5 and 5.75 cubic feet on two other Jackson steel trays, and 4 cubic feet on a UnionTools barrow. Gorilla Carts' 6 cubic foot yard cart is a four-wheel dump cart rather than a barrow. It is rated 1,200 lb to carry and 500 lb to dump. Worx's two-wheel Aerocart lists about 3 cubic feet and a 300 lb rating. Truper, a Mexican maker, prints two figures for one tray: 8 cubic feet of solids and 6 cubic feet of liquid. This is the only maker figure read that shows how much a heaped load adds over a brim-level one, about a third.
That last point matters. Most makers print one volume and do not say whether it is level or heaped. Treat the printed figure as a heaped load of dry, light material. Plan on a level tray for anything heavy or anything pushed up a ramp.
Trips per cubic yard, by tray size
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so the trip count is 27 divided by the load.
| Level load per trip | Loads per cubic yard | Trips |
|---|---|---|
| 2 cu ft (a heavy half tray) | 13.5 | 14 |
| 3 cu ft (Worx, or a half-full 6) | 9 | 9 |
| 4 cu ft (UnionTools) | 6.75 | 7 |
| 5 cu ft (Jackson M5) | 5.4 | 6 |
| 6 cu ft (True Temper, Jackson M6, Gorilla cart) | 4.5 | 5 |
| 8 cu ft (Truper, heaped) | 3.4 | 4 |
The volume count is the floor. What a person can actually push is set by weight, and that changes the count more than the tray does.
What a full tray weighs
Material weights per cubic foot come from the sources the calculators use. Crushed stone No. 57 is 2,500 lb per loose cubic yard in Ohio's transportation specification, which is 92.6 lb per cubic foot. Crusher run is 2,700 lb per yard, 100 lb per cubic foot. Dry topsoil is 82.99 lb per cubic foot by Penn State's extension figure. Wood chips are 19.4 lb per cubic foot in Cornell's compost tables. Bagged concrete mix is about 140 lb per cubic foot when mixed, from Quikrete's data sheet.
| Material | Weight of a level 6 cu ft tray | Realistic load | Trips per yard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood mulch, chips | 116 lb | full, 6 cu ft | 5 |
| Dry topsoil | 498 lb | two-thirds, 4 cu ft | 7 |
| Moist topsoil | 600 lb and up | half, 3 cu ft | 9 |
| Crushed stone No. 57 | 556 lb | half, 3 cu ft | 9 |
| Crusher run, bank gravel | 600 lb | half, 3 cu ft | 9 |
| Concrete, mixed | 840 lb | 2 to 3 cu ft | 9 to 14 |
The realistic-load column is a working figure, not a maker's rating. A one-wheel barrow with 500 lb in the tray is hard to balance and harder to tip. The Worx 300 lb rating is the only one printed among the one- and two-wheel barrows read. It is reached by 3 cubic feet of stone. The Gorilla cart will carry 1,200 lb but will only dump 500, by its manual. So even there the stone goes in half a tray at a time.
A yard of concrete, by the barrow
Concrete is the heavy case and the one people ask about separately. Ready-mix delivered to a barrow at the chute is pushed 2 to 3 cubic feet at a time, 280 to 420 lb. That is because a fuller tray slops and cannot be tipped into a form with any control. At those loads a yard is 9 to 14 trips. Mixing bagged concrete in the barrow sets the batch size instead. Three 80 lb bags make 1.8 cubic feet at the 0.60 cubic foot yield printed on the data sheet. That is about 250 lb of wet mix, water included. A yard is 45 bags of 80 lb mix, so 15 batches of three. A small electric mixer holds about the same batch. The limit on both is the same: everything mixed has to be placed before it starts to set.
Picking the yard up yourself
A yard of mulch at roughly 350 to 1,000 lb rides home in a pickup. A yard of crushed stone at about 2,500 lb, or of dry topsoil at about 2,240 lb, is at or over the best-case payload the half-ton makers print. The payload figures and the bed volumes are under what a pickup can carry, in the cubic yard weight guide. For stone and soil, plan on half a yard per trip in a half-ton pickup, or a delivery.
Questions about wheelbarrow loads
How many wheelbarrows are in a yard of dirt?
Five level loads of a 6 cubic foot barrow by volume, each about 500 lb of dry topsoil. Moist soil weighs more, so a two-thirds load of about 4 cubic feet is the practical fill, which makes it 7 trips.
How many wheelbarrows are in a yard of concrete?
By volume, 4.5 loads of 6 cubic feet, but that load weighs 840 lb. At the 2 to 3 cubic feet a person can push and pour, a yard is 9 to 14 trips. Mixing by the barrow, three 80 lb bags make 1.8 cubic feet, so a yard is 15 batches of 3 bags.
How many wheelbarrows are in a ton of gravel?
A ton of loose crushed stone at 2,500 lb per cubic yard is 0.8 of a yard, 21.6 cubic feet. That is four level loads of a 6 cubic foot barrow at about 560 lb each. At the 3 cubic feet most people actually push, it is eight loads, the last one light (21.6 ÷ 3 = 7.2).
Will a cubic yard fit in a pickup?
By volume yes: a standard pickup bed holds about 3 cubic yards by one city yard's loading note. By weight, a yard of crushed stone is about 2,500 lb and a yard of dry topsoil 2,240 lb. Both are over or right at the 2,260 to 2,370 lb maximum payloads Chevrolet and Ram print for their best-case 2025 and 2026 half-ton configurations. Haul half a yard of stone or soil per trip, or a full yard of mulch.
12 source documents
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Handbook 44, 2026 edition, Appendix C: 27 cubic feet = 1 cubic yard. Read 2 November 2026.
- Ames (True Temper, Jackson, UnionTools), Product pages: True Temper RP625 6 cu ft poly wheelbarrow; Jackson M6T22KB 6 cu ft, M5T22BB 5 cu ft and MP575FFBB 5.75 cu ft steel contractor wheelbarrows; UnionTools S4U30 4 cu ft. Read 2 November 2026.
- Gorilla Carts, GOR6PS 6 cu ft poly yard dump cart: product page and manual (1,200 lb maximum load, 500 lb maximum dumping load). Read 2 November 2026.
- Worx (Positec), Aerocart WG050 product page and manual: about 3 cubic feet, 300 lb wheelbarrow capacity. Read 2 November 2026.
- Truper, Ficha técnica TP-8 wheelbarrow: 8 cu ft solid, 6 cu ft liquid capacity. Read 2 November 2026.
- Ohio Department of Transportation, Construction and Material Specifications, Item 410, Table 410.06-1: gravel No. 57 2,500 lb per cubic yard, crusher run 2,700 lb. Read 2 November 2026.
- Penn State Extension, What Is an Acre Furrow Slice of Soil? (82.99 lb of dry soil per cubic foot). Read 2 November 2026.
- Cornell Waste Management Institute, Compostable Raw Materials, Table 6: wood chips 19.4 lb per cubic foot. Read 2 November 2026.
- The Quikrete Companies, Quikrete 5000 concrete mix data sheet: unit weight about 140 lb per cubic foot, yield 0.60 cu ft per 80 lb bag. Read 2 November 2026.
- Ram Trucks (Stellantis), 2025 and 2026 Ram 1500 payload and towing capacities: maximum payload 2,370 lb (2025) and 2,360 lb (2026), Quad Cab 4x2. Read 2 November 2026.
- General Motors Fleet, 2026 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 TurboMax engine specifications: maximum payload 2,260 lb. Read 2 November 2026.
- City of Springfield, Missouri, Environmental Services, Compost and mulch loading note: a standard pickup holds about 3 cubic yards, a compact pickup about 2. Read 2 November 2026.