Tonnage Calculator
20 ft by 10 ft at 4 in is 2.47 cu yd. Loose crushed stone weighs 2,700 lb a cubic yard, so the order is 6,667 lb: 3.33 short tons, 3.02 metric tons or 2.98 long tons. Add a line per material and pick the ton you buy in.
Units available: US customary / metric.
Your first material and the ton you buy in
Order 3.33 short tons
- Short tons (2,000 lb)
- 3.33
- Metric tons (1,000 kg)
- 3.02
- Long tons (2,240 lb)
- 2.98
- Volume weighed
- 2.47 cu yd
- Lines
- 1
Drawings
C-106Takeoff
| Item | Net qty | Waste | Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Crushed stone, dry loose: 3.33 short tons2.47 cu yd measured, at 2,700 lb/cu yd (Caterpillar) = 6,667 lb. | 2.47 cu yd | — | 6,667 lb |
Assumptions used
- Tons are short tons (2,000 lb), as NIST SP 811 defines them.
- Loose rows weigh what a truck dumps; bank rows weigh the material in place.
- A compacted gravel or sand layer is ordered loose with the FHWA ratio; other materials are weighed as measured.
- Densities with no open source are left to you: no default is assumed.
Three tons, one weight
NIST defines a short ton as 2,000 lb, a long ton as 2,240 lb, a metric ton as 1,000 kg: 3.33 or 3.02 tons, 9.3 % apart. Every result here names its ton.
Loose, in place or compacted
Caterpillar weighs a material loose and in the bank. A compacted layer is ordered loose with the FHWA ratio: a 40 by 12 ft gravel base 6 in deep under 1 in of damp sand takes 18.7 short tons, not 14.78.
Several materials, one ticket
Each line keeps its material, condition and depth; the total adds them in one ton, then loads and cost at your payload and prices. Pea gravel or riprap waits for your supplier's density.
cu yd = length ft x width ft x depth in / 12 / 27 loose = cu yd x FHWA ratio (compacted gravel or sand only) lb = cu yd x (1 + extra %) x density lb per cu yd tons = total lb / 2,000 (short), 2,204.62 (metric), 2,240 (long) loads = ceil( tons / your payload )
Frequently asked
- How do you calculate tonnage?
- Cubic yards times the weight of a cubic yard, divided by the pounds in your ton.
- Is 1 cubic yard equal to 1 ton?
- No. A loose yard of crushed stone is 1.35 short tons, dry sand 1.2, loose loam 1.05.
- How many tons is 1 yd of gravel?
- Screened 1/4-2 in gravel, dry and loose: 1.43 short tons; pit run, loose: 1.63.
- How do I convert tonnage to cubic yards?
- Tons x pounds per ton / density: 3.33 x 2,000 / 2,700 = 2.47 cu yd.
- How do I calculate the price per ton?
- Tons times your supplier's price for that ton.
Limits of this sheet
For one material in detail, use the gravel calculator or sand calculator.
Sheet C-106 prepared by TakeoffMetric Editorial; no author, credential or field measurement is claimed.
Sources checked
The documents the numbers on this sheet were checked against. Nothing here is attributed to an author or a credential we do not have.
Where this page compares itself with other calculators, it describes the pages ranking on Google in the US when they were read, on October 13, 2026. Rankings change.
- NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8: factors for units listed by kind of quantity The three tons: short 2,000 lb, long 2,240 lb, tonne 1,000 kg.
- Caterpillar Material Density Tables To Help Estimate Earthwork Volumes Loose and bank weights per cubic yard of gravel, crushed stone, sand and loam.
- FHWA Federal Lands Highway Project Development and Design Manual, Earthwork Design, Exhibit 5.1 A Loose yards per compacted yard of gravel and sand.
- Marenakos Rock Center Conversion and coverages Yard weights of river rock and crushed granite, as delivered.