Box truck pallet calculator

A broker asks "how many pallets can you take?" and wants an answer now. This box truck pallet calculator gives you that answer from your own box, not from a rule of thumb, and tells you whether space or weight is what will stop you. It also draws the layout, so you can show the shipper how you plan to load it.

How to read the result

• Pallets you can load is the final answer: the smaller of what fits by space and what your payload allows.
• The floor plan shows the best layout, nose wall at the left and doors at the right. If weight is the limit, the spots you can't fill are faded.
• Layout rows show how many spots each layout gives, so you can see what the pinwheel buys you.
• Tiers is 2 only when you marked the freight stackable and two loaded pallets fit under your inside height.
• Fits by weight is your payload divided by the weight of one pallet, rounded down.
• Total freight weight is the pallets you can load times their weight. Your truck's GVWR still has to cover the truck, fuel, driver and this number.

How it's calculated

Straight  = floor(length ÷ pallet length) × floor(width ÷ pallet width)
Turned    = floor(length ÷ pallet width) × floor(width ÷ pallet length)
Pinwheel  = needs width ≥ pallet length + pallet width;
            4 pallets per (pallet length + pallet width) of floor,
            plus 2 or 1 in the leftover length
Tiers     = 2 if stackable and inside height ≥ 2 × pallet height, else 1
By space  = best layout × tiers
By weight = floor(payload ÷ pallet weight)
Pallets   = the smaller of by space and by weight

The size buttons fill in inside dimensions from Morgan's published spec sheet for its 96 in wide aluminum dry freight body: inside length is the nominal length minus ½ inch, and inside width is 92⅜ in. A 102 in body is 98⅜ in wide inside; type that in if it's what you run.

What the example defaults show

The defaults are an EXAMPLE 26 ft box: 311½ x 92⅜ in floor, 96 in inside height, 48 x 40 pallets 48 in tall at 600 lb each, and 9,500 lb of payload. That gives 12 pallets in the straight layout and 13 with a pinwheel, at 7,800 lb, so space runs out first.

Now tick double stacked. Space allows 26, but 9,500 lb only covers 15 pallets at 600 lb. That's the usual story on a non-CDL 26-footer: on anything denser than paper goods, weight runs out before the floor does. Push the pallet weight to 1,500 lb and the count drops to 6, with half the floor empty.

Your payload is your truck's GVWR minus what it weighs on a scale with full fuel and the driver. Overloading a 26,000 lb GVWR truck isn't only a ticket risk: once the actual weight reaches 26,001 lb, the truck counts as a Group B vehicle for the CDL rules (49 CFR 383.5 uses the greater of rating or actual weight).

How to use it before you accept a load

1. Measure your box once, inside, at the floor and at the door, and save the link with your numbers.
2. Ask the broker for pallet count, footprint, height, weight and stackable yes or no. Plug them in.
3. If the result says weight is the limit, quote the weight you can take, not the pallet count.
4. Don't accept a load you can only fit with a pinwheel unless you or the shipper can actually load it that way.

For the full answer on a 26-footer, with layouts drawn and other box sizes compared, see how many pallets fit in a 26 ft box truck. For inside dimensions and payloads across every common size, use the box truck sizes chart.

Where dispatch fits

We dispatch 26 ft box trucks only, and pallet math is the first thing we check on every load: count, footprint, weight, stackable or not. If you'd rather have someone run that check before you roll to the dock, get a dispatcher for your box truck.