you tow seriously you want a long bed. IMO. Yes a cc long bed pickup is long. but I can't say it bothers me ever.

voted while channeling my Brother,
he is on his second or 3rd F150 extended cab with 8 foot bed,

he swears by them, despite the fact they can be a pita to park

tho, re the parking, most parking lots suck now, and I drive a RAV4 or if in the shop van, a standard lenght low roof T250

8' every time. The extra cargo capacity more than makes up for the tiny improvement of manueverability that you get with the shorter bed. Same reason I bought a Suburban and not a Tahoe. Just park further out...walking is good for you.

I'm on my second F-150 Supercab with a 6 1/2 ft. box. It fits in the garage (barely) and we hardly ever have back seat passengers. They're getting hard to find in new trucks but you can order them.
I can't justify a 6,000 lb. truck that won't haul a 6 foot stepladder inside the box.

OTOH, your money, you get to pick.

I have a buddy who drives a super crew cab silverado with an 8 ft bed. It's very comfortable for trips with four, but I don't know how he parks it so easily. His parking and back-up skills are exceptional, I've been in the passenger seat when he backed up into a tight spot designed for compacts with no trouble at all. Natural ability no doubt.

I have a hard enough time parking my super cab with a 6.5 bed. It's good enough for me, I haul quite a bit of 8 thru 12 foot lumber from time to time, and a yard of mulch type products during the spring. It actually rides better with a load, so I always enjoy driving it with a load.

If I didn't live in suburbia I'd prefer an 8 ft bed.

I'd like to find a product that attaches to the hitch that can hold up long lumber with the tailgate down. I saw one once that was so well made I asked the owner where he got it. He had made it, and it was better made than anything you could buy from the looks of it. He was a professional craftsman of some sort. He had loaded it up with long lumber, quite a bit of it, and it didn't sag a single millimeter. That's what I'd like but don't know where to get something like that pre-made.

03 Tundra Access Cab, 6’ bed.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
you tow seriously you want a long bed. IMO. Yes a cc long bed pickup is long. but I can't say it bothers me ever.

Why is that ? The extra weight of a longer bed, towing physics of a longer vehicle, the ease of backing up, how exactly ?

My Sierra 2500HD Crew Cab has a 6 1/2’ bed, so I picked 6’.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
you tow seriously you want a long bed. IMO. Yes a cc long bed pickup is long. but I can't say it bothers me ever.

Why is that ? The extra weight of a longer bed, towing physics of a longer vehicle, the ease of backing up, how exactly ?

I have a F-350 SRW LB diesel.
The longer bed(and therefore longer wheelbase) provides a more stable platform for towing etc. you are able to distribute the weight better with a weight distributing hitch.
AND with a long bed you’ll get a significantly larger fuel tank, which if you’re towing can be a BFD.

I have the Colorado now with a 5' bed. So not a full size pickup. I like it mostly because it fits in the garage. My old Sierra 2500 HD which I had for 23 years was a great truck with a 6' bed and crew cab. Did not fit in the garage. Never really felt like an 8' bed was needed very often.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

I'd like to find a product that attaches to the hitch that can hold up long lumber with the tailgate down.

There are many receiver hitch bed extenders available.

2014 Toyota Tundra double cab long bed - 8'. Love the long bed but, yes, it is a PITA to park. It is not my daily driver though so no real problem.

I have two regular cab pick ups and an extended cab pick up all have a 6' bed. I prefer the shortbed trucks.

My 2004 Silverado Duramax is a Crew Cab with an 8 foot bed. Measures 20 feet. I have a gooseneck trailer that measures 20 feet from the back of the trailer to the rear bumper of the truck. 40 feet of truck and trailer. It's a little on the long side.

I bought it from my neighbor who took very good care of it. I would prefer something a little shorter, perhaps a 2 door with an 8 foot bed or a 4 door with the 6.5, but that's not what he was selling at the time, and it was an improvement over my 89 Chevy K2500.

I also have a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 3/4 rear doors (can't remember what Dodge calls them) and a 6.5 bed. It's a full 36" shorter than the Chevy. That one will be my sons when he gets his license next year. Got that one from my dad.

I have had a 2008 F-150 super crew with the 5 1/2 foot bed since 2013. It’s 8 foot from the front of the bed to the top of the tail gate, when it’s down. I can haul 4x8 foot sheets of plywood without any hang over, but in all honesty, it has a Bed Rug and an ARE cover, so it’s more of a big comfortable car with a great big trunk. If I need to haul something bigger, I’ll use my trailer.

I've towed with a super cab long bed and a regular cab long bed .
I don't know why
But between eastern Iowa and California the super cab seemed much easier on mind and body.

My 2017 GMC canyon has a 6 foot bed. I flatly will not buy a short bed.

quote:

Originally posted by sandman76:
Did not fit in the garage.

We looked at a number of houses with tandem garages and I would have loved for any of those to have been the right house, but the one that was... I parked my truck in the garage once, before we moved anything in. If I didn't want tool chests or a freezer, I could park it in the garage, but that ain't happening. Sun gets to eat it.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Just park further out...walking is good for you.

Well, when I have a choice, I do this anyways because I don't like door dings and because of the one asshole who left a white streak on my color-matched bumper. Maybe the parking situation In the Cornfields has consistently better options, but around here, I still sometimes have to parallel park the sumbitch on a busy city street or in a parking garage that was designed by a dwarf.

I’ve had 8’, 6’, and 5 1/2’ beds. I’m on my 3rd Ford super crew with a 5 1/2’ (actually 67”) bed. Sure, there I times I wish the box was longer, but rarely, or I wouldn’t keep buying them. Most of the time it can haul everything I need, and then some. These super crews are fast, maneuverable, and comfortable. I couldn’t imagine being without a full-sized pickup, but the reality is that I rarely need an 8’ box.

Are there full-sized pickups with just a 5’ box? I didn’t know that.

My personal requirement (not so much now) for a pickup truck bed is (was) that it be able to carry all my work tool boxes. They fit, but not with much room to spare, in a Toyota Tacoma 6-foot bed. Five-footers are vestigial.