Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Truckers: 6.5 ft (Standard) Vs 8 ft (Long) bed boxes

Been there done that with 65' over the road rig, lots of fun...... Did the FS road thing and it can get a little dicey.

I've always been satisfied with the 6 1/2' beds- they can carry what lumber I need up to 8-10' with the tail gate down, and when you have the extend cab or crew cab, the shorter bed gives you the feeling that you're not driving a school bus. I have a trailer that I use for loads that my short-bed pickups couldn't handle.

Crew-cab, short box, Power-Stroke. Shane (Montana Marine) is alwalys wrong! But then, he doesn't have three girls and a very large wife either. I have had all three configurations, and wouldn't go back to the others. I need more room inside than out, and what I need to haul, usually fits in the bed. this parks a lot better than my old ex-cab long-box.

Exactly.. IMHO those are for city-folks... Nothin' wrong there, but if you're in the country and actually going to USE that box, bigger is better..

Mine's an F-350 PSD, long box, crew cab dualie 4X4.. You can't ever have too much truck..

Look on it this way. You can always put just a little stuff in a long bed that will hold a lot but you can't put a lot in a short bed.

BCR

i prefer 8 foot bed

I have 2 rules for my trucks.... don't buy anything less than 3/4 ton and right now we run a 1 ton, and never buy a short bed. Its about worthless IMHO. That extra size on a 8 footer takes a LOT of stuff.

I've taken my F350/4 door long bed down what are labeled as jeep trails in CO. Took it down one a few folks said they didn't want their jeeps on either... some tight areas but worked out fine if you know how to drive... and I shake my head at the locals not wanting to take a jeep down that one....

The only use of a short bed would be on a small truck for running around like our old Nissan....but boy can you fill that bed up quick...

Life's full of compromises. I don't make my living with my truck, I use it to haul a dead deer a couple times a year, to throw the two dog box in the back and a couple coolers for some pheasant hunting, to haul an appliance or lawnmower or other random large item that would never fit in a car. I could never get by without a truck, but like Cole said above, need the room up front as well. For me its either an extended cab or crew cab with the 6'6" bed. If my truck wasn't having to serve double duty, it would be a single cab and 8' bed, or actually, would be a flatbed with under bed storage for chains, toolboxes, etc. After farming when I was in high school and college with flatbed trucks, I don't think I could do it with a regular truckbed.

That was kinda my problem, I treated my long bed like a chick's purse, and just stuffed it with chit I didn't need.

Now I have a short box and it makes me be more selective in the tools I haul.

Not sure why buit I had flashbacks of post your load. Scared me for a sec. grin

Like you guys have already said intended use makes all the difference.

Longer wheelbase equals less manueverability(sp?).

A true offroad work pickup is a regular cab longbox with a flatbed. Maybe an extended cab if your not in the trees alot.


There's a reason why ranchers like F350's(reg or maybe extended cab) and Hydrabeds.

Extended cab equal short bed. Standard cab long bed, IMO. With ratchet straps and some good tie points you can make a short bed capable of quite a bit.

I have both and use the shorter one offroad and the longer one to tow/haul stuff. I can still haul in the short bed truck. It is a 2500 Dodge Quad cab.

The handiest thing I have in both trucks is the flip over bed extender. It is used more often to keep item secure towards the back of the truck (to keep from sliding forward) than it is to lengthen the bed. I thought they were a gimmick until my grand dad gave me his because he didn't haul hardly anything in his truck. Must be a generational thing.

6' bed regular cab , on those occasions when a 6' bed ain't enough then most likely a 8' bed ain't gonna be enough either so I use my 6'x12' trailer

Mike

both

all the 3/4 ton trucks I've had I went with an 8ft. bed. growing up on a farm gives you definite ideas what a pu should do.

if you can't close the gate on an 8' piece of plywood, you got something other than a working truck imo. course with the ext. cab it IS like driving a damned school bus specially in parking lots.


but I hear the guys on off road use, that's where my Taco comes in, it'll go down a path a wide azzed indian cleared out.

In these parts, a truck is a TRUCK, and so used. Two of my pickups came with beds that are 8.5 feet long - and both are almost 40 years old. None better.

Happy Truckin' !!

8ft bed, extended cab. Hauls it all AND is more stable towing a trailer.
Wheelbase is just important as bed length.

As asked earlier, what are you going to do with it?

Ed

I forgot that I see several people mention towing a trailer for the heavy stuff. That was the reason why I bought a long bed crew cab Ford F350 dually. The longer truck is much more stable towing heavy than my short bed Dodge.

If you small to medium, then any size bed should be fine, but if you haul heavy and bumper pull then the longer truck will keep your anxiety level lower.

My trailer weighs 12,400 lbs fully loaded and I use weight distributing bars and a sway bar. The same trailer was towed many miles behind my short bed Dodge before I bought my longer Ford. I know it isn't my trailer setup that is different, it is the truck. The Ford is much better.

I agree. I was typing and didn't see your post.

I had an F-150 regular cab 4x4 with an 8 ft bed (and topper), then went to a Tacoma 4x4 extended cab with a 6 ft bed and now have a Tacoma crew cab 4x4 with a 5 ft bed.

The F-150 long box was awesome for the rare occasion when I needed to haul a ton of stuff and rocked for long camping trips but parking it in town and buying gas (10mph) was NO FUN!!

My Tacoma extended cab with the 6ft bed was awesome off-road and in town. It was perfect for hunting but a tad tight for long camping trips and hauling and too tight for a family with kids. With the tailgate down, it could handle a half dozen 4x8 sheets of plywood with a bunch of studs but it definitely wasn't designed to be a "work truck". That being said, I drove it to/from work and around town 95% of the time and it was ideal for that (20mph).

My current Tacoma crew cab 4x4 is GREAT for hauling the family and works for short trips and/or hunting but that's about it. I would never go with a bed this short again!!

If I were buying a new truck today, I'd either go with a Tacoma crew cab 4x4 with the 6 ft box or a Ford F-150 crew cab with the 6.5 ft box. Everything's a compromise but either of those two would probably be the best match for what I do.....