There are obvious trade-offs between the 2. Which one do you guys prefer?

I've had both but currently living in the country on a farm the 8ft is better.

8' bed, standard cab.

I cant see buying a full sized truck with a short bed.

Yep....8 ft

My P\U isn't just an interstate queen I take it off road so I prefer the shorter bed because I run mtn forest service roads so the shorter wheel base makes it easier to turn around on logging landings and on the forest service or ligging roads.

And if you have to haul anything, ya gotta use the trailer.....

Er,

"Driving" a Pickup does not make one a "Trucker".

is there ANY objective to the post, ....other than general question.

"PayLoad" is ALWAYS a great place to start discussing trucks.

Than one gets into the meaning of that uniquely American word.

"Payload"

Yup,....

GTC

Don't suppose you'd give me a shot at that "Cursor" thing,....
...seeing as driving folks nuts seems to be my main line of work these days ?

GTC

I prefer the short bed on my extended cab 4 X 4 pick-up. Any longer makes it more difficult to travel off road.

I went from a 4x4 F250 SuperCab LB to a Titan Crew Cab with the short bed, and the Titan is a superior off road vehicle by far.

It would be hard for me to go back.

Well hell now days trucks come in 5' beds, 6'6" beds, and 8' beds.

I prefer a 6'6" which used to be a short bed but now I guess it's a standard bed. If it won't fit in my truck without/with the tailgate down I put it on the trailer. It will take lumber and plywood up to 4'x8'.

I like the shorter wheelbase just for turning around in the woods. If I had a dollar for every truck I've smacked right in front of the front wheel against a tree while out in the woods I could buy a new truck lol.

Having said that my current 4wd is an extra cab (no crew cab) 6'6" and my diesel is a extra cab as well 8' bed.

Well if your ever going to sleep in the back, you want eight feet.

Depends on what you are mainly using the truck for. For hunting and going through the woods and extended cab and a 6'6" bed is hard to beat. For a work truck an 8' bed would probably be better. Just my .02.

Dave.

What do you/plan on using the truck for?

That's the determining factor.

I went with the F150 extended cab with 6.5 foot bed, for all the reasons noted above. The 5 footer is too short, 6.5 is a decent compromise.

I have had both, and I prefer the 8', especially if you're going to actually use the truck for ag or construction purposes. Carries more stuff, and if you want to haul standard dimensional lumber and sheet goods, you can get it in the bed and close the tailgate. YMMV.

With a standard cab, 8 foot. With crew cab, 6.5 foot. So much easier to get around in and turn around on a FS road. How much room does a guy really need? If its for work, maybe 8 foot, for play, the short bed.

And these are PICKUPS, not trucks......

I prefer the 8' bed. It just gives you more room to haul stuff.

I don't do much off-roading.

I also prefer the extended cab and/or crew cab. It just gives you more space to store stuff inside.

IMO the long beds are just too long. I have to have an x cab because of two kids. Of course in the old days, they'd just get squashed between the two adults. By the time you get a tool box on there you can't haul anything. You'll have to get a trailer, like the others have said.

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.....

The more I use my truck as a truck...the more I want an 8' box.

It wouldn't fit in the garage tho.

As I real trucker I usually pull a 53 foot trailer, 13' 6" high.


Oh, now I get your question! Eight foot is the only way to go if you have a farm or large property. The shorty is OK for city life but nothing but a toy for country life.

Now you see if you had a full length truck with full length bed, you would have to park farther out in the parking lot of the resturants, and the girls and very large wife would have to walk off some of that extra large both going and coming.

Full length beds are a problem in town but out in the country or traveling across country they are great!

8 foot. If that makes the truck too long for your four wheeling just get a little Jeep & have a buddy with an 8 foot bed haul your chit..

I must have it all wrong then, or I'm just getting by to get by...I've never quite considered 'old gray' a toy..
I guess it has something to do with the fact that my truck is now 32 years young and I won't part with it (although I've had some ridiculous offers to). Our home is on a large piece of property plus we have my FIL's farm now, plus the properties in Canada, and I've been able to get by with this old truck, an '02 Excursion diesel, and a variety of trailers here. We still have an old but nice '88 Suburban 4x4 in Canada I bought when it was a year old (we have a new 16' dump trailer up there).

I guess if I had the money, I'd go out and buy a new F250 Super Duty long box, but since I don't, and I'm a simple man, I'll live with old stuff and make what I do have work. I kind of like no-payment living.

I am a firm believer in "work with what you have". If it works for you and best of all, has no payments than good for you. I have an eight foot bed on my old Ford F150. I bought it used and have used it hard. If I were to replace it I would be handicapped here on the farm with a short bed. We fill the old pickup from front to back, floor to canopy top every week for our trip to Saturday Market. It hauls hay, fertiliser and countless other full loads. I would love a new F350 but would never make payments so the old truck will just have to keep on working.

I'm sure enough not a city guy,but my last truck a 98 dodge,I got with a short bed, club cab. That is not a full 4 door. The whole truck is about the same length as a 8 ft bed,std cab.
My last truck before that was a extended cab Ford,8 ft box.You couldn ot doa U turn on a 6 lane highway. Put a 20 ft gooseneck stock trailer on it and you needed 6 acres to turn it around. My present truck with a gooseneck,now I can manuver around and get my trailer in and out of tight places and when I do have to take my truck to town,it is easier to get around.
If I am hauling anything,I usually am pulling a 22 ft flat bed or the 20 ft gooseneck stock trailer

I would not know about pulling any kind of trailer.
My every day truck.

4 door, short box; I use a trailer when necessary.

8' bed for me. I'd get a 10' if they made one.

I too like to "offroad" as much as I can. For me the short bed works best, and there is nothing that doesn't fit in a short box that I haul, so it's better for me. Motorcycles, wood, camping gear, even my nine-foot pontoon boat fits fine. So, I wouldn't gain anything with an 8' box over the shorter one. BTW, the Ford has a 6.75' box, so the 8' box is just over 1' longer (not much difference).

For me, a F350 Super Cab 4x4 (not crew cab) with short box is about as good as it would get for me (once the kids are old enough to move out). Right now I've got a crew cab short box and it's too long for offroad, and the 6.75' bed is about perfect for a compact truck camper.

eta: what can a 8' bed accomplish that a 6.75' bed not accomplish? Does closing the tailgate on plywood make you feel good, or is there something about it that having the tailgate down doesn't do? Really, I understand you can haul 16" more whatever, but what is it that you're hauling that would fall out the back of the truck (lumber isn't it if you're buying 8' lumber) with the 6.75' bed.

I live in town, and about the only things I haul are stuff for shooting matches, and deer in the fall. I don't even drive a full-sized pickup any more, a Frontier is all I need. I have plenty of room in the extended cab for me and my "stuff" mostly, and the across-the-bed toolbox handles most of the other "stuff", and still leaves room for deer and whatever other bulky stuff a single guy might haul around.
It parks "good", which is important here.