6' vs 8' bed on truck...

[Wisconsin Ann]

n9viw's thread about what truck to get (and his last post there) got me to thinking about another question...6' vs 8' bed.

We had a smaller pickup with a 6' bed. It was fine for moving household stuff from place to place. Or moving a kid in and out of college dorm rooms. And it WAS fairly easy to drive around town. but if you wanted to buy lumber.....

After having that previous truck for a few years, one of our must-haves on the new truck was a full sized bed. And boy am I glad we've got it. (I also love the extended cab. )

We can load full sheets of plywood or sheet steel FLAT. 8' 2x4s fit inside. 10ft rebar will actually fit inside diagonally if necessary (or it can slide thru the pass thru window into the cab). That extra 2 feet is fantastic. It also means I can load up 2 pallets in the truck instead of just 1.

We put a really nice topper on it (one of those that's higher in the back so you can have plenty of sitting room) that I found on Ebay for $200. Now, when we put those full sheets of plywood or flooring in the truck, we don't have to take them out right away.

That extra 2 feet is really nice for camping, too. full sized mattress goes in the back, with room at the front end for a trunk filled with "stuff".

okay. There are my reasons for needing an 8' bed anyone else?

[ErinP]

Gooseneck trailer.

It's much easier to cause some annoying body damage to you cab with the shorter turning radius of a 6' bed.
Just like a standard cab, a short bed wasn't even an option when we were looking for our current pickup.

[CowgirlGloria]

Long beds hold more material without the need for a trailer. You can fit more hay bales onto the truck. As you said, building materials are much easier to haul with the long bed.

That being said, we have a short bed truck. It was not my choice, but ... there ya go. That means, if we want to get anything of any size at all, we must hitch up a trailer. I find that to be a pain, but that is our present situation.

I loved my old truck, a 3/4 ton Chevy with an 8 foot bed. But it finally died at over 350K miles. *sniff* *whimper*

The only good thing about the short bed truck is that it has a tighter turning radius. But, that's all I can say in its favor.

[Macybaby]

Just go to any lumber yard and watch folks try to load stuff into thier 6' and shorter beds.

Use to be 8' was standard and 6' was short. Now 8' is long, 6' standard and you can get them even shorter.

Half the time we have to take the 16' stock trailer, and then we wish we had got the 18' one.

We had a hard time finding a standard cab, 8' bed truck with little frills (does have AC) It's only used for "work" so we didn't want to pay for the comforts. Dealer found one in southern Kansas and had it hauled up for us. It's a year old, and has about 4000 miles on it. When we need a truck, we need a truck! But otherwise it stays in the shop.

Our last one was an 85, and it is still running, but not dependable. We hope this one will last as long. (or until we run out of gas, which ever comes first).

Cathy

[Scrounger]

It depends.....
Back when I was working on houses, we hauled a lot of longer stuff throughout several states. We needed an 8' bed, but it was mostly because of the tool box I needed to carry. Now, for the farm, it's no longer needed. I still have my 1997 F-150 with Ext cab and 8' bed, but don't use it much because it doesn't have 4WD - a MUST on my hills. It has 345,000 miles on it. My 2003 F-150 is a short bed (actually 6 1/2 feet....). We have no trouble hauling lumber or even drywall, just leave the gate down.
I've never understood the "long vs short" argument. I get just as much done with each.

[ricky]

i hate my 6 foot bed on my gmc. i can't carry any thing over a 12 piece of lumber. that means every time i need 14 or 16 foot i pay a delivery charge. ill never buy a short box again. they are all looks.

[DaleK]

Makes no particular difference to me. I don't buy lumber in small enough quantities to justify trucking it myself over getting it delivered anyway. I can hire all my livestock trucking cheaper than I can own a trailer. I have an 8' bed but if I fill it with most things I haul (seed, fertilizer, whatever) it's overloaded too badly to be safe on the road anyway. I'd probably be better off with a shorter wheelbase considering the amount of times I'm banging around the field.

[Scrounger]

Originally Posted by ricky

i hate my 6 foot bed on my gmc. i can't carry any thing over a 12 piece of lumber. that means every time i need 14 or 16 foot i pay a delivery charge. ill never buy a short box again. they are all looks.

This winter we tore down a barn near here. There were several 18' long 2x6's that I carried home in my shortbed. I don't carry much lumber, but I don't have problems when I do.
One thing about the shortbed 4x4's. They will get you places the long wheel base trucks won't go (and back out). The place with the barn had't seen any rock for 40 years and it was a messy winter. My short bed made it in/out without difficulty but others had trouble with long wheel base trucks.
Mine also came with a factory gooseneck in the bed. The previous owners hauled cattle with it. The only damage is to the tail gate where they forgot to put it down......

[Ed Norman]

I have a short bed, 6'6". An 8' board will fit diagonally. One problem I have, when I sleep in it my head and feet rub since we are the same length. We haul a 12' rowboat in it by using an extender that plugs into the receiver hitch. That makes it about 9' long, I guess. I got a cheap one from Harbor Freight and it works for a boat. I wouldn't put a bunk of lumber on it, though.

We looked at a new Nissan full size, just dreaming, and it has about a 5' bed. It would carry an elk but not much else. Remember those old 60s Ford Broncos with a little bed that a bird dog had to stand up in to fit?

[Beltane]

I've always only had 8 foot beds...I just do so much misc. stuff that I can't imagine having anything smaller (and sometimes I can't fit everthing I want to into 8 feet!)

[alpacamom]

We have an F-250 super crew with an 8' bed and while I curse trying to park it anywhere, I'm grateful for the length of the bed when we need to get anything for the farm. We've hauled ten 12' corral panels in there with no problem. Granted, they hung out the back, but imagine if we only had a 6' bed. We have a cap on the back, but I broke the back window. OOPS. I'd like a smaller truck for when we have to pull the trailer or just run to town, but Truckzilla is perfect for farm work. The only thing I wish it had was 4WD.

[fixer1958]

An 8' bed is handy to haul long stuff, but with a extended cab it's like trying to park a school bus.

[Old Vet]

In todays market you can't tell but in the older models the long bed was a long wheel base and the Short one was a Short wheel base. Today you can get a long wheel base truck with only a four foot bed. I like the ride of a long wheel base truck.

[frugalbunny]

I think 6 foot is more sporty and looks better, but unfurtunately we have to use our truck for hauling so it' 8 foot for us.

[Ross]

I just picked up a GMC extenda cab long box. It does need a bigger area to make the turns but the advantage of the extra room is reward enough for the fuss of parking it. Besides most parking lots simply aren't built for either size truck any more

[Quint]

I've got a 6 ft bed on my daily driver. It's annoying if you have to haul stuff. Those extra 2 ft make a bigger difference than you'd think. A short bed also doesn't ride as nice as an 8 ft bed does.

On the plus side it's easier to maneuver if you take it off road and into the timber or other tight areas.

Next truck I buy is gonna be a longbed.

[cfabe]

I have a 95 chevy extended cap short bed. For our uses it's been a good truck. I would like a longer bed for hauling firewood, could fit more in. But I don't think I'd be able to get it through some of the trails in our woods with the long bed. Didn't really give it much thought when we bought it used, we definately wanted an extended cab, and in our area almost all the extended cab trucks were short bed.

[foxtrapper]

I've had 8 foot full width beds, a 7 foot mini width bed and a the current 6.5 foot full width bed. Can't say I'm particularly unhappy with the current short bed.

Width is the most important factor to me. Being able to lay sheets of plywood and drywall and such down flat between the fender wells is wonderfull. I adapted with the other mini bed, making racks at the height of the fender wells. It worked, but wasn't convenient or particularly easy to use.

The current bed will hold an 8 foot board diagonally and let me close the tailgate. An 8 foot sheet of plywood extends right to the tip of the tailgate. A stout bungie cord holds it down nicely.

I picked up a cheap bed extender from Harbor Freight for those really long 16 foot boards that I hardly ever carry.

All in all, I've found the short bed much easier to live with than I expected.

Now if only the truck had a pneumatic suspension that let me drop the bed down to the ground for easy loading and unloading. I can hardly see over the sides of the bed, let alone get things in and out over the sides.

[Wisconsin Ann]

Originally Posted by foxtrapper

Now if only the truck had a pneumatic suspension that let me drop the bed down to the ground for easy loading and unloading. I can hardly see over the sides of the bed, let alone get things in and out over the sides.

I hear THAT!

My SO uses a truck at work that's ford f350 diesel, crewcab. 6.5ft bed

It has a lifter gate. DANG that thing is handy. they don't carry a lot of lumber or long items. What they DO carry a lot of is heavy shop machinery, and ashing ovens, freezers. instead of having to use a forklift (which as we all know, isn't readily available out in the real world), they can wheel whatever it is over on a dolly, roll it onto the lowered lift, hit a button, and uuUUUUP it goes.

man, I wish we had one on our truck. feed hauling would be a snap! costs a minor fortune tho

[reluctantpatriot]

I have a 2000 Ford F-150 with an 8 foot bed and I enjoy having a larger fuel tank, 30 gallons versus approximately 25-26 gallons. It is nice to have the extra reserve for when I may need to stretch money, though to fill it all the way is painful.

Shorter beds with shorter wheelbases may turn faster in tight areas but as it has been said, even faster turning in a parking lot is a moot point when the parking space is just about as wide as your truck and it just a bit shorter.

As of late, I have also noticed that if a pickup has a shorter bed it is also equipped more like a play truck and has more flashy and less useful options if you really do want a truck for utilitarian tasks. Finding a real working truck takes time and it is easier if you are willing to have a long bed.

For whatever reason, 8 foot bed trucks are more likely to have fewer options, but what they have serves a purpose, like air conditioning, cruise control and a cassette deck or CD slot but have an interior that would wear better as a working truck rather than a leather interior of a play truck.

However, the choice comes down to what each person wants. With what I do I cannot see having a short bed truck since for just a little more cost you have more hauling area and would get virtually the same fuel economy, better ride and a more common bed size for when you need to find equipment like racks or toppers.

I have also hauled longer than standard furniture with the tailgate up and thus didn't have to worry about it falling out or moving. And I have hauled six, 5-gallon gas cans strapped down at the back of the bed with enough empty space to have a tarpped load of items be covered yet not take up the odor of the fuel cans.