For those of you tired of my endless truck threads, too bad. Here's another. I've all but convinced myself I need a 6.5' bed (currently have a 6' in my Tacoma), but with Ford offering some pretty insane discounts on the the '15's, I can get one for close to what I can pick up a DC Tundra (my #1 choice right now). Problem is that it's very hard to find a Crew Cab Long Bed. The short bed's are everywhere. Anyways, for those of you who actually use your bed, what say you? I believe the 5.5' isn't enough, so prove me (better yet, convince me) that I'm wrong.
I think long beds are ugly and I've never had the need for one anyway. Plus I like being able to put my truck in the garage, which isn't possible with a long bed in a regular sized garage. When I need to haul something longer than my bed, I just put the hatch down and use the extra 2 feet from it and just bungee cord whatever I am hauling. If not that, use a trailer.
Always been a short bed kind of person. I think long beds are ugly, too. (I can only justify them on farm trucks with just single cab) I just need something to hook a fifth wheel trailer to - this works just fine. We just bought this;
Love my short bed Ford. I have never regretted it and I haul things a lot. A trailer is easier to load and unload anyway if you need the capacity.
My scout Terras were 5 footish beds. The smaller bed was often annoying to me but I didn't realize how puny that was until I got a truck with a 6.5 foot bed. The 6.5' bed still seems small. There's no way I'd buy a full size truck with a dinky bed. I need to haul too much stuff. Just the atv takes up most of the bed. I still need a place for the ramps, tools, gas cans and elk quarters.
I have a Ford supercrew with a 5.5' bed. My next truck will be the the regular extended cab with the 6.5' bed. My current needs are to haul more things in the bed rather than the cab.
Yeah, my current and future (kid) needs required both :D. The trailer is a good point, but for as many spur of the moment trips I make to Lowe's, it's nice to throw everything in the bed and not mess with a trailer. I just made three seperate trips over the last week to pick up lots of 10' EMT conduit. The extra foot (to me) allowed me to keep the tailgate closed and set them on that to tie down. I think they may have been too flimsy and unsupported in a 5.5' bed.
I just ran 260 feet of EMT conduit in my tractor shed. I carried them diagonally in my 5.5 bed. However, I had the cap's rear window to partially close on them and bungee down. Worked fine.
That is what I did. Crappy Ford Explorer and then a 14' landscape trailer if I need to haul something.
Just depends on if you are putting things in the bed daily that wont fit. I find with a crew cab I have plenty of room to throw all my hunting crap in the back seat. Granit yeah bigger bed would be nice at times but for how much I would need it driving a school bus around every day isn't worth it.
Prefer a 6.5 ft bed and use a bed extender if needed. I'd go with a 8ft bed if it didn't have to be my daily driver. Parking is a PITA! Whom ever thought it was a good idea to design parking spots 90 degrees from the thru way in the mid-west is an idiot. We driver big gas guzzling vehicles!
6 1/2' bed on mine... I just like the way it looks better, plus it's hard as heck to find a crew with a long bed around these parts. The only downfall I've found for mine is when I load my 4-wheeler for elk hunting in Colorado... the tailgate gets to within about two inches of closing.... GRRRRR! I have to ratchet-strap it into the up-position, as I'm also pulling our travel trailer so I can't leave the gate down. A lot of the other times, as Scott pointed out, I just use my Jeep Cherokee and pull a 8' long trailer behind it. When I was running back and forth to Menard's 100 times a week as I built my treehouse, that's what I hauled all the lumber on.
Thats why we have long beds, so if your not putting a L tank and tool box you'll be fine hauling stuff. Otherwise beds about worthless once get that stuff in there.
Yesterday I had to go pickup several #50 bags of feed. I used the prius. There's 5.5' of cargo space in there with the rear seats down. Maybe Fletch outta get a prius instead of a truck. Tee hee hee...
Can I pull my tractor and mower on a trailer with your prius? How does the prius do with 4 guys and all their gear for a hunting trip?
