Pickup question, long bed vs short bed

RobertN · Sep 13, 2002

A lot of good points have been made already on this thread... Here are a couple more/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

My longbed extended cab Dodge has bed dividers in it. I just slip a 2x6 or 2x8, that's cut to length in the slots provided. It works great! I hate things sliding around the bed!

A solid front axle truck(at least in 4x4) will turn tighter than a IFS. I swapped the IFS for a straight axle in my old Ford, a 89' f250/LB/Ex-cab. The change in turning radius was really suprising. My '01 Dodge turns even tighter.

A long bed is the way to go. Ya, I have to make six point turns into parking spaces sometimes. But, I can hual darn near anything. I used to haul 5 dirt bikes in an old Ford longbed I had. Try that in a shortbed! I see guys hauling quads and dirt bikes in short beds; they have to leave the tailgate down.

I can haul 8' lumber with the gate up. I can hual longer lumber with the gate down. I easily fit a 5' sickle mower, with gear head and mounting stuff(for my Farmall) in a longbed. There's more room for fire wood. There is more room for gear. I hauled 14 bicycles for a school trip to the bike trail, and had 5 kids up front all buckled in safely.

I have plenty of room for all our camping gear, plus the two dogs and one kid in the x-cab.

I'd go long bed. An occasional difficult parking is a small tradeoff for all the stuff you can do with the long bed extra cab.

mikim · Sep 13, 2002

By the way, why did it take Ford Soooooooo loooooooong to come out with something to compete with the Suburban!? 
i dunno --- wasn't suburban all by itself for all that time? - meaning dodge didn't have anything either did they?

mikim · Sep 13, 2002

mosey -
10 years - but home is Bastrop County just east of Austin - and headed there raight neow ... (too old to know those dance halls - and the ones I knew in Austin are gone - 'cept mebbe the "spoke")
mike

cowboydoc · Sep 13, 2002

I did the extended cab for awhile and it's fine when the kids are really small. But the seats are not very comfortable and it's a pain getting in and out. I have a crewcab now and would never go back to an extended cab.

As far as long vs. shortbed I always go longbed. Too many things are 8' long and you can't get them in the shortbed. I've never been in a situation where I wished I had a shortbed but I've heard plenty of guys wishing they had a longbed.

bgott · Sep 13, 2002

And if the crew cab gets too small inside they make duelly limousines that have three and four door on each side.

bgott · Sep 13, 2002

And this...

http://www.cosmopolitanlimos.com/truck.html

bgott · Sep 13, 2002

This one's not a duelly...

http://www.excel-limo.com/theride.html

Mosey · Sep 13, 2002

RobertN - "A solid front axle truck(at least in 4x4) will turn tighter than a IFS"

I've noticed that too. We have an 89 Suburban 4x4 with a straight front axle and it will turn tighter than our 89 Chevy 2WD standard cab long bed pickup. The wheel base is almost the same. I had the reason explained to me once, quite a while ago though so I don't remember the terminology. The straight front axle is designed like a road grader - when the wheels turn they also change angle and that's what makes them turn so sharp.

Mike - You're right. Chrylser still doesn't have anything like a Suburban.

RobertN · Sep 13, 2002

Yup. When you turn a straight axle, the tire tends to lean and turn. It makes a big difference in the 4x4. That IFS I had in my old Ford just didn't turn near as nice as when I put that straight axle in.

I do not know what the terminology is either. Might be interesting to find out though.

TedLynn · Sep 13, 2002

I'm currently driving an 02 Silverado Duramax Crew cab with short bed. Love it! Traded an 01 PowerStroke crew cab with short bed. Good truck - just didn't drive good. Took a football field to turn around. Probably a better work horse than the D/A, but the Silverado is sure user friendly.

My progression - In earlier years I had to have an 8' bed for all the reasons stated in the other replies. As I thought about how many times I actually needed the 8' bed I swithced to the trailer option. Went from a regular cab to an extended cab. Great move - would never want a regular cab again. Went from the extended cab to crew cabs. Even better! Just my experiecne for what it might be worth. Ted

Gary_in_Indiana · Sep 13, 2002

"By the way, why did it take Ford Soooooooo loooooooong to come out with something to compete with the Suburban!?"

AND, it competed so well Ford has already scheduled the END of production of the Albatross... er... Excursion

Inspector507 · Sep 13, 2002

F250 Super Duty V10 Super Cab 8' Bed...........don't leave home without it /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif
The kids are all grown.........so it fits ALL my needs

Jerry

Ozarker · Sep 13, 2002

I have an F150 extended cab w/8' bed. I love it but the people who occasionally ride in the back seat don't. My kids are grown and gone so that isn't an issue but I doubt it would be an issue anyway. When they were 2 and 5 I had a Chevy standard cab and we all traveled in that.

I never have trouble parking but I really don't like the new trend toward straight in parking instead of angle parking. Sure, it gives them a few more parking spaces in the same area but there are so many people out there who haven't figured out what the lines are there for that they lose spaces anyway.

I may get a crew cab next time. Grandkids will grow up you know. Or at least they will get larger.

jray · Sep 13, 2002

Hey Mosey, Well we just had our first child 4.5mons now. Anyway we have horses so my wife believes we need a Diesel "broke my heart" . SOOO in 2000 we bought an extended cab ford F250 short bed. Nice for just us but man was that thing bouncy. Heavy suspension and short bed was okay with 1000lb back there but empty would beat your guts out. Well the boy came along and he and the car seat would not fit in the back so we had to ride him in the front. Thats why the ext. cab trucks have the option to turn the air bags off becasue they are not rated for a child seat. Well we ended up buying a 02 f F350 super cab with 4 full doors and a long bed. Man this thing is LONG it won't fit in my garage I think I measured it from front to back at 23'. We always try and park pulling through and taking up two spaces. My opinion for a family truck the super cabs are the way to go hopfully I will not be buying a new truck for a long long time. Sorry this was so long Jray

Harv · Sep 14, 2002

If the bed is fairly short, you don't have to crawl up in the bed as often to get stuff that slid to the front

Way back when Dave (Gatorboy) pointed out a really cool product that could be installed as a false floor in the bed of the truck and then be drawn out the rear on runners, kinda like a file drawer.

I thought it was a way cool idea, but now their web site has dried up.. Anybody know what happened to Beaver Bed Systems?

Jeff396 · Sep 14, 2002

We have a '97 Ford F350 2wd crew cab long bed turbo diesel. If I had to pick between the long bed and the crew cab it would be crew cab all the way. We bought this when the newer model was to come out and there were no short beds left on the lots. Yes, turning it is a chore as I need at least three lanes going in the other direction to have any hope of making a u turn(I think I measured it at 22 ft long). We also went through the extended cab thing but found that with a child seat the kids would be constantly kicking the back of the front seats. Now, since we sold my E-150 van conversion, this truck is our trip vehicle with two kids and a dog. It works very well....we have a tv/vcr with a playstation in the back for the kids and the dog rides up front with us. This thing seats six comfortably and with that diesel up front, large hills while driving with the cruise control on are a breeze. I always hated it when the car would downshift at the slightest grade in my E150 (DOG). Anyway, I can't say enough about this vehicle and I think that when it comes time to replace it I will most likely buy an identical set up.

Jeff

Mosey · Sep 14, 2002

This has sure been interesting. I expected more people with kids to say "extended cabs are great!", but most are saying an extended cab is not of much use if you want to have kids ride in the back very often. At this point I think I'm just going to stick with a regular cab long bed, since it's usually just me anyway. I'll still do some test driving though, when I get a chance.

Kodiak · Sep 15, 2002

Well I'm pro extended cab, my two labs fit back there just fine with never a complaint.

jwstewar · Sep 15, 2002

Don't get me wrong my extended cab is great. I really do like it, but just next time we are getting the crew cab. We have 2 little ones - one 2 1/2 & one 1. We have had the carrier type rear facing car seat and now we have 2 of the big 5 point harness car seats and there is plenty of room. My wife and I are both kinda short (I'm 5'8" and she is 5'5" so we have the seats up a little bit) but there is still plenty of rooms for the kids and their legs/feet in the car seat. Now the girl (2 1/2) her legs are long enough to be able to kick the back of my seat (thank goodness for leather), but I think most of the time they could do that in any vehicle. Of course I think the Silverado has more room in the rear than the other extended cabs. I know when Monica and Alex would go with her Aunt in her F150 Monica would have a real hard time trying to get the carrier back there and would have to put the seats all the way forward and even tilt them up, we don't have that problem in the Silverado. Mine are proably back at least half way. I've also have had 5 people (buckets in the front) riding in the truck (including my '97 Chevy) for extended periods of time, w/o too much grumbling so yes they are great but next time we are going for the crew. If you are interested in occasional use the extended would be great. Ever stop at the store with your truck? Try keeping stuff dry (or even in the bed for that matter) in the bed unless you have a shell. That was one of the original reason I bought the extended cab.

cj7 · Sep 18, 2002

my 2 cents

I have an F250 Super Duty, 4wd, V-10, 5spd, Extended Cab, Short-Bed with cap. I do not have any kids but it was great at the beach piling in all of our friends. I am sure the longer trips could be a little tight but stop and get for awhile.

As for the bed, 99% of the time it is fine. I can still haul 8 and 10 lengths of lumber. I only buy what I need at the time. I also have a 16' Trailer and have access to 14' box trucks for larger loads(which is not very often). For a really large load of lumber ex: when we did our 2nd story. I got the delivered. They unload all the stuff for you. Saving loads of time!

The truck suits my needs just fine even with a Jeep on the trailer and a bed full of tools and parts.

It really depends on how you are using the truck. My needs are for transportation and towing most of the time.

Good luck! There are plenty of fine trucks out there!