I looked at a crew cab today with a 8 foot bed. I always had a 8 foot bed but it was a regular cab. Not sure if I want to give up the 1-8 but it was a beast. Any thoughts on the shorter bed?

Standard cab is what I have with 6.5' bed.. sdd tretched cab you add 18".add 4 door you have 36" over standard. For me to go 4 door I'd have to learn to drive all over again.
Like a 2 door Jeep ,it's great for off road , very maneuveral.The 4 door changes that a lot.Best for family+ dog !

quote:

Originally posted by J_Zola:
I looked at a crew cab today with a 8 foot bed. I always had a 8 foot bed but it was a regular cab. Not sure if I want to give up the 1-8 but it was a beast. Any thoughts on the shorter bed?

You better back it into any parking spaces in lots or you will never get it out.

That said, I've never had anything but 8 foot beds and now that we have a large camper in ours I'm glad I made that choice.

I have only had one short box truck, a 2005 GMC crew cab 1500 and when I traded it for my Ram 2500 Diesel CC I got the 8' box and won't ever go back to the short bed again. Yes, they are hard to park but I can live with that because the long box is so much more useable.

My old Ford extended cab truck has the 6.5' bed. I wish it was 8' every time I load something. I don't have to worry about parking problems.

Short bed will be more maneuverable off road or in town.

If you need a long bed for work, there is no substitute.

My hunting truck is usually a crew or extended cab short bed and I have long bed trucks in my work fleet

Where in NJ are you? In Dallas, my CC long bed was too much.

In northern NJ. I used to plow snow with a four door and 8foot bed. Between the plow and a salter it was mile long. Not sure I want to deal with that again.

Do you weight the truck when plowing such as putting a snow mobile in the back ?

Says he has a salt spreader in the back all the weight you would need.

The big truck tracked well with two skid loads of salt in the salter. But make any type of K turn in the dark was a chore.

I currently own my last short bed truck. I realize I am giving up a lot of mobility to move to a 8 foot crew cab, but I am so damn tired of not being able to haul what I want it is time.

If I could sell the wife on her car being a short bed crew cab it would make life easier.

I wanted a truck not a glorified grocery cart so I have a 2004 Dodge ram quad cab with the 8'bed. I have never had a problem parking it or getting out of a parking spot.

Now I do love the guys with the short boxes. some of the best Saturday entertainment is to go to home Depot. To leave there lot to the street is a hill and a stop light at the top. Clowns to lazy to tie the sheet rock, ply wood, OSB and once even a new Lawn tractor down dump the load as soon as the light turns green right there in the drive way. Then just down the street a ways is a stop lite to a 4 lane with left turn lane on a hill. Now that is a real laugh watching lazy fools dodge traffic to try to salvage that dry wall they dumped.

Get the 8 foot box you will not be sorry.

Al

The last truck I bought has a 6.5' bed. There are plenty of times I wished it was an 8' bed. I don't ever remember feeling that was with an 8' bed.

Tom

My 2500 Cummins ram is a quad cab short bed. I have a variety of trailers, bumper pull and gooseneck, to use when I need to haul big loads. I spend time in my tree farms and maneuverability through narrow, twisted logging roads is important to me. Everyone has different needs, that's why they make different types of trucks.

I'm in construction and drive a truck with an 8" bed. Always get a kick out of people loading their mini boxes at the lumber yard. The entire concept of a pick up truck was built on an 8 ft. box.

Grizz

As said above, depends almost entirely on what your potential uses are. Unless you are in the building trades or something similar, where you will be hauling long items fairly often, I'd choose the short bed in a heartbeat. Or, are going to use it for a bed camper. Crew cabs with long beds are really a pain to maneuver in any kind of urban situation.

I'd be somewhat concerned pulling a gooseneck with a short bed. "Nobody2" pulls his gooseneck with a short bed but I'm too chicken.

I've had long bed crew cabs since 1986. I still jump a lot of curbs but would never use anything else. Tires are tough!

Every time I am loading the 4-wheeler into the back of my shortbed with the truck box in it, I wish I had an 8'bed. I just don't like the back wheels riding on the tailgate, or the plywood riding without being able to close it up.

I live in the UP. The vast majority of pick ups are long cab/short box. Company/work trucks excepted.

A few years ago a used car dealer had a 'RARE' vehicle sign on a short cab/long box. I stopped to asked why rare. The reply was there aren't that many around. No one wants them.

There is little agriculture here. It is not difficult to exceed the truck's load capacity with firewood.

I carry a canvas bag full of ratchet straps. Among other things they will hold down plywood. My 4 wheeler fits in the bed with the gate up. The snowmobile is in a trailer.

My truck is for recreational use. I would not spend money on a truck without a long cab. I would not have a long bed on it.