6.4' bed vs 8' bed

[jaked]

I love my 6.4' bed. I have the mega cab dually and it works out perfect. When the bed seats are down the dog have tons of room to lay down on the ride out. And you don't need a slider hitch if you go with the Anderson hitch. It's what I have and I tow a 43 ft toy hauler. Awesome hitch. To chucking like you get with standard 5th wheel hitches. I'd look into it if I were you.


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[JRTJH]

I'm not sure (at all) about the requirements for using safety chains with gooseneck trailers, but the Ford accessory gooseneck kit includes the 2 5/16" ball section and two safety chain attachments that fit into the two forward "pucks" which are a part of the fifth wheel hitch "underbed package".

So, if you get your gooseneck ball from Ford, it comes with provisions to use safety chains. Whether they are required or not, I've no idea. That's why I asked the question several posts back.

Here's a picture of the Ford system, note the two safety chain "pucks"....

[bagged123]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

I'm not sure (at all) about the requirements for using safety chains with gooseneck trailers, but the Ford accessory gooseneck kit includes the 2 5/16" ball section and two safety chain attachments that fit into the two forward "pucks" which are a part of the fifth wheel hitch "underbed package".

So, if you get your gooseneck ball from Ford, it comes with provisions to use safety chains. Whether they are required or not, I've no idea. That's why I asked the question several posts back.

Here's a picture of the Ford system, note the two safety chain "pucks"....

I got the same setup when I bought my 3500, the hitch ball and 2 safety chain connectors for the "pucks"

[canesfan]

According to a Q&A on etrailer https://www.etrailer.com/question-147197.html who said she spoke to Anderson, chains are not compatible with the Ford factory "puck" mounts because the hitch covers all four holes and then there's no place to attach the chains. I would definitely investigate all this if you 1. have a newer Frod with the factory puck mounts and 2. are interested in the Anderson and 3. live in or will travel through Indiana. Good luck!

[Outback 325BH]

Originally Posted by canesfan

According to a Q&A on etrailer https://www.etrailer.com/question-147197.html who said she spoke to Anderson, chains are not compatible with the Ford factory "puck" mounts because the hitch covers all four holes and then there's no place to attach the chains. I would definitely investigate all this if you 1. have a newer Frod with the factory puck mounts and 2. are interested in the Anderson and 3. live in or will travel through Indiana. Good luck!

I think you are confusing the application. The picture above is for a GOOSENECK configuration. When all four pucks are used for a hitch, that is a 5th WHEEL configuration. One requires chains and one does not. The puck mounted chain loops are not used in a 5er hitch as the hitch would be using the pucks.

The Ford puck system shown in the picture above has provisions for both a gooseneck and 5er setup.


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[kfxgreenie]

Use a B&W gooseneck and your bed will have 4 less holes in it. An Andersen hitch can be mounted to it and you have now saved around 200 lb's for your payload. The B&W gooseneck comes with chain mount loops to fasten chains if you were worried and wanted them to use with the Anderson combination. If you were not a fan of the Andersen, you can then mount a B&W fifth wheel hitch to the B&W gooseneck, still have 4 less large holes in your bed.

[capnttom]

@sourdough, I have the Megacab short bed. You may want to consider the DW factor. She may not like the extra length when it comes to maneuvering & parking. We had an ecodiesel, which my DW loved as a DD. She doesn't like our Megacab because of the extra length.

As such, I elected to put a slider hitch in the short bed. You may never need it, but it's worthy of consideration. In my case, I dimpled my brand new truck. I was stupid; just forgot to use the slider. It was an $800 mistake!

Bottom line - happy wife happy life!


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[Desert185]

Originally Posted by capnttom

@sourdough, I have the Megacab short bed. You may want to consider the DW factor. She may not like the extra length when it comes to maneuvering & parking. We had an ecodiesel, which my DW loved as a DD. She doesn't like our Megacab because of the extra length.

As such, I elected to put a slider hitch in the short bed. You may never need it, but it's worthy of consideration. In my case, I dimpled my brand new truck. I was stupid; just forgot to use the slider. It was an $800 mistake!

Bottom line - happy wife happy life!


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Boy, isn't that the truth. Thankfully, the DW and I see it the same way. We both like the long bed. She doesn't understand a pickup with a short bed.

[the sodfather]

Talk about going off the rails...I thought this was about opinions on 6.5' vs. 8' beds...��

[ADQ K9]

I got the 8 footer cause it was only like $300 more than the short box, building materials fit easier, I can fit 2 ATV's crosswise on my Dimondback cover, and it came with a larger fuel tank. They just don't make garages like they used to, My truck fits in mine, bareley.
Have you thought of just building what you want and ordering it? I did that. It takes some time but it is exactly what you want in the end.

[Dave W]

After parking next to a guy at the lumberyard last week, fumbling to load and tie down some 8 foot long sheet rock and expensive paneling in his 6'4" 2017 Ford F350 bed makes me real happy. Mine was not only fully in the box but was covered by the tonneau - it was spitting snow (good grief that truck bed was TALL!!)

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by ADQ K9

I got the 8 footer cause it was only like $300 more than the short box, building materials fit easier, I can fit 2 ATV's crosswise on my Dimondback cover, and it came with a larger fuel tank. They just don't make garages like they used to, My truck fits in mine, bareley.
Have you thought of just building what you want and ordering it? I did that. It takes some time but it is exactly what you want in the end.

I've thought about ordering one but I guess I'm not only impatient but a little gun shy of taking possession of a vehicle I've never driven. I've ordered 2; one got delayed in production so I cancelled it after waiting 8 weeks; the 2nd arrived and when I went to drive it it felt like the trans./torque converter (something) was spinning/grinding when you took off in a turn - I refused it. When Hummers came out I wanted one. Test drove 2 and they were fine, but, I decided I wanted the one on the floor. Bought it and drove away only to find that the front end wandered all over the place. Had it worked on multiple times and finally fixed it myself. Anyway, now I pretty much like to drive whatever I'm going to buy....and once I get in the mode I want to get it over "right now" (yes, it's crazy).

The sad thing on the garage is that I spec'd it when we built the house. I never dreamed I would have a truck bigger than what I have now. At that time I had a Ford supercab 8' bed and it was plenty big. Not so much anymore. I'm still working on that part.

Thanks for all the thoughts.

[Outback 325BH]

Originally Posted by Dave W

After parking next to a guy at the lumberyard last week, fumbling to load and tie down some 8 foot long sheet rock and expensive paneling in his 6'4" 2017 Ford F350 bed makes me real happy. Mine was not only fully in the box but was covered by the tonneau - it was spitting snow (good grief that truck bed was TALL!!)

A little melodramatic I think. I have a shortbed F250, loading 4x8 sheets is a non-issue. You just tie the end so the load doesn't slide out.

If you carry that type of load on a regular basis, a longbed is more convenient, however a shortbed gives you more payload and has benefits of a shorter truck.

It is all about what your needs are.


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[sourdough]

""If you carry that type of load on a regular basis, a longbed is more convenient, however a shortbed gives you more payload and has benefits of a shorter truck.

It is all about what your needs are.""

I think this is exactly right. I have many projects, but, they are all done on MY time. If I need to carry something in the bed I won't do it in inclement weather (if it won't fit under the bed cover). I carry all kinds of 4x8 sheets, 2x stock in 8/10/12' lengths with no issue.

I really do think it IS about what your needs are and we are all different.....and then there's the garage

[JRTJH]

Sitting here, reading this, and thinking...YUP, now you can see how really boring it gets in northern Michigan the evening before hopefully the LAST snowstorm of the season (7-10" predicted tomorrow)....

Twenty years ago most houses had 8' ceilings and truck beds were 8', probably to carry the studs ???? Now, many houses are built with 9' and/or 10' ceilings... I wonder why we haven't seen 10' bed lengths ????

As for the garage, build a pole barn for the truck and trailer. Makes for excellent "off season storage" for boats, tractors, 4 wheelers and even tree stands......

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Sitting here, reading this, and thinking...YUP, now you can see how really boring it gets in northern Michigan the evening before hopefully the LAST snowstorm of the season (7-10" predicted tomorrow)....

Twenty years ago most houses had 8' ceilings and truck beds were 8', probably to carry the studs ???? Now, many houses are built with 9' and/or 10' ceilings... I wonder why we haven't seen 10' bed lengths ????

As for the garage, build a pole barn for the truck and trailer. Makes for excellent "off season storage" for boats, tractors, 4 wheelers and even tree stands......

I think for me sitting through long, snowy winters would be difficult; and yes, it would be really boring. My wife was just texting with our friends we made in FL from Michigan today and they were supposed to leave FL April 1. She said it was going to snow (I suppose the storm you mention) and they decided to stay until the end of the month because they just couldn't bear to go back to the snow.

We have a house in the mountains at 9000 ft. and when we bought it we LOVED it. Snow was such a change from our semi arid location in TX and we just drank it up. After 20 years we quit going there in the winter. Constant snow is just a real pain....shovel snow to go out, shovel snow to get in, shovel snow to get to the stairs from the garage, plow the road....
I'm the kind that has a hard time sitting still; I just don't sit. Trying to do stuff in that environment about drove me crazy, and in turn DW. Anyway, hope the storm passes so you can get busy camping.

When we built this house the high ceiling thing was going on so we have 8', 9', 10' and one section of 12' ceilings with various ceiling configurations. I thought we were doing OK...but never, ever thought about the garage except to tell them to make it 2' wider than the plans. Length didn't occur to me. Now here we are. I've thought about building a building to house a new, larger truck on our property adjacent to our house but my wife admonished me; "You wouldn't build a building for the trailer and rented a storage facility instead. WHY would you buy another vehicle and then build a building to store IT? You better think again Buster." And so it goes..... At least we will be back up to 78 tomorrow and the wind will only be about 20 mph instead of 50-55.

[ADQ K9]

My house was built in '74 and garage is 25 ft deep truck is 22 what is critical is height, 7 ft door and truck clears it by 1.5 inches at most. Hence the 18" wheels and no clearance lights.

[sourdough]

I don't know how deep ours is actually. My 2500 4x4, 6.4' bed, CC fits in with maybe a foot to spare length wise (if I cut the rest of the concrete shelf out in front) and my clearance lights come in about 4"? under the door. What to do...

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by Outback 325BH

A little melodramatic I think. I have a shortbed F250, loading 4x8 sheets is a non-issue. You just tie the end so the load doesn't slide out.

If you carry that type of load on a regular basis, a longbed is more convenient, however a shortbed gives you more payload and has benefits of a shorter truck.

It is all about what your needs are.


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Oh well, consider the source

[Javi]

Originally Posted by sourdough

I don't know how deep ours is actually. My 2500 4x4, 6.4' bed, CC fits in with maybe a foot to spare length wise (if I cut the rest of the concrete shelf out in front) and my clearance lights come in about 4"? under the door. What to do...

Get the contractor over there and draw up plans for the pole barn your DW wanted for the trailer and make it 16' high 20' wide and 60' long and wired for 50amp service.... Problem solved...