Long or short bed, that is the question?

Weighing options and I would like to hear practical pros and cons from experienced owners on the benefits and drawbacks of the 6.5' vs. the 8'. Seems like the truck OAL is only the length of the bed, or not a significant added length but seems like a very useful length.

Do you have one, wish you had the other? Are there time when one was a hassle or you were glad you had the shorter or longer?

Feedback and thoughts welcomed!

 

I think the 8 ft bed is very rare...at least here in FL.

 

My 2002 has the 8' bed, and my 2007 has the 6.5' bed.
I can live with the 6.5' bed for most everything, but the 8' is my favorite.

 

I miss my 8ft bed every day. I have actually been looking at heavy duty trucks to get back into an 8ft bed. The added length won’t be an issue. Just back into every spot

 

Honestly, it depends on what you want. I've got a 14' trailer, and I had to ask myself two questions:

A. How often have I said "Boy I've really needed that extra 1.5' of bed space"?
B. How often have I said "Boy, I really need more backseat space than an extended cab provides"?

In the case of A, I've *occasionally* said that....and every one of those cases are mitigated by owning the 14' trailer. However, I've said "Boy, I really need more backseat space than an extended cab provides" an absolute metric butt-ton of times.

With that said, other than hauling stuff in general, I don't do anything 'interesting' with my truck bed - no motorcycles/ATVs or anything like that, so no big deal. I've already used the full capacity of the backseat a bunch, so for me personally it was the right choice. Others may obviously disagree.

 

In my mind there is a huge practical difference between the 5.5 and 6.5 bed, not as much between the 6.5 and 8’ bed. But depends on what your needs are.

 

I agree. One reason I went to a dual cab over a crew cab was box size. It would be great if Toyota made a crew cab with 6.5' box.
The interior room in the crew cab is crazy nice but bed space I needed more than rear cab space.

 

This is me. I've had 8 foot beds almost all my life, until my 12 DC SR5, I adapted and only hand full of times I wished I had that extra foot and a half...but it was also mitigated to an extent that it had a topper on it when I bought it. So I lost 1.5, but gained like 2 some feet vertically being able to stack and pack in the bed. Now, last week I traded it off for my 20 CM SR5, and no topper, and I feel like I'm gonna be saying these things a lot more now than ever. Contemplating a topper for my CM now so I can stack n pack, but, it's a lease....and my luck when the lease is up the MGM or bed design will be gone and then I'm stuck with the topper I cant use on the next Tundra.....

 

Yep same here. A CM with a 6.5’ bed would be my dream truck. I actually considered the new Chevy Silverado Trailboss because it comes in a double cab with 6.5’ bed. Hated just about everything else about the truck though so I’ll just have to wait for Toyota to step up!

 

So I have a topper on the CM and its great the 60% of the time I use it for the dogs. Cant beat it. But I have been doing some renovations and I cant stand this bed. My girlfriend tells me to shut up every time I leave home depot because I complain so much about it. I have actually started looking at different trucks but I am hoping the new Gen will allow me to get a 6.5ft on the CM. So I am trying to not make a rash decision

 

^This was me with my old truck that had a 5.5’ bed! It works “most” of the time but when you want to really haul stuff it’s just too short. I have a DC with the 6.5’ and it’s night and day different.

You could probably upgrade right now for a sweet deal.

 

I am definitely looking. Deciding between the tundra and the GMC 2500. I just wish we had better news on the next Gen tundra. Bc I could probably hold off.

 

Thinking Toyota needs a suggestion hotline lol

 

@GeoJoe has a sweet looking DC long bed!

 

I have always gone with the shorter bed. I worked out of a truck with an 8ft bed for about 5 years. While it was nice for hauling a lot of things it was tough to reach them when they were towards the front closer to the cab. Granted this was a 1 ton super duty but I would think it applies to all trucks with long beds. There has been a handful of times if I had the 8ft I wouldn’t of had to drag a trailer but I use my full size back seat way more. I like the look of the shorter bed anyhow. To me our trucks with a double cab and a long bed look disproportionate and ugly

 

As has been mentioned, it depends on your priorities. My first truck back in the day was extended cab, the following 3 have been regular cab and I dont want anything but. my turd gen is reg cab long box (rare) and there is a ton of room behind the seat for stuff compared to most reg cab trucks. Its shocking when people see how much room there is. My seat is all the way back and I tilt it back like a gangster and I have room behind me for a tupperware bin full of chains and straps and hitches. Behind the passenger seat is room for a cushion I made for my 115 pound dog to comfortably sit and face forward between seats and even lie down if he wants. I dont have kids and never have passengers. Theres room for groceries and such inside behind the seats for that sort of thing-so I'm clearly not missing the back seat to collect garbage and crap. The box however I really dont want to live with a smaller box, I use it all the time and love it being 8 feet long.

if you dont plan on hauling aluminum duck boats in the back, or motorcycles, or sleds or atvs or lumber or building materials etc then maybe 8' isnt a big feature for you, and if you do plan on occasionally having passengers then you really should get at least a double cab.

You could always get the DC long box...If I didnt go offroad occasionally I would have gotten that beastor as its the best of both worlds, with the sacrifice of being even bigger than a regular tundra.

 

The longer the bed is the more/bigger stuff you can carry. That's always good. If I didn't want the cargo area I would have bought a SUV instead of a truck. The only drawback for me with a longer bed is parking. I vacation in places where a DC with eight foot bed would not fit in the parking garage.

 

Double cab longbed is my preference. I do not go offroad and I do not have little kids that travel with me so I do not need a crew cab. The back seats of the DC workout fine the times I have travel companions. I love the utility of the LB. I load it up with firewood, mulch and full sheets of plywood and drywall from the home improvement store and can keep the tailgate up. I have carried dirtbikes and quads as well with the tailgate up.

 

I would be tempted to replace my 2002 RCLB with one of these.

 

Thank you. It would be helpful to know which generation you have, and why you dislike it so much. Thanks!

 

I'm very much in this camp of thinking.

 

3rd gen! It is just frustrating coming from a truck where I could put plywood in and close the tailgate. I put flooring and a vanity in; I literally had zero room in the bed for my tools. Had to throw them in the backseat. Just not used to it and I don't like it. If I was buying a truck right now I would get the double cab with an 8ft bed and put a mid rise cap on it.

 

I’ve always been a shortbed fan......until I got a longbed.

 

I currently have a CM with 5.5' bed. If I could do it over I would probably go for the DC with 8' bed. It is difficult to do truck things with the 5.5. I have the bed extender, but that only helps so much. I do not want to go for another brand, but it is hard to fight the urge to go back to having both the large backseat for kids and bed space to haul our off-road toys.

 

I have CM with 5.5 like jeman, I likely would do the same go DC with the longer bed to fit everything.

 

8ft bed for sure! I wish mine was a long bed

 

If I was needing a truck for my side gig, I’d likely go long bed because I’d want both a crossover toolbox and have the ability to haul a four wheeler with the tailgate up at the same time. Very few times have I ever wished I’d bought a long bed when driving my DCSB for personal use though.

 

Thanks everyone! Excellent information.

I ended up with a Gen1 Tundra Limited with a 6.5 box. More to follow with pictures and details but it's pretty sweet. Don't want to jinx it.

 

Carried lumber today and prefer no passengers most of the time too!

Would not have it any other way and I have gad Gen 2 DC too.

 

Well I almost went back to Ford and then the TFL top 16 vehicles that make it to 200k miles video showed up in my YouTube feed. Of course the Tundra is on there! No Ford trucks. I searched one last time for a DC with 8.1’ bed and a TRD OR 2015 showed up fairly close to my house. It has 103k miles and same MGM color as my ‘19. Going to check it out tomorrow. Only thing I will probably miss from my ‘19 Limited is the 38 gal. tank.