Long bed truck vs. short bed truck??

Hi folks. We will be fulltimers next year and have begun our truck shopping - yikes! So many options! My question for today - do most of you pull your Landmark with a long bed truck? We looked at RAM trucks today and the 3500 dually comes only in the long bed. If you are pulling with a long bed truck, can you tell me the advantages and disadvantages of having such a long truck? I am assuming the obvious difficulties in parking lot spaces, but are there other things we need to be thinking about, good or bad?? Thanks for the help!

Soon to be Newport owners

I have been fulltiming since 2007 & I have a long bed. Yes it is a bit harder to park but I just park away from all the crowd. I have a 45gal. Aux tank so I don't have to fill up with the trailer connected. I carry a set of wooden steps that were built by a friend so my wife could enter and leave the trailer easier. I like the B&W hitch because it is easy to remove if I want to haul something and the long bed gives me that advantage. I would always go with the long bed if I had to get another truck.

BC

I went from a long bed 2010 ram 3500 crew cab to a 2015 ram 3500 mega cab short bed last year. I needed a truck 7" shorter to fit length wise in the garage. The mega cab short bed is 10" shorter. I can close the garage door with 1 1/2" clearance in the front and back now
The only difference I can tell besides gobbs of back seat space is the Rv looks real close in the rear view mirror

the 88 degree turn cap on the cyclone is great. I tried it out on some loose gravel with the new tow vehicle. I hope I never have to do that in a camp ground. But it looked like I could jack knife it a full 90 degrees if I needed to and had a spotter.

Im more concerned with clearance to the bed rails

my wife and I took the Rv to British Columbia a couple of years ago what a trip !!!
of course I was noticing other Rv s and tow vehicles. The hot truck seemed to be the ram 3500 crew cab short bed with single rear wheels. Probably to fit local road widths and park in the garage during the winter. My dually got a lot of attention in the camp grounds. I was asked more than once if I had the ram truck load leveling option. I'm guessing because single rear wheel trucks couldn't beat the ride of a loaded dually.

You can probably tell im partial to the dually. But I'm use to taking up 4 parking places and walking. Or driving around looking for a truck parking area. If I ever decide on a smaller truck. I'll downsize my Rv to a bumper pull



2010 Ram 3500 HD traded in for new 2015 3500 HD DRW mega cab with the 3.42 gears
I haven't hooked up yet, we'll see how it pulls with 17" wheels. (Pulls great !)
2014 Cyclone 3100
G614 Goodyears
Good Sam gps
Trimark keyed alike
Xantex 2000 watt inverter "Inverter Service Center"
Blue Sea System toggle source selector
L.E.D. running lights
Quadra Bigfoot levelers
Dexter wet bolts
Boyo wireless backup camera
EMS-HW50C
TST 507RV
Smittybuilt air compressor
Splendide 2100XC
26k Husky hitch
Mor Ryde pin box
6-volt 240 AH batteries
Added dinette
Replaced L.E.D. tail lights with Leading Edge Trailer light bars (made in the US)

I have never owned a short bed pick up. When I did need to park in the garage I bought an extended cab instead of a crew to keep my bed space. Other than to park in a garage and keep a crew cab, I cannot come up with one good idea to justify buying a pick up made to haul stuff with a 2 foot shorter bed than you can buy. Like Bob, my next pick up will have an 8 ft bed.

We've had short SRW, and now long DRW. The DRW was necessary to handle the payload with my auxiliary fuel tank and tool box. Handling is different, as in parking and maneuvering in tight spaces, sharp corners, etc., but you will get used to it. I now prefer the DRW and get around just fine. It's our only vehicle.

We purchased our F350 dually to facilitate the pin weight of our Big Country. The long bed allows for more "stuff" in the bed as well as accommodating the bike rack which hangs off the pin box. As previously mentioned we simply take up more room in the parking lots and walk a little further to the store. Kim as no issues taking the truck for groceries or other trips around town.

And on the other hand I see no reason to have the long thing that won't fit in parking spaces or my garage. This is the 5th PU that I have owned and while I have gone from a standard cab to a crew I still have a short bed and have never had a problem getting a load into the bed, including ATV's and now a UTV. Someone mentioned a larger fuel tank. I had a Titan 52 gal tank to replace the standard 26 gal in the last truck. I did not need a long bed for that. My truck does not fit, lengthwise in most parking lot spaces , I cannot imagine trying to park a long bed and not taking up two spaces. I guess some do it. I have a large, long garage but a long bed would not fit. I pay extra money to keep my 5th wheel in an enclosed garage I sure would not leave my truck parked in the Phoenix sun in my driveway.

The Heartland 88 degree turn benefit allows you to use a short bed and avoid having to use a slider. Some get a slider anyway for the safety but most I have heard from never use it.

This is another of those "from the prospective of the owner/user questions much like which brand truck to buy or which brand tire to buy. Pretty much you get jaded views. Where you sit is where you stand so you should decide which will work best for your purpose. I usually do a "pros/cons" list along with driving both before I make a decision.

Just like Alan, we went to the long bed DRW F350 because of pin weight. My wife absolutely hates it becaause she thinks it is ugly, but I appreciate the stability. I really don't have too many problems parking, but I don't try to park in the garage.

Jim

You will get many answers on the DRW vs SRW and long vs short bed debate. Bottom line if your Landmark requires you to have the hitch load capacity of the DRW then just go with the long bed. You will then be set to haul anything or help out someone in the event it is needed. Heartland 88 degree turning radius, along with the 8' 96" width of the coach does work with the Ford 6.75' short bed. We have pulled our Bighorn for 2 years and have not had any issues with bed clearance height or front of fifth wheel to back of cab clearance.

Since its my daily driver - I went with the RAM dually and an auto slider hitch.

Only short bed dually....

Sarge

I very much did NOT want either the long bed or the dually. After doing the numbers I went with both. It took some adaption and experience. Now I love it. The truck is long and wide. It tracks so well J would have it as mh firdt choice. Biggest problem is backing up. One must be careful. I always park away from the crowd.

Not so important in DRW, but important in SRW, two trucks with the same configuration, one long, and one short, the long bed will have a higher payload, room for a tool box or "Fuelbox/fuel and tool" etc. Eliminate slider and weight of slider, better ride.

Jim.Allison said:

Not so important in DRW, but important in SRW, two trucks with the same configuration, one long, and one short, the long bed will have a higher payload, room for a tool box or "Fuelbox/fuel and tool" etc. Eliminate slider and weight of slider, better ride.

Click to expand...

Or as I did you can gen creative with our boxes, a manual slider and a short box truck. Chris

Not to hijack the thread but 'Chris' - like that rear box.

OP - I've never had a short bed truck but have had both SRW and DRW - much prefer the DRW for stability, especially here in Kansas with the normal 35 to 45 mph 'calm and variable' winds. I do have a past neighbor, who remains a good friend, who pulls a 42 foot, SOB, weighing almost 16K, his truck is a Ford F350 SRW Short bed and he is trading down to a 34 foot because he says that the winds, and trucks passing him, make him feel like he is pulling his old bumper pool without his sway bars set correctly. Also mentioned that he feels the chucking more with the short bed than a long bed he'd had before. Reason for changing, he downsized home and new home has shorter garage.

I have a short bed truck that seems to work great and it fits in my garage. If I was full timing would probably go with a long bed truck just for the extra stuff you can set up back there.

Dumboldles

I tow a BC3650RL with a Ram SRW 3500 6.7 Crew 4X4 with a long bed. First off I will say that I do not want a DRW, and that is the reason I don't have one. But I did the math when I purchased this truck, and it is fully capable of handling the pin/payload. When you get up into DRW country, what I'm saying might not mean much. But I noticed that the long beds with crew cabs have higher payloads by a significant amount (in the SWR config).

Ex., Two SRW RAM Trucks, same config, one is a shortbed and one is a long bed.

Ram SRW 3500 6.7 Crew 4X4 AISIN SHORT BED = 3920 Payload
RAM SRW 3500 6.7 Crew 4X4 AISIN LONG BED = 4320 Payload

Many look at this issue with truck beds and hauling a trailer as the only end game. Some of us use our trucks for other jobs including hauling ATV/UTV, hauling rock when helping friends, hauling loads when helping a family/friend move, hauling all of the camping gear and an ATV when you are going so far into back country that you cannot get a trailer in. So not having a hitch, tool box and/or spare fuel tank in the bed is a plus. Long beds are a disadvantage when on narrow, short turn switchback trails in the back country. Dual RW are a major issue on narrow switchback trails in back country.

The bottom line to this is you buy the truck for the job(s) that you have planned for it. Just saying.

I'll agree with the other posters.... it depends

I have a short bed F-250 to tow my 30' Torque 5er. IF I was using the truck primarily or exclusively for RVing going from park to park, I would have an F450 (I've had them before and they're nice). However, like others I use my truck everyday for many things unrelated to RVing. I have more many more towing miles with a trailer other than my 5er. I LOVE having a flat open bed with no hitch when I am not using the trailer. I love the ride of the 250 vs. a stiffer spring pack(I have airbags for the RV). I LOVE when I have to parallel park in some small town to be as short and narrow as possible.

As an example today I have a transmission, air compressor, generator, and some tools in the bed of my truck. I also towed my skid steer around, all doable with a long bed or dually; but the places I have to go maneuverability is important and it was very tight as it was.

Last, I drive fast by this forums standards, 75ish when I'm not towing. The 4.11 or numerically higher rear ends common in the 350-450 class are great when you have a big load and want to tow about 65 but they hurt your fuel economy when empty. Having a short bed with a low numerical rear end nets me between 18-20 empty on the highway at 75, my bigger trucks were 2-3 MPG less at that speed.

Its all personal preference. All three of my pickups have been short bed SRW. I have no problem towing or turning with my Bighorn.

I have a short box and love it.

I've never taken the hitch out since the day it was installed as it gives me an excuse to NOT help everyone I know without a truck move.

:angel:

I've had nine trucks over the years since I was 24 years old (now 56) - one box truck, five vans, one Bronco II, and two short box pickups.

I've helped so many people move over the years it ain't funny, and it makes my back hurt thinking about it!

With the short box, no topper and a 5th-wheel hitch in the back . . . no more moving for me!

No room in the back for those queen size mattresses or dressers and couches!

All right . . . I'll help you guyz if you need me!

Oh . . . and my Chevy 2500HD gasser with that 4.10 rear end kicks on the green light!