Bed length

Question:

The diesel tanks are less than half that. But I still bought the V10. Can’t stand the stink and the noise of the diesel. I had a 6.2 Jimmy back in the ’80s. Oops. Don’t want to do that again.

To each his own – I love the smell of diesel in the morning. I took the cure with a 1986 Chevy 6.2 – bought it new – broke two cranks in it – off warranty of course – on the 2nd time round we put a 350 gasser in it and I sent it on down the road PDQ. I later learned that those 6.2s were susceptible to a harmonic vibration when you had a standard tranny behind them. They needed to have the crank, flywheel & harmonic balancer balanced as an assembly (as opposed to balancing them as individual components – which was the norm). If you didn’t do that, and you ran them long enough, they would crack out the mains, the crank would start to flex and eventually you would have a 6.2 grenade. It appears that GM may have finally got it right with the Duracrap but I will withhold judgement until it has been out for 4 or 5 years. R.J.(Bob) Evans (return address needs alteration to work)

Response:

snipped I will now depart from your silly confrontation Hugh. Carry on solo if you wish. And a Happy Birthday to you. AW

Really. This is the entire post I responded to;

Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th wheel? TIA Kevin Long beds come with long wheel bases. Long wheel bases give better stability/handling when towing. AW" Now you can get twisted if you want, just don’t think everyone has to agree with you. And I guess we’ll just leave it to those who read as to who got confrontational. You made a statement that long beds come with long wheelbases and I pointed out that they ALL don’t. HD in FL

Response:

<snip I would take a 2500 GM club cab with short box with its 143" wb over any standard cab GM, long bed with a 133" wb anytime. And a 1500HD crew cab short box has a 153" wb. Would make a nice unit for towing an under 30′ light weight 5th wheel.

<snip I tow a 22 foot fiver with a ext. cab longbed 2500,

<snip I personally would not ever buy a shortbed. Tom

The longer the pickup the better. I love my Chevy 3500 crew cab long bed. Very stable tow platform and it rides great solo. However, those parking lot speed bumps will cause quite a rear end bounce when solo. Parking can be problem in parking lots marked off for small/medium size cars, but when that happens I just go to the outer edge of the lot and use several spaces. I am sold on the crew cab long box dually pickups! (and the Duramax Diesel) Ron

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hugh, it makes very little difference in towing, but in a lot of cases, a great deal of difference in riding comfort. I went from a super cab with long bed to a super cab with short bed, and with the same trailer, the porpoise effect is considerably more with the short bed. When I was driving 18 wheelers, those cab over short wheel tractors would beat you to death, compared to a conventional cab. I most likely will never buy another tow vehicle, but if I do, you can bet your booties that it will be a full 4 door pickup with a long bed. Tom J And what you say Tom makes sense. But before club cabs and such, most 5th wheels were towed by standard cab, long bed pickups. I would take a 2500 GM club cab with short box with its 143" wb over any standard cab GM, long bed with a 133" wb anytime. And a 1500HD crew cab short box has a 153" wb. Would make a nice unit for towing an under 30′ light weight 5th wheel. Of course that 26 gallon fuel tank would make a trip interesting <grin. HD in FL

I tow a 22 foot fiver with a ext. cab longbed 2500, and partially due to the short fiver I suppose, I’ve never had a problem maneuvering. We put it in some really tight spots out in the woods, and I do appreciate being able to jackknife it around. I personally would not ever buy a shortbed. Tom

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The one unanswerable advantage to a long wheel base, on a gas rig, is the larger gas tank. That is absolutely true but it is also what keeps TransferFlow in business. I put one of their 50 gal tanks in my CC shorty and now, even when towing we can go further than our bladders can handle. And I took the rear window out of my shorty with the front corner of the trailer too. I put that down to operator stupidity, not engineering. R.J.(Bob) Evans (return address needs alteration to work)

Which brings up another advantage of diesels. The aftermarket tanks for ODPII gas rigs run well upwards of $1000. That didn’t survive an elementary cost/benefit analysis in my case. I need to stop every 200 miles and stretch my legs anyway. The diesel tanks are less than half that. But I still bought the V10. Can’t stand the stink and the noise of the diesel. I had a 6.2 Jimmy back in the ’80s. Oops. Don’t want to do that again. Bob

Response:

Most of life is a compromise. Those who bother to educate themselves, know what compromises they are making, and why they are making them. Sadly, far too many people act upon whims rather than logical thought.

They act on whim or misinformed feel-good. This is way OT but I did read the book I am about to recommend WHILE IN MY RV this winter so that makes it at least a little relevant. Bjorn Lomberg has written an excellent expose of the feel good myth that permeates our society masquerading as environmental activism. The title of the book is "The Skeptical Environmentalist" – I heartily recommend it to any critical thinker, no matter what your take on the environment. And for those of you of the environmental ilk – you know who you are – why don’t you read it too. Then you could rebut any claims I make here based on what I have read – and I intend to make many such claims. And you will never know when I am making them because the book is chock full of references – literally 1000s of references – some of them to such bastions of right wing thought as the US EPA, WWF, Greenpeace, etc. You will never know when I am quoting Bjorn because it will be attributed to someone else. R.J.(Bob) Evans (return address needs alteration to work)

Response:

Sorry, didn’t realize you were an expert on the issue. Wasn’t trying to "prove" you wrong, just pointed out the obvious. Oh yeah, plenty of people with pulses are towing light weight 5th wheels with 1/2 tons. As long as they stay within the manufacturers guidelines they don’t have problems. Naturally a 3/4 ton is better for towing anything but with the newer trucks, the "1/2" ton models properly equipped will do the job which required a light "3/4" ton before. I didn’t use sarcasm in my post, why did you feel you needed it? And I’ve had a fairly looong life as well. Next month will mark my 68th. HD in FL

Response:

Really? I don’t remember ever (in my entire lonnng life) seeing a 3/4 or 1 ton short wheelbase p/u truck. Seen tons of half tons equipped that way though. And most folks with a pulse know better than to hook a 5er to a half ton…SWB or LWB.

I must be missing something here. I presently own 2 shorties – an F250 & an F350 – I don’t own every one that has ever been built – they are everywhere. Either I am misunderstanding what you are claiming or you don’t get out enough. R.J.(Bob) Evans (return address needs alteration to work)

Response:

responded to my confession of stupidity: Do you have to be concerned about smashing the back window out of your truck if you pull with a shorty? Absolutely. Does that concern negate the use of a shorty? Absolutely not. I think the same arguments apply to hooking up a fifth wheel to a truck (long/short/club/crew/regular – who cares) with a tailgate. It only takes one time of smashing the back window or dinging the tailgate to learn not to make the same mistake again – for most of us

ABSOLUTELY. Forgot to remember that incident. I put a ding in the endgate 3 trucks back and – - – SO FAR – - – haven’t repeated the exercise. People need to remember that everything is a compromise. If all I ever did with the truck was pull the 5W then I would probably have a 1-ton crewcab duallie which would be a longbed because they don’t make them any other way. However, since I like to drive for groceries, park in parkades and parallel park in the city, I have a 1-ton shorty with singles. OTOH, if I had that 350 CC dooly it would probably be a bus and this discussion would be moot. R.J.(Bob) Evans (return address needs alteration to work)

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Long beds come with long wheel bases. Long wheel bases give better stability/handling when towing. AW Uhhh, wrong. Long box standard cab has a shorter wheelbase than a clubcab shortbox. While it’s no sweat off my back for you to try to prove me wrong, long beds still have a long wheelbase. The original poster mentioned nothing about standard cabs or extended cabs. Therefore they were not included in my comments to him. When towing a 5th wheel, wheelbase is not as important as when towing a conventional trailer. Having driven a variety of vehicles equipped with a fifth wheel device and a king pin stuck in it for many years and many miles, I’ll consider your comment to be your opinion. Which is BTW, unequal to mine. Wheelbase length is not a disadvantage for towing 5th wheel. HD in FL Really? I don’t remember ever (in my entire lonnng life) seeing a 3/4 or 1 ton short wheelbase p/u truck. Seen tons of half tons equipped that way though. And most folks with a pulse know better than to hook a 5er to a half ton…SWB or LWB. AW Sorry, didn’t realize you were an expert on the issue. Wasn’t trying to "prove" you wrong, just pointed out the obvious. Oh yeah, plenty of people with pulses are towing light weight 5th wheels with 1/2 tons. As long as they stay within the manufacturers guidelines they don’t have problems. Naturally a 3/4 ton is better for towing anything but with the newer trucks, the "1/2" ton models properly equipped will do the job which required a light "3/4" ton before. I didn’t use sarcasm in my post, why did you feel you needed it? And I’ve had a fairly looong life as well. Next month will mark my 68th. HD in FL

Remember telling me how "Uhh wrong" I was? And now you say "I didn’t realize you were an expert". I never claimed to be an expert. As for sarcasm, you would have likely have been insulted to the point of plonking me if I was being sarcastic. I will now depart from your silly confrontation Hugh. Carry on solo if you wish. And a Happy Birthday to you. AW

Response:

Were you, or were you not, the smart ass who posted: " And most folks with a pulse know better than to hook a 5er to a half ton…SWB or LWB. ?"

Now you have the gall to accuse Hugh of engaging in a "silly confrontation?" I don’t object to a confrontational style, but if you are gonna do it, stop whining about gettin it back. Lon

Response:

People need to remember that everything is a compromise. If all I ever did with the truck was pull the 5W then I would probably have a 1-ton crewcab duallie which would be a longbed because they don’t make them any other way. However, since I like to drive for groceries, park in parkades and parallel park in the city, I have a 1-ton shorty with singles. OTOH, if I had that 350 CC dooly it would probably be a bus and this discussion would be moot. R.J.(Bob) Evans

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th wheel? TIA Kevin Long beds come with long wheel bases. Long wheel bases give better stability/handling when towing. AW Uhhh, wrong. Long box standard cab has a shorter wheelbase than a club cab short box. When towing a 5th wheel, wheelbase is not as important as when towing a conventional trailer. Wheelbase length is not a disadvantage for towing 5th wheel. HD in FL Hugh, it makes very little difference in towing, but in a lot of cases, a great deal of difference in riding comfort. I went from a super cab with long bed to a super cab with short bed, and with the same trailer, the porpoise effect is considerably more with the short bed. When I was driving 18 wheelers, those cab over short wheel tractors would beat you to death, compared to a conventional cab. I most likely will never buy another tow vehicle, but if I do, you can bet your booties that it will be a full 4 door pickup with a long bed. Tom J

And what you say Tom makes sense. But before club cabs and such, most 5th wheels were towed by standard cab, long bed pickups. I would take a 2500 GM club cab with short box with its 143" wb over any standard cab GM, long bed with a 133" wb anytime. And a 1500HD crew cab short box has a 153" wb. Would make a nice unit for towing an under 30′ light weight 5th wheel. Of course that 26 gallon fuel tank would make a trip interesting <grin. HD in FL

Response:

The one unanswerable advantage to a long wheel base, on a gas rig, is the larger gas tank.

That is absolutely true but it is also what keeps TransferFlow in business. I put one of their 50 gal tanks in my CC shorty and now, even when towing we can go further than our bladders can handle. And I took the rear window out of my shorty with the front corner of the trailer too. I put that down to operator stupidity, not engineering. R.J.(Bob) Evans (return address needs alteration to work)

Response:

Long beds come with long wheel bases. Long wheel bases give better stability/handling when towing. AW Uhhh, wrong. Long box standard cab has a shorter wheelbase than a clubcab shortbox.

While it’s no sweat off my back for you to try to prove me wrong, long beds still have a long wheelbase. The original poster mentioned nothing about standard cabs or extended cabs. Therefore they were not included in my comments to him. When towing a 5th wheel, wheelbase is not as important as when towing a conventional trailer.

Having driven a variety of vehicles equipped with a fifth wheel device and a king pin stuck in it for many years and many miles, I’ll consider your comment to be your opinion. Which is BTW, unequal to mine. Wheelbase length is not a disadvantage for towing 5th wheel. HD in FL

Response:

Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th wheel? TIA Kevin

You also have more room for cargo. We can carry our bicycles in the bed with the long bed.

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th wheel? TIA Kevin Long beds come with long wheel bases. Long wheel bases give better stability/handling when towing. AW Uhhh, wrong. Long box standard cab has a shorter wheelbase than a clubcab shortbox. When towing a 5th wheel, wheelbase is not as important as when towing a conventional trailer. Wheelbase length is not a disadvantage for towing 5th wheel. HD in FL

Hugh, it makes very little difference in towing, but in a lot of cases, a great deal of difference in riding comfort. I went from a supercab with long bed to a supercab with short bed, and with the same trailer, the porpoise effect is considerably more with the short bed. When I was driving 18 wheelers, those cab over short wheel tractors would beat you to death, compared to a conventional cab. I most likely will never buy another tow vehicle, but if I do, you can bet your booties that it will be a full 4 door pickup with a long bed. Tom J

Response:

Uhhh, wrong. Long box standard cab has a shorter wheelbase than a clubcab shortbox. When towing a 5th wheel, wheelbase is not as important as when towing a conventional trailer. Wheelbase length is not a disadvantage for towing 5th wheel. HD in FL

Response:

<< Wheelbase length is not a disadvantage for towing 5th wheel. I’ve heard that and the opposite. I’m going to the Freighliner RV Hauler Club rally in a month. I’ll try to hear experiences on wheelbase issues. Tom

Response:

While you’re there, see if you can find a person with engineering training to explain to you why OTR truck drivers and drag racers prefer long-wheelbases. But until you do that, consider this: they don’t use Bobcats to tow on the highway. One key reason is that a long wheelbase translates to superior directional stability. It is certainly true that a short wheelbase improves maneuverability in tight quarters, but on the highway longer is better. Will Sill

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th wheel? I have towed with both & I will never tow with a longbed again. The longbed has a wider turning radius. The notion that it is a problem maneuvring with a shortbed is simply an illusion. We currently pull with an F350 crewcab shortie. I have a slider hitch. In 2 years I have needed to move that hitch exactly zero times. I "wanted" to move it once but it was rusted in place so I put the trailer into the site without moving the hitch. I can’t conceive of a situation where you would actually be able to put a trailer into a site with a slider that you wouldn’t be able to get into without the slider. The site in question, on the occasion where I "wanted" to move my hitch was a site where all my neighbours were in unanimous agreement that it was physically impossible for anyone to get my 5th wheel into anyway. We got into it without sliding the hitch. We routinely put the trailer into forest sites in Canada & the US, into beach sites in Mexico and – most difficult of all – uphill and around a corner into our own backyard at home. By the time you touch the fifth wheel front to the truck you are turned REALLY short. At that point the tires on the trailer are scrubbing sideways. The bigger concern parking a 5th wheel is being able to quickly initiate a turn and for that you need an "agile" truck – one that initiates a turn quickly. The longer the wheelbase on the truck, the more sluggish it is to initiate a turn and the more difficult it is to park a trailer with that long truck. Watch switch tractors working in a freight yard for an extreme example of what I am talking about – a switch tractor is a shorty, often with only a single drive axle, designed so as to maneuvre trailers into tight spots. A shortbed truck more closely approximates that situation and will simply be easier to use. Do you have to be concerned about smashing the back window out of your truck if you pull with a shorty? Absolutely. Does that concern negate the use of a shorty? Absolutely not. R.J.(Bob) Evans (return address needs alteration to work)

I actually DID smash the back window out of my short bed truck on my second trip, in Gearhart, Oregon. Just laziness and arrogance, not wanting to get out and slide the hitch back. One moment I was just close, the next I was a quarter inch past close. The one time you really do need a sliding hitch, and it’s happened to me several times, is when you get too far up a narrow forest road (or a dead end city street) with no turnouts, and need to jack knife the trailer to turn it around. The one unanswerable advantage to a long wheel base, on a gas rig, is the larger gas tank. Bob

Response:

Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th wheel? TIA Kevin

Response:

Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th wheel? TIA Kevin

Long beds come with long wheel bases. Long wheel bases give better stability/handling when towing. AW

Response:

Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th wheel?

I have towed with both & I will never tow with a longbed again. The longbed has a wider turning radius. The notion that it is a problem maneuvring with a shortbed is simply an illusion. We currently pull with an F350 crewcab shortie. I have a slider hitch. In 2 years I have needed to move that hitch exactly zero times. I "wanted" to move it once but it was rusted in place so I put the trailer into the site without moving the hitch. I can’t conceive of a situation where you would actually be able to put a trailer into a site with a slider that you wouldn’t be able to get into without the slider. The site in question, on the occasion where I "wanted" to move my hitch was a site where all my neighbours were in unanimous agreement that it was physically impossible for anyone to get my 5th wheel into anyway. We got into it without sliding the hitch. We routinely put the trailer into forest sites in Canada & the US, into beach sites in Mexico and – most difficult of all – uphill and around a corner into our own backyard at home. By the time you touch the fifth wheel front to the truck you are turned REALLY short. At that point the tires on the trailer are scrubbing sideways. The bigger concern parking a 5th wheel is being able to quickly initiate a turn and for that you need an "agile" truck – one that initiates a turn quickly. The longer the wheelbase on the truck, the more sluggish it is to initiate a turn and the more difficult it is to park a trailer with that long truck. Watch switch tractors working in a freight yard for an extreme example of what I am talking about – a switch tractor is a shorty, often with only a single drive axle, designed so as to maneuvre trailers into tight spots. A shortbed truck more closely approximates that situation and will simply be easier to use. Do you have to be concerned about smashing the back window out of your truck if you pull with a shorty? Absolutely. Does that concern negate the use of a shorty? Absolutely not. R.J.(Bob) Evans (return address needs alteration to work)

Response:

My 97 GMC long bed has a 129 liter gas tank. This means I have to refuel every 300 to 400 kilometres to be on the save side. The same year short bed had a 96.4 liter fuel tank. That would mean refuelling between 225 and 300 kilometres. For me, it would be a pain to have to refuel more frequently. There are a lot of things to be concerned about when you are pulling a trailer (height, weight, etc). I did not what to be concerned about denting the truck or trailer at the end of a long day. I think I would like to have a short bed for the following reasons; * easier to park * shorter turning radius * easier to back up the trailer (shorter turning radius) I chose the long bed for the following reasons; * I would not have to think twice before I get into a tight turn (trailer hitting truck). * Increase driving range before refuelling * Better stability. (longer and heavier tow vehicle is normally more stable)

Other than turning radius requiring a sliding hitch, is there any other disadvantage to a short bed compared to a long bed when towing a 5th

wheel?

Response:

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